optimizing the familiar stranger

8/4/2019 Optimizing the Familiar Stranger

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/optimizing-the-familiar-stranger 1/12

N-Building in Use

N-Building Cell Phone App

I m a g e c o u r t e

s y o f w w w . d

a b s d e s i g n . c

o m

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f a s q u a

r e . o

r g

research topic:

Optimizing the Familiar Stranger

N-Building

The N-Building, located near Tachikawa sta-

tion in Tokyo, Japan is an example of a building used

as the mode of connection between strangers. In this

case, the façade of this building designed by Terada

Design Architects and Qosmo, Inc. remains static and

passers by are able to scan the building, which itself is

a large QR code, using their cell phones. Immediately,

the cell phone user is connected to an application de-

veloped specically for the building to be able to see

up to real time Twitter feeds, Flickr pictures, and gen-

eral comments made by the users inside the building.

The application reads as an elevation of the

building with cartoon characters situated on differ-

ent levels dependant on their location in the building.When the outsider chooses one of the characters, he

is able to see that person’s comments through the on-

line application in speech bubble form. The outsider is

also able to browse shop information, make reserva-

tions, and download coupons for the stores located

inside the building.

This interaction begins to highlight similar inter-ests between interior and exterior strangers through

a virtual connection. There is potential for this pro-

cess to expand to highly specic connections, such

as transportation needs. Eventually, people could be

scanning the train station or airport to get up to date

travel times, weather conditions, but even more im-

portantly begin to connect with those traveling with thesame purpose. Perhaps, strangers will notice that fa-

miliar stranger who consistently rides the same train

as them every day and begin a connection based on

that commonality.

CH.14 CH.13 CH.12 CH.11 CH.10 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06CH.22 CH.21 CH.20 CH.19 CH.18 CH.17 CH.16 CH.15 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01



Blinkenlights, Berlin 2001

Blinkenlights, Berlin 2001


s y o f s c r a t c h b o o k . c

h / c a t e g o r y / b l i n k e n - t v

/

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f b l i n k e n l i g h t s . n

e t

research topic:


Blinkenlights

Blinkenlights is an example of a building used

as a mode of connection between strangers using a

dynamic façade. The original installation was created

by Thomas Fiedler and Tim Pritlove at Haus des Leh-

rers, Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany where the up-

per eight oors of the building were transformed into

an interactive display.

Users on the street are able to control 144

lamps, each located behind a single window of the

building, by computer or cell phone over the internet.

By connecting to the site, users were able to play old

arcade games such as Pong on the building façade

against other users, or strangers. Passers-by werealso able to place their own love letters on the screen

using their mobile phone to relay a message in the

most public of ways.

The similar interest of gaming allowed strang-

ers to connect in the most public realm using Blinken-

lights. This same idea could continue further to begin

further interactive displays such as notes or questionswhich can be uploaded to the building facade and dis-

played for the entire public. Perhaps there are conver-

sations which occur on the facade itself. Passers-by

could stop and watch the conversations which would

provoke further conversation with those in the gener-

al vacinity. This starts to look at a variety of aspects;

proximity of location, shared interest, and forced ser-

endipity with people who see the same caption on the

building in which both nd interesting.

CH.09 CH.10 CH.11 CH.12 CH.13 CH.14 CH.15 CH.16 CH.17CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07 CH.08 CH.18 CH.19 CH.20 CH.21CH.22

CH 14 CH 13 CH 12 CH 11 CH 10 CH 09 CH 08 CH 07 CH 06CH 22 CH 21 CH 20 CH 19 CH 18 CH 17 CH 16 CH 15 CH 05 CH 04 CH 03 CH 02 CH 01



Reminiscent of motion photography

Aperture Prototype


s y o f w w w . f r e

d e r i c e y l . d e

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . f

r e d e r i c e y l . d e

research topic:


Aperture Building Facade

Aperture is a dynamic wall used to physically

connect strangers passing by each other in public

space. Arranged in a matrix, iris diaphragms vary in

diameter dependent on incoming light intensity; creat-

ing a dynamic translucency.

As a person passes in front of the wall, the di-

ameter of the aperture opens to allow complete trans-

parency through the wall. This feature allows passers-

by to inuence transparency based merely on their

own movement; creating a new channel for commu-

nication. As one person walks by one side of the wall,

another person can sense it through the opening of

the iris and see the person’s silhouette.

