Today’s 'smart devices' are a product of the technology and mental models of our past. From a connected lightbulb to a robot vacuum, using most of these devices requires a native app. This in turn greatly limits their contexts of use. Can we really expect users to download an app to interact with a random ’thing’ they encounter at the mall, a space they explore for an hour at the museum, or a city they will only visit for a day? What devices could we build, what 'smart' environments could we enable if users could simply discover, “walk up and use”(and then if needed, abandon) these objects and environments as they do a web site? This workshop will discuss two new technologies--Physical Web and Web Bluetooth--that can enable on-demand interaction with physical things and spaces using no more than a browser.

1. Immaterials: Light Painting Wi-fi explored the invisible terrain of WiFi networks in urban spaces by light painting signal strength in long-exposure photographs.
physical web
exploring the
a workshop for UX Lisbon 2016

2. • A brief history
• Understanding Physical Web and Web Bluetooth.
• Three key use cases.
• Design considerations
Coffee Break :-)
• Group exercise (~35 minutes)
• Group discussion (~45 minutes)
Workshop agenda

3. In this workshop, we will discuss the Physical Web and Web
Bluetooth: two unrelated but highly complimentary technologies
that enable us to create signposts and pathways between the
web and physical world.

4. Image source: Wired
The number of smart devices is going
to explode, and the assumption that
each new device will require its own
application just isn't realistic.
We need a system that lets anyone
interact with any device at any time…
[this] isn’t about replacing native apps,
it’s about enabling interaction when
native apps just aren't practical.
— Scott Jenson, Physical Web Lead, Google
“

5. 1. A brief history
5

6. The Physical Web isn’t our first attempt to place digital markers
within the physical world. Most older approaches in fact are still in
use as they serve slightly different use cases.

7. QR codes (Japan, 1994)
Invented for use in retail but rapidly
adopted across industries.
Advantages
• Cheap to implement and distribute.
• Can hold up to 1000 bytes of data.
• Easily discoverable.
Disadvantages
• Hard to scan from a distance.
• Many people think they’re ugly.
• Most people (outside Asia) don’t
have a QR code reader.

8. QR codes (Japan, 1994)
• Invented for use in retail but rapidly
adopted across industries.
• Advantages
• Cheap. Easy to implement.
• Disadvantages (practical)
• Hard to scan from a distance.
• One to one: If you’re close enough
to scan the code then (probably)
no-one else can scan it.
• Disadvantages (sociocultural)
• Most people (outside Asia) don’t
have a QR code reader.
• Many people think they’re ugly.
RFID, NFC (1983, 2002)
• Both employ radio signals to
exchange data between nearby
objects.
Advantage
• Proximity often requires explicit
user action, which improves trust,
and makes these technologies ideal
for payment and identification.
Disadvantage
• Poor discoverability. Must be
signposted or rely on learned
behaviour.
British Airways NFC + e-
paper baggage tag prototype

9. Proximity marketing 1.0 (2004)
• A small server broadcasts short
messages, images, mp3s etc. into
a space using Bluetooth.
Disadvantage
• Anyone nearby with Bluetooth
turned on received the broadcast.
• Was mostly used for advertising
so became a form of spam (which
forced many people to shut
Bluetooth off).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/voyages-provence/13541325644

10. Apple iBeacon (2013)
• Small battery powered Beacons
broadcast messages to iOS + Android
apps using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
• Only the app that matches the beacon
ID recognizes the broadcast.
Advantage
• Users aren’t bombarded with messages
from brands they don’t already have a
relationship with.
Disadvantage
• Users without the specific app that matches
the beacon can’t discover/take advantage
of the data or service it provides.
*kontakt.io beacon shown

11. iBeacon On iOS, a user’s app will automatically
receive a broadcast each time it passes by a
beacon—even if the app is in background
mode or switched off.
Advantage
• If a user walks by several beacons, it’s
therefore possible track their path and use
it to trigger location-relevant offers or
notifications (i.e. a user’s gate number
when they enter the airport).
Disadvantage
• Potential privacy concerns.
• Even if the user likes a brand,
automatically triggered notifications can
rapidly become annoying.

12. The goal of the Physical Web isn’t to replace these technologies,
but to address some of their challenges by leveraging the ‘super-
powers’ of URLs and the open, flexible, decentralised and
universally supported web.

13. 2. How does the Physical Web work?
15

14. The Physical Web (PW) is an open-source* project. Google
initiated the technology, and has the most widespread
implementation (~800m devices) through Chrome on Android and
iOS—but there’s already a large ecosystem of other contributors.
It’s all open source!
*Visit GitHub to download the source and/or contribute to these conversations.

