The Corporate Fallout Detector
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James Patten, a Ph.D. candidate in the Tangible Media Group at MIT's Media Lab, has invented the Corporate Fallout Detector.
The device scans barcodes of goods, and makes a clicking noise based on the environmental or ethical record (selectable via the "sensitivity" switch) of the manufacturer. The more "click click" you hear, the worse are the ethics of the company. The products on the shelves in a store look more or less the same whether they were manufactured using child labor, or they increase pollution, etc. These aspects of products are like nuclear radiation (invisible, dangerous, complex), which is part of the reason Patten designed the Corporate Fallout Detector to look and sound like one of those Geiger counterm sold to the public in the cold war era. The goal is primarily to encourage awareness and curiosity, rather than to serve as an educated consumer’s sole source of information. The work got an honorary mention for transmediale 2005. |
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This clever device needs to be distilled down into a service you can use from your cameraphone. Like the cellphone amazon price checker. Read More
Super Sache: der Corporate Fallout Detector Produktbarcode scannen, und das Gerät frägt eine Datenbank nach dem "Ethik-Wert" eines Unternehmens. Das Ding sieht nicht nur aus wie Geigerzähler, sondern knattert auch so. Je mehr Kinderarbei... Read More
Nachdem der Erfolg von Publikationen wie dem Schwarzbuch Markenfirmen auf zumindest oberflächliches Interesse bei Konsumenten für die nicht immer ganz sauberen Aktivitäten größerer Unternehmen schließen lässt, erscheint der von MIT Studenten entwickelte C Read More
Our beloved Régine Debatty, in her Near Near Future weblog, recently linked to a couple of services allowing you -- the consumer -- to know... Read More
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hey people at near near future.
i love ur blog.
very stimulating.
i liked this perticular post. i think if NGOs like O2 sponsor this device to be used in shopping malls along with carts, it'll really make the manufacturer's take action.
keep it up guys.
do visit my design blog.
amogh
EXCELENT.
I love it.
Now we need a cellphone program to do the same thing... I know cellphones can scan certain barcodes, wonder if they can do the traditional ("2d"?) barcodes.
Great art idea though. They should do a gallery set up to look like a supermarket, and let participants play.