This new mode of connection and transparen-cy allows for strangers to experience each other in a

completely new atmosphere. The wall in fact informs

each person that another exists; opening itself for the

two to connect. It also poses a new type of ‘jail cell’

where the two users can communicate with each other

when in contact with the wall however they are still in

seperate realms of space; much like that of jail celland adjacent hallway.

In the far future, we may be able to watch the

city much like a theather; where buildings are the

stage and the users are the performers as they move

throughout the building.


CH 09 CH 10 CH 11 CH 12 CH 13 CH 14 CH 15 CH 16 CH 17CH 01 CH 02 CH 03 CH 04 CH 05 CH 06 CH 07 CH 08 CH 18 CH 19 CH 20 CH 21CH 22



Hole in Space, Los Angeles 1980

Hole in Space, New York 1980


s y o f b c c h a n g . c

o m

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . p

a c i c s t a n d a r d t i m e . o

r g

research topic:


Hole in Space

Hole in Space was a set of two screens; one

placed in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New

York City and the other in The Broadway department

store located in the open air shopping center in Cen-

tury City, Los Angeles. The purpose of the two screens

was to create a virtual, real time connection between

people on opposite coasts of the United States.

This public communication experiment lasted

three days in November of 1980; creating an unex-

pected encounter for passers-by in both cities be-

tween life size screens in respective cities. Suddenly,

the passer-by could see, hear, and speak with a life-

sized television image of a stranger on the other sideof the country as if running into a stranger on the same

sidewalk.

No signs, logos, credits, or explanations were

posted and no self-view video monitor to distract the

phenomena; creating a true unexpected pedestrian in-

tersection and connection to a stranger. Hole in Space

suddenly detached the distance between both citiesand created an unforseen pedestrian intersection.

This technology has the potential of further con-

necting individuals over states, countries, or even con-

tinents. It can increase awareness of varying cultures

and create unexpected friendships between dissimilar

religions and classes. It also has the potential of con-

necting lost friends and family, but also creating new

friends which you stop and talk to on a dialy basis dur-

ing your walk home from work. The familiar stranger

goes from local level to world wide level.


CH 14 CH 13 CH 12 CH 11 CH 10 CH 09 CH 08 CH 07 CH 06CH 22 CH 21 CH 20 CH 19 CH 18 CH 17 CH 16 CH 15 CH 05 CH 04 CH 03 CH 02 CH 01



Swix Ski Product with added software

Swix Computer Software


s y o f w w w . n

e a r e l d . o

r g

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . n e a r e l d . o

r g

research topic:


Talsmann: cross country skiing in

china‘Talsmann’ concept of introducing cross coun-

try skiing in China is a way of virtually connecting

strangers throughout China through means of RFID

tag embedded ski products. The concept came from

understanding the Chinese culture of collectivism and

desire of belonging to a group of informed individuals

from whom they can identify with.

Cross country skiing is not a well known activity

in China, and for cross country skiers, there’s a desire

to belong to a group and get information from people

who are familiar with the topic. The result was a Swix

service where all Swix cross country ski products were

the rst touch points of connection. Through RFID

tags in the product itself, users could access instruc-tions, user-driven forums, recommendations, current

conditions, and routes. The products have an identity

within a larger virtual system so strangers can connect

on the similar hobby of skiing and location.

This project shows future trends of integrating

service infrastructure into physical spaces. This proj-

ect steps towards creating situated software that af-fect people’s behavior and activities in public space by

means of stranger connection. Soon, products from

cars to basketballs could have RFID embedded tags

for users to compare problems, reactions, or com-

ments from the product itself.


CH 09 CH 10 CH 11 CH 12 CH 13 CH 14 CH 15 CH 16 CH 17CH 01 CH 02 CH 03 CH 04 CH 05 CH 06 CH 07 CH 08 CH 18 CH 19 CH 20 CH 21CH 22



Connected Products

Build-A-Bear Real Time Map


s y o f S t a c y M o r t o n

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . n e a r e l d . o

r g

research topic:


Connected Products

The idea of connected products is a way to

physically connect strangers through objects as the

mode of connection. RFID tags within objects/prod-

ucts may begin to enable objects to have identities

and connection to a larger network.