15. 1. The beacon
(a thing that
broadcasts a URL)
The Physical Web is pretty simple—it has three parts
2. The scanner/browser
(a thing that scans for, retrieves
and displays a list of URLs)
3. Proxy
(user advocate)
optional cloud
service
The specifications for all three are open source.

16. What is a beacon?
BLE radio transmitter
(intermittently on, sips power
compared to regular BT)
low-cost, long-life
(~2yrs) battery or
other power source
many beacons also include
some form of remote
management appThis beacon is by Estimote (but there are many others)
many sizes and
form factors

17. A beacon’s (only) job is to repeatedly* transmit
a signal that other devices can see.
The message itself is transmitted using a BLE
‘advertising packet’, a standard broadcast
format limited to 17 bytes.
Once in range, Bluetooth-equipped devices like
a smartphone can “see” the beacon and
receive its broadcast (if BT is switched on).
*recommended every 700 milliseconds
broadcast range
What it does

18. Unidirectional broadcast
The Bluetooth ‘advertising’ function
is by-design unidirectional.
• A single beacon can advertise to
multiple nearby smartphones but
these devices cannot send data back
to the beacon.
• Beacons also cannot physically
detect when clients scans them so
cannot track passers-by.

19. to broadcast URLs could also be
attached or embedded into all sorts of
smart (and otherwise dumb) things around us
https://www.flickr.com/photos/naan/2398024748
…in the near future, the ability
Permanently
broadcasts “I love you”
Turn me
off from a
distance
Change my
colour!
Check what materials
i’m made of when
Craigslisting me.
Understand how
I work and where
to recycle me

20. 2. The scanner/browser
As the beacons broadcast URLs, the most common scanners are
(and will probably remain?) web browsers.
Chrome
Android + iOS
~800M devices
Opera
(Labs browsers)
Mozilla
(Beta)
Microsoft Edge
(coming soon)
Safari Mobile
????

21. Unlike iBeacon, there is
however no background
scanning. All scanning for
URLs must be user-initiated.
As the Physical Web is new,
users will probably not scan
unless they’re aware of nearby
content, or notice the logo.
(This is how the ‘normal’ web began as
well :-)

22. How do you ‘scan’ (in Chrome)
A user opens their Android Notification
screen or Today Widget on iOS.
If there are beacons nearby, they will see a
low priority (no vibration) notification. Tapping the notification displays a list of
all beacons within range, showing their
URL, page title, description and favicon*.
…displayedinorderofproximity
*see this article for details of metadata retrieval in each browser
(Behaviour varies by browser)

23. And then…?
https://webPage.io
That’s (technically) it. The beacon’s job is done. All subsequent
interactions between the user and brand take place ‘on the web’.
https://shortURL.io
user taps to load the
page (on the internet
—the beacon does
not serve the page)

24. The proxy sits in between the beacon and the user. A proxy is
optional but serves two important purposes: improve
performance and protect the user.
The Chrome proxy is called the Physical Web Service (PWS).
Other browsers have a similar (but probably not identical) service.
3. The proxy
*more details on the PWS and its role

25. What it does
https://shortURL.io
2
1
(based on Google’s PWS…each proxy is a bit different)
parses the
document to
extract
metadata• final URL
• page title
• description
• favicon

26. What it does
https://shortURL.io
BEACONS BOOKMARKTOP SITES
Search or enter address
Haro Sushi and Izakaya
haro-sushi.com
Hons on Robson
hons-noodles.com
2
analysis +
optimisation
4
1
one-way broadcast
(based on Google’s PWS…each proxy is a bit different)
parses the
document to
extract
metadata
3
• final URL
• page title
• description
• favicon

27. Security + privacy
Masks the user’s device information from a web site until the
user has chosen to interact with it.
Ensures site doesn’t contain SPAM or malicious content.
De-duplication*
If several beacons with the same URL are used within a space
the user's will only see one URL.
Optimisation
Augments and enriches the basic results to improve usefulness
and usability. e.g. sorting, ranking and filtering for relevance
User benefits
*Chrome only (for now)

28. Miscellaneous FAQ

29. HTTPS only (on Chrome*)
All communications between your browser and the website are
encrypted.
All interactions are ‘on the web’
Once a user selects a site, all subsequent interactions take place
on the web so automatically conform to privacy-preserving
behaviours such as opting-in to enable geolocation or web
notifications.
Q: Are any other user safeguards built in?
*For now. Other scanners will hopefully emulate this.

