Report from Mediamatic RFID and Physical Computing Hackers Camp

I recently participated in the Mediamatic RFID and Physical Computing Hackers Camp.

Here are some findings about the technical set-up and the project made:

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RFID Reader:

A USB based board with integrated Antenna.

http://www.sonmicro.com/1356/sm132.php

It is for HF (High Frequency) cards, such as Mifare, also similar to used by Oyster Card (London Transport) and NFC tags developed by Nokia etc for phone based tagging and payment.

How to get the data: you need to install the driver of course (uses FTDI USB Serial chip - same as Arduino) then you need to send the module messages in hex to get it to

For PICINC this was done by a script from Marco W. It sets the board to read continuously the ID type and serial number of any

In Mac OS X, make sure you have Perl + Serial Port module installed (that took lot longer than I thought!!) and run from command line - something like this.

[pic of terminal]

The PICNIC Network:

Part of the rationale for the workshop and the projects generated was to make use of the PICNIC Network as set up for the visitors to the PICNIC'07 conference. The content management system is a version of anyMeta developed by Mediamatic. Mediamatic.net also runs on this system. It creates a profile for each user and then allows them to add keywords or 'tags' to their profile.

http://www.picnicnetwork.org/

[pic my profile page]

During the PICNIC'07 conference visitors and staff were also given a Mifare RFID key fob, that could be connected to their PICNIC Network profile when registered.

In fact the system as such would allow any RFID tag or card to be registered. The technical spec would be that it was HF RFID type tag such as Mifare. (Apparently in Holland citizens usually carry up to 3 tagged ID cards or transport tickets already. London citizens could have tried their Oyster card. Gizmondo citizens could have tried their Nokia 6131 NFC phone, unfortunately even l though I had the last two, I had to leave early so couldn't try them. )

[pic of tag]

The project I worked on:

Before the workshop I had submitted some ideas that I would like to discuss and maybe develop.

These were titled 'Badge Collector' and 'Touch and plus'

The badge idea seemed to have more resonance for some of the participants,

However the original idea of actually making active RFID badges was put aside, as too technically difficult for this stage.

There was some debate about whether you can just mount a RFID tag sticker on a button badge, but unsure whether it interferes with antenna and transmission of signal.

So I had an idea to virtualise the badge collecting and visualise it using a magic mirror display. This was worked on for some time day one, a demo visualiser was made.

In discussion it was noted that the mirror display is quite 1 person, so it misses the idea that people make social networks and sociabilty through looking and sharing the badges, and its missed in the mirror display which is quite a private experience.

Group were selected - I was lucky to be joined by Mark Wubben and Audrey, then we truly were worked on the project together.

The project was then brainstormed further and became more about a profiling and grouping application that would corresponds to stickers or badges printed on demand.

12 groups were made based on a manual and then algorithmic analysis of the keywords users had added to their profile. There were about 100 keywords set up on the system that related to work and hobbies, professions etc.

The 12 groups were first called 'signs' as in star signs - and hence the 12. Then it became apparent to call them after animals.

In the time some icons were made from a font set that is quite cutesy, but appealed to a certain playfulness. The animals were hedgehog, koala, mouse, bird, bull, monkey, owl, deer, bear, dolphin, fox, penguin.

Thus the name of the project became 'badger' another mysterious animal.

The sticker machine was made from an inject printer linked to a mac and the Mifare reader. Scripted to read the tag ID, find the profile from database, parse the profile keywords and then assign an animal sign. Then controlled by an Applescript, which printed out a set of stickers from a file. (Great work there by Mark Wubben!)

It would have been hoped to have a automated button press, that just spit out badges pre-pressed (but those are £5000+)

Further developments - as suggested/commented

• customised badges, the image made on the badge is somehow scraped from images in the Picnic network then assigned to the user profile, ie carnivore or driftnet.
  
• the original 'tag' badge,
  
• the future fully electronic badge, something like the nfc phone - tag and reader in one, protoype in thought - 1st version maybe 5" diameter!