Intel Student Design '09

StoryObjects: Communicating the Provenance
of Everyday Objects

Provenance(n): the origin or earliest know history of something
-Origin French, from Latin provenire ‘come from’.
from Oxford English Dictionary

The objects of our everyday lives have a backstory, as well as a continuously emerging history, that we might never discover without doing a bit of research. Each object contains a concept, a designer, a fabricator, and materials from which it is made, but the owner/user of that object rarely knows what the story of that object is. At the same time, once objects are acquired and put into use, they take on a life of their own in which they might have experiences and interactions with both people and other objects. These experiences and interactions can then be embedded within the object, creating an ongoing contextual history, until the product is finally dismantled, recycled, or repurposed... at which point, it begins this cycle all over again. Ubiquitous computing technologies provide the tools for embedding information within objects as well as communicating that information to the personal, mobile devices we carry with us every day.

Recently, a number of corporations and food distributers have begun to embed their products with backstory as a demonstration of social responsibility and accountability. Dole Organic has added a farm number to their organic bananas, in which the buyer can go to the dole website, enter the farm number and see pictures of the farm where their fruit was grown and hear stories from the farmers. The Japanese Food Safety Commission has placed RFID tags or QR codes on food products which allows users to access information about where the product was harvested, where it was packed and how it was shipped. As shoppers become more concerned about the origin of their produce and products for both health and safety and ethical reasons, instant access to kind of information through ones’ mobile phone allows people to make informed decision about the products they buy.

This project will consist of the design and fabrication of a piece of custom furniture for the new School of Cinematic Arts Lucas Building. We will embed this piece of furniture with information that will be accessible when a user comes within close proximity of the object. The objects’ backstory will be embedded into this object using technologies such as RFID tags, bluetooth, QR codes, and various sensors. The embedded information will then be transmitted to a users mobile phone, with more pieces of the story becoming available as the user spends more time with the object. Furthermore, the object will collect information about its usage and interactions, and also allow users to leave behind digital traces of their experience.

Pre-Production and Production of Object

The Embedded Stories:
Where the materials came from; if reclaimed, what was the wood used for before? if harvested wood, where did it come from? Are nails used, glues?
-pictures of previous object that used the wood
-picture of the kind of tree the materials came from
-diagram of the object, piece by piece
-if a piece of the old lucas building is integrated, what was the location and use of that piece of the object? what is it made of?
Who made the Object:
-video of the production process
-still images of the production process, design sketches
-interviews with the person/people who are making the object

The Stories:

Materials
MGM Wood (if used)
What stages?
Photos of stages from 1938 (when Wizard of Oz was filmed)
Early Studio Images
Records of original construction of stages

Lucas Building Material
What room?
Photos of room/material in the room
If from 108, significance of Room 108
History of original Lucas Building

Some initial research on materials in case we have the piece of furniture made from MGM sound stage wood:

From the USC Libraries Photo Archive; Culver City, 1918

Here is a mock-up of what a diagram with stories might look like. Not sure if this would be a phone view or web view, but just trying to think about access to information and how to store the information for future viewing and documenting.

Below are some notes and a list of To-Do's for the Provenance Project. Mostly need to find a web developer type to help implement the database, push notifications and other stuff that is needed.

The table is finished! I picked it up today and it looks pretty cool. It is made from both the podium (pictured below) and the wood that was reclaimed from Stage 28 of MGM Studios in Culver City! Urban Woods designed and Fabricated the table and the initial sketch is also attached. the table top was designed to retain the shape of the top of the podium, so that it is sort of recognizable as the object it was in its past life.

Next steps:
-Mount Mac Mini into the underside of the table.
-Figure out a way to limit the bluetooth proximity of the mac mini... it currently has a reach of about 10 meters, which would be approximately at the elevators of the second floor of SCA. It would be ideal to get the bluetooth sensing down to about 3 meters, so you would be closer to the table.
-Organize all of the content and how it is going to be delivered.

more images below...