Cell phones could play a part in the network

connection by locating the objects on a real time loca-

tion sensitive map to allow the owners of these objects

to meet, share, discuss, or exchange issues regarding

the same product.

Some ideas of this theory have already been

imagined by toy companies such as Neopets and

Build-A-Bear where they have created a virtual pet for every physical counterpart, allowing a network of vir-

tual strangers to connect through means of their pet.

However, imagine a world where one could

bring up a map on their phone, see the general lo-

cation of all the Build-A-Bears in a mile radius, and

set up play dates based on the bears (and childrens)

similar interests. This same idea could be used for ev-erything from common books to meet and discuss the

book’s ideas to yoga mats to meet up with a group for

a yoga session.

The major problem with this idea is the issue of

privacy. By having RFID tags embedded in our every-

day products, individuals will be able to be located at

all times, making it almost impossible to ever escape

the public realm and be completely private. In order for

this idea to thrive at its full potential, a system in which

person identity and exact location is muted must be

in effect.





Personal.Aura and Hello.Wall

Hello.Wall Display

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f N o r b e r t S t r e i t z ,

T h e D i s

a p p e a r i n g C o m p u t e r

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f N o r b e

r t S t r e i t z ,

T h e D i s a p p e a r i n g C

o m p u t e rresearch topic:


Personal.Aura; Hello.Wall

Personal.Aura, along with Hello.Wall and View.

Port, was created by Norbert Streitz in 2001 to create

a system of technology in which a personal transmit-

ting identication device is used to connect individuals

through a wall as a separate source of reading the

data. The Personal.Aura mobile device enables us-

ers to control their appearance deciding whether theywant to be “visible” for remote colleagues, and if so, in

which “social role” they want to appear in by alternat-

ing varying ID Sticks.

View.Port is the artifact to connect Personal.

Aura with Hello.Wall. View.Port is portable sensing

technology which acts as an RFID reader to transmit

information from the ID Stick to the wall.Hello.Wall uses special light patterns to commu-

nicate information from the Personal.Aura in an ambi-

ent and unobtrusive way. In this system, co-workers

in a business setting are able to look in a single spot

(Hello.Wall) to see which co-workers are available for

physical communication, virtual communication, or not

available at all. This system can also be used betweentwo ofces in different locations to determine availabil-

ity of co-workers in different ofces.

This technology is great in that it allows indi-

viduals to sense specic personal information of oth-

ers to determine whether or not they should connect.

However, it seems that the Hello.Wall is an added step

in that you can only look in one location, the wall, to be

notied of those in which you should talk to.

This system is inteded specically for a work

setting, however could also be incorporated into a city

setting to connect perfect strangers.





Serendipity Alert

Serendipity Online Profile

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f r e a l i t y . m

e d i a . m

i t . e d u

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f r e a l i t y

. m e d i a . m

i t . e d u

research topic:


Serendipity

Serendipity is a mode of physically connecting

two strangers who match in terms of proximity and in-

terests developed by MIT’s MediaLab in 2004. It is a

cell phone enabled program in which the phone itself

is the transmitting identication device which not only

relays information, but also receives it.Serendipity consists of a central server contain-

ing an individual’s prole. These proles are similar

to those found on a social media site, however the

user is also able to provide weights that determine the

importance of each category when calculating a simi-

larity score.

When the bluetooth identier (BTID) in theuser’s cell phone senses another BTID, the phone

queries a database for a user’s prole associated with

that discovered BTID address. If the prole exists,

another script calculates a similar score between the

two strangers and if this score is above both users

set thresholds, the script returns the commonalities,

along with additional contact information, back to therespected phones.

While this technology is currently geared to-

wards matchmaking, it can be used for several other

purposes as well. It can sense buiness potentials, two

strangers currently reading the same book, or even

old high school friends that happen to pass by each

other thirty years later.

This type of BTID software can also simply be-

gin conversation between two people in close proxim-

ity, such as a coffee machine, to begin talking about

work related or social affairs.

C 0 C 0 C 03 C 0 C 05 C 06 C 0 C 08




Banjo App Interface

Banjo App Interface

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . b

u s i n e s s i n s i d e r . c o

m

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . s o c i a l t e c h p o p . c

o m

research topic:


Banjo App

Banjo is a cell phone app that acts as a mode of

connecting two strangers dependent on their physical

location. The application was rst conceived upon the

creator realizing an old friend of his had been at the

same airport terminal as him without either of them

knowing it.