30. No. There are many ways to broadcast a URL. Today, the Physical
Web uses BLE because of its ubiquity on mobile devices today.
Additionally, it is highly energy efficient—many bluetooth beacons
today have multi-year battery lives.
The hope however, is that other useful formats will be supported.
Two strong candidates are mDNS and uPnP—transport protocols
that enables users who are logged into wi-fi to discover beacons
broadcasting on that same wi-fi network.
Q: Will/does the Physical Web only support BLE?
See Github for the latest discussions on mDNS

31. An outstanding issue with wi-fi based protocols is that the devices
that are most likely to broadcast this way (e.g. TVs, printers, smart
home appliances) will most likely broadcast a local IP address
rather than a public URL.
The (cloud-based) proxy will therefore not be able to follow this link
to retrieve the page title and description, perform customary security
checks, or further optimise the discovery experience.
Challenges with wi-fi based discovery
See Github for the latest discussions on local IP-based discovery.

32. Eddystone is a new open source protocol specification from Google
that defines a BLE message format for proximity interactions.
Eddystone broadens what can be done with beacons by
broadcasting up to four formats (or ‘frame’ types):
• Eddystone UID, EID and TLM—Which all work with apps and
enable interactions similar to iBeacon.
• Eddystone URL—Which the Physical Web is now based on and works
with a browser.
Q: What is Eddystone?

33. Thought experiment:
Does the scanner have to be a browser?

34. No. The browser is merely an app that incorporates the
Physical Web specification. This specification is open source,
so companies could build the ability to “see” Physical Web
URLs into other apps.

35. “…the watches glow and vibrate
when you walk somewhere in the real world
that corresponds with somewhere in
Pokémon Go's virtual world”
Source: The Verge - Pokemon Go Plus hands on photos

36. https://www.flickr.com/photos/25958224@N02/8122856863
…an antenna implanted in
his skull allows him to
‘hear’ the racks upon
racks of brightly coloured
packaging in the aisles as
a sensor converts colour
frequencies into sound.
- Vice: The Creator’s Project
“
artist Neil Harbisson

37. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A
Dream" painted by Neil Harbisson.
which means Neil can listen to paintings…
TED: I listen to color
and also paint everything he hears.
Each colour is assigned an audible frequency,

38. 3. Three key use cases
40

39. Use case 1: Pure discovery (“A much smarter QR code”)
Use case 2: Interact with moderately “smart” things
Use case 3: Directly control an object

40. tadaslab on Instagram
“Call a taxi” button attached to a tree #iot
“…the significance of
technologies such as RFID and
2D barcoding is that they offer
a low impact way to import
physical objects into the
datasphere—to endow them
with an informational shadow.
- Adam Greenfield

41. Seriously? Is that it?
That’s only marginally
more useful than typing
a URL yourself, or just
googling it…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilghamilton/10389735244
url/greatKurdishFoodNearby

42. …unless you’re waaaaay at the back
top range for beacons is currently ~100m (300ft) and while a wider
smart
poster
range will drain more power, this poster is powered, so that’s ok
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alsaarom/8258444009

43. Tube, DLR, London Overground
Part closureLondon Overgroud
Part closureNorthern
Service closedWaterloo & City
Good service
on all other
lines
Average wait at North
Entrance is 12 minutes
https://www.flickr.com/photos/oatsy40/24775669489/
you can also dynamically deep-dive
to the exact content that suit a user’s
context and location

44. https://www.flickr.com/photos/marketingfacts/6323249188/
...in Korea, grocery stores are embedded
on Subway platforms where users scan QR codes to
buy items that are delivered just-in-time for dinner

45. Snapchat Geofilters are small content bundles
that become available once a user reaches a
given (geofenced) place.
instead of merely delivering information,
the URL could provide a location-relevant
utility or experiential application

46. …or attach URLs to a “thing”
whose identity is more important
https://www.flickr.com/photos/morebyless/14246207164
Hi, i’m Narelle!
Ask me anything about
vikings (or join my
class on Thursdays and
Sundays at 14:00).
REGISTER
than its context

47. Miscellaneous FAQ

48. By design, the Physical Web does not push messages (and it
will hopefully remain this way).
You can however expand on its base behaviours by combining
it with other web technologies.
For example…
Q: Is it possible to push messages or notifications
from a Physical Web beacon?

