SPACE

Even if you don’t know what a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag is, you’ve probably used one, whether it’s at your local grocery store checkout, using an Oyster Card, tracking a package you’re waiting to be delivered or in your passport at the airport.

RFID is the barcode of the future. It is a unique identification code that can be tracked through radio waves, sometimes without human contact or knowledge. RFID may help create a real-life internet, where objects can communicate with each other to create complex networks, exchange useful information, and do things for you in every day life. But it could also have a major impact on commercial industry, security and privacy.

Tagged: A one-day event included:

• An introductory address by Dr. Humberto Moran of Open Source Innovations, addressing the role of free open source software and privacy-friendly technologies as a way of maximising the social and environmental benefits of RFID
• Three concurrent small group demos/discussions on RFID technology by Tagged workshop instructors Peter Chauncy (RFID: A Technical Overview), Paula Roush (Spychips) and Chun Lee (Interfacing RFID with Pure Data)
  
• A panel discussion on the implication of electronic tagging on day-to-day living, including privacy and security issues, chaired by Ann Light (Leonardo Network, Queen Mary University of London) and including Roush, Dr. Moran, Chris Ranger (NHS National Patient Safety Association) and Neil Gerrard (MP for Walthamstow).
• Informal presentations by artists working with tagging technologies, including Julie Freeman, Dominic Harris and Marcus Kirsch (whose project URBAN EYES will be on exhibition).

During this event, SPACE Media Arts launched the new Tagged commissioning program for artists with an open call for proposals.