From Why Things Matter: a Manifesto on Networked Objects- Cohabitating with Pigeons, Arphids, and Aibos in the Internet of Things. Via BoingBoing.
This paper by Julian Bleecker describes a world that is connected beyond the scope of RFID and other network sensors. Julian writes about a world where everyday objects known as Blogjects, blog. Off site link to PDF.
While the piece has several nuggets that I found interesting, I liked this one.
Take the Pigeon that Blogs, for example — an early protozoa on the Blogject species evolutionary chain. The Pigeon that Blogs is a project by Beatriz da Costa. It’s a pigeon, or more precisely, a flock of pigeons that are equipped with some telematics to communicate on the Internet wirelessly, a GPS device for tracing where its been flying, and an environmental sensor that records the levels of toxins and pollutants in the air through which they fly. These are the bits of data that the flocks “blog.” They disseminate their flight paths, probably viewable on a Google Map, together with information about the current toxic state of the local atmosphere. The Pigeon that Blogs is a mash-up of GPS, GSM communications technology and pollution sensors represents a full-order species evolution. It’s a pigeon pollution Google Maps mash-up.
In addition to great passages like this one, Bleecker also discusses the social effects of Things that blog and how humans will have to maintain new relationships with Things now that they have become information circulators. But this isn't just ordinary information. This would be information that changes how laws are made. Information that can shape our world into a new place. All of a sudden pigeons and rodents become important.
This brings whole new meaning to the term peer production. Is this Thing production? Will new services like Flickr develop solely to allow people and Things to interact socially? Can a person have a social relationship with a flock of Pigeons?
Or even more mind bending and not addressed in the piece, occurs where personal things start to Blog. Not our tooth brushes, but what about our contact lenses? Do you see what I see?
I think this is a pretty good stopping point.
