The Familiar Stranger

The folks over at Intel seem to be getting away from the development theory that all their new products should support increased use of their processors in the main pc, (such as the cool toys they make that use the pc to view and process its data) and instead are creating designs to imbed their chips in our environment. This device attaches to you or other places or people, and tells you when you're in places you've been before or when you're near familiar people, as well as a few other things.

The neat thing about this study is that it shows how we move, and how relationships exist between us and other people that we don't consciously recognize. We are part of groups we don't know about, and those groups have the potential to become communities. Although some of the scenarios are a bit doubtful, it's a great example of personalizing a place to your own needs and learning more about your environment and those around you via technologies you control.

The Familiar Stranger: Anxiety, Comfort, and Play in Public Places, 2003
Eric Paulos and Elizabeth Goodman
[Full-text pdf]