Proximity contacts – an experiment on reversed location-based social networking
Feb 16 2009
Countless location-based services offer social networking features, allowing to interact with peers based on their current physical location. But they all rely on the need for everybody involved to be a member of that service. In this conceptual excursion, I created a prototype of a reversed networking LBS, that could allow for social interaction without joining any web service …if only the asumptions it is based on were a bit more real!
This concept is an individual spin-off of a group programming exercise created during Jürgen Scheible’s “Rapid mobile prototyping with Python for S60″ workshop at Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki.
Bookmark your friends
Location-based social networking is hip. But with the huge amount of different services around, it is almost impossible to get all friends to use one service – not to talk about the challenge to get them sign up for one at all.
The idea behind this experiment was to reverse social networking: instead of creating virtual relationships (“add as friend” etc.), this software would enable to “bookmark” real-life contacts in order to enable spontaneous meetings on proximity.
The concept and its prototype
Image caption: Screenshot of the Python prototype on a S60 phone
The idea of this concept is simple: Since everybody is nowadays carrying an electronic device, the signals sent out by that device could be detected by the software. Currently, only Bluetooth offers this possibility, therefore the technology of choice in the prototype.
To add a new “bookmark”, the user would ask the software to scan the environment for all Bluetooth devices and then save the ID of the friend’s device under a user-defined nickname.
Now, whenever the software is running, the user would get an alert as soon as the contact is in proximity.
Reflection – and why this is not by any means realistic
First of all: it works! Since this was an exercise in a prototyping workshop, this is a great success. The software, written in Python for Nokia Series S60, runs on a Nokia smartphone and detects the proximity of previously bookmarked Bluetooth devices.
But! Considering the real value of this idea, the verdict is as clear: almost useless. The problem is manifold:
- not all mobiles have Bluetooth, and often it is disabled (which is wise for security reasons),
- the “proximity” of Bluetooth is almost identically with visual contact, so the software does not provide any real value and
- bookmarking other peoples’ devices has a taste of stalking and/or big brother.
Still, I believe that this kind of proximity networking would be a lot more natural than having tens of friends sign up for a mobile service that would require constant user activity. The idea of “bookmarking” real-life persons – and why not objects or places – is fascinating. It could well provide the basis for a new kind of “personally relevant” digital products – if only it wouldn’t bring along a huge amount of privacy implications.
