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Digital Culture: The Changing Dynamics
these issues into the systems architecture and see them not as problems, not as
drawbacks but as challenges to overcome at all levels of a successful introduction of
new technologies. “One story is about RFID being used by employers to impose a
watchful ‘eye’ over employees, while another illustrates the technology’s ability to
prevent a life-shattering nightmare. As with any technology, RFID is intrinsically
neither good nor evil; it is only what people do with it that ultimately determines its
impact.” 9
As a remarkably consistent argument, this intrinsic technological neutrality is in
the vicinity of (relatively) new technologies whose change rate from disruptive to
enabling is now under five years. According to the 2007 IDTechEx RFID Europe
conference in Cambridge, RFID is “an enabling technology that provides safety,
security, cost reduction, increased sales, reduced crime and much more”. During my
stay as coach at Industrial Design/Technical University Eindhoven (2006-07),
specifically tailored for designing embedded intelligence products and services, there
were no critical design-focused assignments. During a 2006 lecture at Amsterdam
Polytechnic a group of students related how they were engaged in a pilot with the
Dutch Mail, building RFID readers into mailboxes. I then realized how easy it is and
how inevitable for new technologies that build on the conceptual frameworks of their
predecessors (within the range of the “ordinary”) to present themselves as successors
to previously tried and successful solutions as the barcode in educational settings.
The project managers of the early adopters offer intriguing projects to the project and
internship bureaus of academies and technical universities who accept them
immediately without question. The teachers guiding the project from the schools just
keep an eye on the process and project management, as they have no experience
content wise and no overview of these new technologies. The students implement
whatever needs to be implemented. The Flemish headline TV news on 6 August 2007
carried an item on contactless bracelets for children – Ionkids 10 – “for freedom and
safety” – that will give parents notice when they stray too far. RFID is not mentioned
but thus introduced in a mental framework of security, peace of mind and user
control.
9 http://www.rfidupdate.com/articles/index.php?id=914
10 http://www.ion-kids.com/
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