Talk of tunA being developed the other day is hugely exciting. Just as Antimega Chris’s earlier, related idea was. Both make me wonder about what these interactions mean within a social space, though. Most of our existing shared social transactions in shared physical space are visible (or tangible in some way). What does it mean to leave these transactions invisible? Anything? Nothing?
Turn on Bluetooth scanning in a social space (pub) these days and you pick up nearby devices (phones) labelled "Dave’s 7650", "Stef’s mobile", "Keith Watson P800" etc. (and consequently are quite tempted to send these strangers that photo you took in the urinal moments before.) You tend not to (generally!) due to the possibility of physical detection and, er, meaningful interaction, I guess.
tunA and the like will enable a series of benevolent transactions with strangers, friend, anyone with the right gear. Do we want to make this visible? tunA’s image of sharing on the bus is nice. Do we want to make that sharing akin to a physical, social transaction? Would a visual nod of recognition – of receipt – add meaning to the otherwise invisible, inaudible digital transation?
My previous note ending up at smart clothes was slightly tongue-in-cheek (I’m not sure about the whole smart clothes thing in general), but I still found myself doodling this rough visualisation of how headphones linked to clothing which is reactive in some way could make these transactions casually visible:
City of Sound 
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