Monday we have to send out a document describing our research and our design challenge. Here’s mine:
How might we enable creation/sharing/marketing of fictional or real stories about objects, using locative social networks?
I want to enable people to tell stories about objects and places, in the city. In this way, I want to enable creation of stories (fictional and real ones), communication/sharing of them and marketing through them. I want to explore the potential of locative media from a storytelling perspective in order to rise awareness about everyday objects life cycle and life span.
Systems like Gowalla, Foursquare and Nokia Vine exploit the GPS embedded in mobile devices and the access of the contact list from Facebook, Gmail, etc to build locative social network and game. Companies are trying to advertise and target the market through those systems.
A storytelling tool around objects can be the way they do that. Using as an entry point the shops themselves, where the objects are sold, you can encourage people to track the story of the object they’re buying. On the other end, the shops can advertise themselves and share the stories around their own shop. Stories can be the center of something in between a marketing campaign and book crossing.
Another possibility is a storytelling tool around the shops themselves. Imagine to have access to the stories of the little Pakistani shop at the corner. From thins angle, the tool can be use for integration and rediscovery of neighborhoods.On another level, the stories themselves can be either fictional or real: imagination can be the way to explore new possibilities.
