I create websites, games, logo's, posters, mobile applications, wearables and all sorts of interactive silliness

Entify

• web

Description:

The end prototype for my master thesis attempts to answer the question of what happens when commonplace household objects are granted the ability to express them selves. The RFID bracelet originally developed as a technological experiment in an earlier project now serves as a piece of a larger medium through which these expressionals or objects with the ability to express their mind, provide the user with contextual relevant information.

Insights borrowed from activity theory form the basis of the concept in which we try to find out witch activities the mobile user is involved in and witch objects and tools belong to those activities. The RFID bracelet is able to identify these objects by their RFID tag. These tags can be manually attached to an object or the manufacturer could integrate them during the production process.

Besides the RFID bracelet, the Entify platform exists of two other parts, the mobile application (python) witch forms the link between the bracelet and the mobile internet and a web application with corresponding api (application programmer interface). The web application allows the user to manage his collection of objects and activites and couples them with common information sources on the web such as RSS feeds, public calendars in .iCal format or realtime sources such as twitter feeds. De webservice shapes the web-presence of the objects and allows them to be coupled with logic and behaviour in the form of mashups. (A web application that combines multiple information sources) Mashup Personalities

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Roles:

The goal of these mashups is to not only provide information but also add some sort of personality to these objects turning them into true expressionals. The communication between user and expressional can take place in various ways. An object the user is carrying in his hands , has the right to express itself in the form of text-to-speech on the mobile phone via earphones, bluetooth headset or built-in speakers. If an object has not been access for a long time, it can rely on more conventional communication channels such as sms and e-mail to let his master know that information is available to him. It’s up to the user to make sure that objects that are part of his life are not neglected, otherwise these objects might express their discontent. The usage of every object will be registered including date and time, duration and possibly location allowing the objects to react to their own presence in the life of their owner. Every expressionals can contribute to the long-term goals of his owner such as weight loss or condition training. To accomplish this they have to be coupled to a mashup, making use of the entify api, to analyse this usage information and send out messages in name of the objects.