Doria Fan

I started looking at RFID when I was a student at ITP, during the spring of 2006 for my thesis project, which was about object annotation (description). I was interested in how we relate to things, what these artifacts say about us, and how they often serve as proxies for relationships with people. I was taken by the idea that there is a story behind every object. We make and collect physical things — artifacts— that we attach a lot of meaning to. These objects often serve as memory triggers. I was looking at the role of objects (memorabilia, souvenirs, etc.) in storytelling and how digital media can mediate the retelling of memories. I was trying to “embed” personal histories into inanimate objects.

I‘m more interested in the narrative — qualitative than quantitative information. I’m more prone to remember a good story than facts and figures. My personal view is that of all the data we record, the most precious ones are stories. These are impressions —- real, reconstructed, or imagined memories — that are a trace of our human experience. Ultimately, the network of things, that they both write about, is connected to a network of people.

Via We Make Money Not Art