To enhance the familiar stranger physical con-nection on the go, Banjo can easily discover whether

a contact is nearby or whether someone with similar

interests and a potential future colleague or business

relationship is in the vicinity.

Banjo uses real time GPS location of the us-

er’s cell phone to pin point them on the application.

The app then shows, on a real time map, friends or potential friends with similar interests. Banjo also al-

lows the user to “pre-visit” a location ahead of time

and see where people are gathering, what places to

avoid, or the happening places to eat. Banjo mixes

business with pleasure through cell phone GPS and

social media.

This technology can eventually be used to op-timized to connect independent strangers merely on

background or personal taste. We may one day be

able to type in “To Kill A Mockingbird” and see a map of

all individuals in the general vacinity who have or are

reading that book to be able to spark conversation on

that specic topic.




Grindr App INterface

Grindr App Interface

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . m

a c t r a s t . c o m

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . c h o m p . c

o m

research topic:


Grindr

Grindr is a cell phone app that acts as a mode

of connecting two strangers of the same sexual orien-

tation dependent on their physical location. The ap-

plication allows a gay male cell phone user to make

use of GPS technology and instantly locate another

guy male in his area.Grindr can be used to check out who is cur-

rently on the scene, nd a local who’d like to show you

around while on a trip, or see who’s looking to meet up

in the neighborhood.

The app utilizes GPS technology built into any

mobile device to map out which guys are closest to

the user’s current location. From there, the user candecide to share stats, show off a photo, send an in-

stant message, or reveal a current location on a map

to meet up. Grindr is a highly specic app to connect

gay men based on location and preference.

This technology can eventually be used to op-

timized to connect independent strangers merely on

background or personal taste. We may one day beable to type in “To Kill A Mockingbird” and see a map of

all individuals in the general vacinity who have or are

reading that book to be able to spark conversation on

that specic topic.




We Are Forest

We Are Forest In Action

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . p

r o d u c t o f c i r c u s t a n

c e . c

o m

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w .

p r o d u c t o f c i r c u s t a n c e . c

o m

research topic:


We Are Forest

We Are Forests is an overly scripted means

of forcing stranger virtual and physical interaction

through an art piece. Conceived by Product of Cir-

cumstance, this work begins to look at a way of con-

necting strangers through voice in the public realm,

focusing on the question, “what would you whisper in

a stranger’s ear?”.Audience members participated in a public

market space using their cell phones as a means of

connection to a custom software. The software re-

corded their voice and then played it back to everyone

else on the network (in the art piece). A mixture of pre-

recorded texts and ‘curated’ audience contributions

create an every changing narrative over the courseof the piece. Participants slowly begin to notice each

other as they make their way through the public mar-

ket, until at the end live singers appear amongst the

crowd in the market and sing the words the audience

have been speaking throughout the piece.

What is most interesting in this piece is the

use of voice. Although this is specically an art piece,perhaps future technology allows strangers to upload

voice clips to a central server in real time of what they

are experiencing in the city which others within the vi-

cinity can listen and respond to.




Mobile Dinner

Mobile Dinner

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w . u

r b a n i s m - a s . o

r g

I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f w w w .

m e d i a f a c a d e s . e

u

research topic:


Mobile DInner

Mobile Dinner is an overly scripted means of

forcing strangers from different cities to connect vir-

tually through urban screens. Designed by Johanna

Bruckner, a European dinner on a 50 meter long table

takes place in front of an urban screen in two publicspaces, such as a square in one city and a plaza in

another.

A mix of invited guests and passers-by dine and

communicate with the other table in a subsequent city

via a live stream. The installation experiments with

the play of private and public space by connecting the

very private setting of a dinner with public space andtechnology, forming unique social behavior and con-

nections between strangers.

This project poses the opportunity of poten-

tial urban media facades as a relationship terrain.

Screens such as these seen at the end of the table,

could instead be incorporated into building facades,

public plaza displays, or even the sidewalk itself to

being a form of communicative architecture between

two cities through intercultural dialog. This starts to

become much of the same processes of those looked

at in the Hole in Space.

optimizing the familiar stranger

Documents