Group items tagged

In Shaping Things, Bruce Sterling identifies RFID or "arphids" as key technological development that enables his imagined objects, "spimes," to function. This video, "Zapped!," by Preemptive Media, provides an easy to understand history of RFID tags, how they're used, for better and worse. The video concludes with the group's own tactical interventions using RFID equipped insects. My main impetus to post it here is to help illuminate the technology and, in doing so, make Sterling's Spimes concept more tangible. "Zapped! by Preemptive Media. Posted April 30, 2008 by Heidi Kumao. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIDClPlKHzE Accessed March 19, 2014

This audio-visual overview of the Internet of Things was published by IBM's Social Media cohorts in 2010. Combining voice-over and well crafted, legible motion graphics, it provides a summary of the underlying concepts of the Internet of Things. In 2004, when Bruce Sterling was first writing about spimes, he mentions the Internet of Things, a then emergent infrastructure linked to build out of RFID enabled gizmos, and eventually, perhaps, spimes. "The Internet of Things" posted by IBMSocialMedia on March 15, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEbMV295Kk Accessed March 21, 2014

This piece of Design Fiction is imagined to exist in a world where products are developed to the point where they almost have lives themselves. When thinking in terms of Spime, "Brad the Toaster" is a product that plays into the idea of discontinuing the process where products of today's consumer culture are built, and then soon become obsolete due to new technologies arising. Brad and his fellow Sprimes might be the answer to all environmental sustainability problems. Sprimes would be sent out into the world, their every move being trached. Every interaction that they have with people will be tracked, and stored in a database, ready to be accessed by developers. If these developers can study these interactions, what does work with a product, and what doesn't, then their Brad 2.0's can be the best possible product, without having to create a series of upgraded products, only to be obsolete when a new need is discovered. Vanhemert, Kyle. "A Toaster That Begs You to Use It: Welcome to the Bizarro Smart Home." Wired. March 14, 2014 http://www.wired.com/design/2014/03/addicted-products/

Thanks, this intersects with a number of rich topics within realm of New Media and, as you note, spimes in particular! There's also a funny variant here of anthropomorphized machines and notions of sentience. The video for Brad the Toaster is another compelling example of a diegetic prototype

In Bruce Sterling's excerpts from Shaping things, I kind of felt like he didn't spend enough time talking about privacy or security in a world of things that are always on and connected. So after searching "spimes" with keywords like "security", I found this article on an online magazine called "Government Technology" (of course). But the article did bring up some valid points about security regarding the "internet of things". My only question is how do we maintain privacy in a secure world of the "internet of things. Is it possible to have both? The idea of spumes is exciting and there is no denying the positive potential, but what do we have to sacrifice for convenience? Lohrmann, Dan. "Can We Secure the Internet of Things?" Government Technology. February 25, 2014 http://www.govtech.com/security/Can-We-Secure-the-Internet-of-Things.html

One example of how objects are slowly turning into spimes, is the addition of RFID into products that consumers use on a daily basis. Baltimore is one of a few cities that have begun distributing trashcans to businesses and individual house holds that contain the id chips. It is the hope that they will be able to collect information that will assess the usage of the cans by the customer, as well as other factors that are useful for creating a positive trash-collecting experience both for the company and the customer. Mark Reutter, Mark. "Inside City Hall: Are you ready for "smart" garbage cans?" Baltimore Brew, November 21, 2013

On October 24, 2013 Julian Bleecker, James Bridle, Nick Foster, Cliff Kuang and Scott Patterson participated in a round table discussion during Near Future Laboratory's event, "Design & Fiction". In this link, there is the full video of their discussion (lasting about and hour and a half) as well as a synopsis and several key points from the discussion put together by the host site, core77.com. Each participant in the discussion brings up really interesting ideas and it is nice to have the option to watch or listen to the discussion in full, or just get a brief overview through the written synopsis. Ray, . "Near Future Laboratory Presents Design & Fiction (A Near-Past Event Recap)." Core77 (blog), February 21, 2014. http://www.core77.com/blog/strategy_research/near_future_laboratory_presents_design_fiction_a_near-past_event_recap_26484.asp (accessed March 12, 2014).

Thanks! This is indeed a great resource, concise and legible overview of core concepts from some of the key figures involved with this mode of design. The section with James Bridle provides strong echoes and parallels with Sterling's concept of "Spimes," too!