Christian Nold reprogrammed RFID tags taken from discarded OV- chip cards to get discounts in local stores in the Bijlmer. The reprogrammed tags are placed on top of regular bills. Each shop in the Bijlmer has a RFID-reader to scan the note. In this way you can follow where the money has gone in order to discover the local network of this place: a visualized network of the small shops in the Bijlmer.

Bijlmer Euro transactions

It is a network identity currency: The Bijlmer is a both a network internally (comunities) and externally (countries of origin). The aim is to visualize the bijlmer as both an economic and social network. It not only displays the rather abstract transactions when dealing with money but also the tangible relationships. The local value is emphasized as its worth more than a “regular” Euro because of the discount in the local stores. Nold’s ultimate wish is to replace Western Union with this project which starts in April. More info: bijlmereuro.net

Christian Nold

At PICNIC09 Christian Nold challenged me in the the Mediamatic RFID installation Ik win: Challenge someone with your web popularity, and let’s see and show other people how high you’re ranking based on the number of Google results. For more info see the Mediamatic Ik win website.

Winner: Christian Nold! Congratulations.

Thanks to Esther for making the pictures! More PICNIC09 pictures on Flickr.

The Recalling RFID seminar on Friday was nicely complemented by workshops on Saturday. With the Digital Methods Initiative we conducted research on various aspects of RFID on the web which resulted in five different projects. I worked on a project titled “RFID Imagery: ‘Wet’ and ‘Dry’ Associations Compared” with Esther Weltevrede, Laura van der Vlies and Richard Rogers. We researched how “wet” (as inspired by Timothy Weaver, University of Denver) the RFID imagery is according to Google.

Our findings are that the RFID imagery is very dry as as associations to the biological are limited (for example human tagging, animal chip implants, etc.) Associations with machines and machinic diagrams predominate as only eight out of the 100 results are wet. I visualized these findings in the following graphics:

click images to enlarge

More details on the project, the research method and the findings can be found on the Digital Methods Initiative wiki.

The Recalling RFID event at the Balie was a great success with an excellent seminar on Friday and a great workshop on Saturday.

Katherine Albrecht disabled Michael’s Albert Heijn Bonus card by signing it.

Timo Arnall gave an interesting talk about increasing the visibility of RFID.

On Saturday we gave a workshop with the Digital Methods Initiative where I worked on visualizing how “wet” the RFID imagery is according to Google. Of course I also made some tag clouds for other DMI projects.

The evening ended with Nabaz’mob, an opera for 100 smart rabbits.

All my Recalling RFID photos on Flickr.

Two-day public program on RFID and things to come.
19 & 20 OCTOBER 2007
DE BALIE AMSTERDAM
http://www.debalie.nl/recallingrfid

It’s in travel documents, building passes, pet animals, clothing stores, libraries, public pools, theme parks and prisons… and yet only a few of us know what RFID is. RFID (radio frequency identification) uses radio waves to identify people, animals or objects carrying encoded microchips. For government and industry, RFID signifies economic innovation, while for the futurist it marks the next stage in digital connectivity. RFID’s pervasiveness will only increase in the years to come, forcing shifts in perceptions of the public sphere and private domain.

Alongside the promise RFID brings, there are implications for security, individual privacy and beyond. If it was not already clear, RFID clues us in to the fact that in digital networks, there is no forgetting or memory loss. As such, RFID lends itself both to optimism and fear, forming a microcosm through which a collective, ambivalent relationship to technology is put on display. Recalling RFID centers around this ‘invisible’ technology with a public seminar, workshops and a smart opera. The program brings together distinctive conceptions of RFID and its uses, reconfiguring discourses as dialogue.

friday 19 oct | 10.00-17.30
SEMINAR – RECALLING RFID
Presentations and debates on RFID and digital connectivity scenarios with speakers from the industry, researchers, artists, privacy advocates, programmers and consultants. Speakers include Katherine Albrecht (CASPIAN), Bart Schermer (RFID Platform), Melanie Rieback (VU University Amsterdam), Stephan Engberg (Priway), and Willem Velthoven (Mediamatic).

saturday 20 oct | 11.00-17.00
DMI WORKSHOP – MAPPING FUTURE HISTORIES OF RFID
How are online debates surrounding RFID formatting the technology before it fully appears? The Digital Methods Initiative takes tools to the Web to capture this process, surveying ‘past futures’ as they are written. Join us in mapping the RFID debate and making useful histories of the present.

saturday 20 oct | 19.00, 20.30, 22.00
NABAZ’MOB – OPERA FOR 100 SMART RABBITS
A magic opera featuring one hundred Nabaztag smart rabbits in a musical and choreographic partition in three movements, composed by the French artists Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birgé. A poetic metaphor for a future of pervasive digital connectivity.

TICKETS

SEMINAR: € 20 incl. lunch (students € 10)
DMI WORKSHOP: € 20 incl. lunch (students € 10)
NABAZ’MOB OPERA: € 3,50

BUY OR RESERVE TICKETS ONLINE:
http://www.debalie.nl/recallingrfid

Recalling RFID is a collaboration between De Balie, the Institute for Network Cultures, and Rob van Kranenburg.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
RECALLING RFID
two-day public program on RFID and things to come.

19 & 20 OCTOBER 2007
DE BALIE AMSTERDAM
http://www.debalie.nl/recallingrfid

Repost from Institute of Network Cultures

Timo Arnall, Einar Sneve Martinussen and Jørn Knutsen and I built an RFID Photo Booth at the Mediamatic RFID & Physical Computing Hackers Camp. We think it looks absolutely beautiful and we can’t wait for people to actually use it.

If you are visiting the PICNIC festival check it out in the Extraction Hall East (Zuiveringshal Oost) with your Rabobank RFID chip. Invite your friends, the more the merrier, scan your RFID badge and smile!

The RFID Photobooth project page.

The RFID Photobooth Flickr photo page.