ITP Thesis Week 2009
Monday, May 4 - Friday, May 8

Gumshuland

Benjamin Yee

Gumshuland is a social network of objects, where sneakers step forward through space and time toward spime, leaving footprints that matter.

http://gumshuland.com



It's a quirky world of investigation -- a cooperative, web-based platform that serves as a creative outlet and repository of meta-history through real world stories, physical experiments, and imagination. In Gumshuland, the sneaker object holds agency. Hopefully, production and consumption patterns will find new environmentally sustainable and socially responsible flows.

User Scenario
A human takes interest in an object's perspective. That human feels some emotion toward a pair of sneakers. That pair signs up on Gumshuland, comes to life, becomes a blogject, communicates with others, experiments with electronics, and tracks as much data as it can for future generations. Ha!

Implementation
The core of Gumshuland is built on Wordpress-MU, Buddypress, and some extra plug-ins. It is meant to exist as an adaptable, continuous process that extends as additional technologies are developed. So far, it has toyed with GPS, Nike+, AR, and Twitter. RFID, models, and increased automation in different forms are next.