49. https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfj/288526372
Yikes, as you can see,
we’re *really* busy!
There’s about a 20 minute
wait, but our sister location
Oishii still has three tables.
JOIN WAITLIST
SHOW ME OISHII
BOOK ANOTHER DAY
once the table is ready
customers can add their names to
Scenario:
a wait-list and receive a notification

50. 1. Once a user has joined the queue, ask her to opt-in* to Web Push
Notifications.
These will be managed by a Service Worker—a new web standard
that enables the browser to run scripts in the background—even
when the page is not open.
2. Once the customer’s table is ready, a web service will message the
service worker, that will then trigger the push notification.
User-centered push notification (…an example)
*opting-in is a default requirement for privacy sensitive web standards such as Geolocation and Push Notifications

51. Use case 1: Pure discovery (“A much smarter QR code”)
Use case 2: Interact with moderately “smart” things
Use case 3: Directly control an object
50

52. Most “smart” things we use these days are
not that smart. While they can often be
controlled using an app, very rarely does the
app “speak” directly to the thing.
A brief “smart thing” primer…

53. Instead, the app often
communicates with
the cloud, or a local
hub (or ‘bridge’)
which then relays the
command to the
device.

54. 1
Issue a command:
”Lamp on!”
For example…

55. 1
cloud
service API
The bridge in your
home receives the
command via wi-fi.
2
For example…
Issue a command:
”Lamp on!”

56. 1
cloud
service API
The bridge in your
home receives the
command via wi-fi.
2
3
It transmits the
command (P2P) to
nearby bulbs
For example…
Issue a command:
”Lamp on!”

57. 1
cloud
service API
The bridge in your
home receives the
command via wi-fi.
2
3
It transmits the
command (P2P) to
nearby bulbs
If other bulbs are too far from the
bridge, the closest bulb uses a mesh
network to pass the message along
4
For example…
Issue a command:
”Lamp on!”

58. 1
cloud
service API
The bridge in your
home receives the
command via wi-fi.
2
3
It transmits the
command (P2P) to
nearby bulbs
If other bulbs are too far from the
bridge, the closest bulb uses a mesh
network to pass the message along
4
For example…
smart
pretty
smart
less
smart
less
smart
less
smart
less
smart
smart
Issue a command:
”Lamp on!”

59. …by extending this pattern to
the web we can create all
sorts of rich and yet casual
interactions while completely
bypassing the friction of first
downloading an app
https://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottemorrall/3778508426
GUMBOT
Bet you don’t have a
quarter? Am I right or
am I right?
GUMBOT
No sweat. How about
one of these? That’ll
be $0.25 please.

60. And once you reconsider how “smart” a device
needs to be to create a useful (and convincing)
experience—you may also want to reconsider
the term ‘device’.

61. https://www.flickr.com/photos/neo_ii/7483010074
Now playing
LOGIN with SPOTIFY
VOTE FOR THE NEXT SONG
I Didn’t see it
coming
Belle and Sebastian
Monthly special for Spotify
members.
Log in to redeem your
complementary virtual jukebox
credit and choose a song we will
play in the next 18 minutes.
the music system…or the café itself?
in this scenario, is ‘the device‘

62. https://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottemorrall/3778508426
PS - Android users
can even download
the native app directly
from the plane :-)
Air Canada Rouge replaced their seat-back entertainment system with a web app
whose content is streamed from within the plane to a passenger’s personal device
(or a rented iPad). Anyone with a browser can access the service—but passengers
are incentivised to download the app to access premium content.

63. Use case 1: “A much smarter QR code”
Use case 2: Interact with moderately “smart” things
Use case 3: Directly control an object
60

64. Web Bluetooth is an open web standard that enables users
—in a secure and privacy-preserving way—to discover
smart devices, communicate with them, and use a web
page to directly control them.

65. Support levels
The technology is completely separate from the Physical Web but
highly complimentary. It is nearing launch on Chrome and is currently
testable behind a Chrome ‘flag’.
Chrome
Android + iOS
(behind Dev flag)
Opera
(Labs browser)
Mozilla
(Experimental)
Microsoft Edge
(coming soon?)
Safari Mobile
????

66. Built-in security features
HTTPS Only
All communications between your
browser and the website (and in this
case, the object) are encrypted.
User Gesture Required
As a security feature, discovering
nearby Bluetooth devices must be
called via a user gesture like a touch
or mouse click.
FitBit
Heart Rate Monitor GO9

67. Visit the thing’s URL
e.g. shown on the thing’s
package, accessible via QR
code, Physical Web beacon Tap to connect. You can now
interact with the
device!
4
How it works: Device discovery and pairing
1
Choose device and
grant permission to
pair with the device.
2
Parrot Drone
3
CONNECTED success!
PAIR
Playbill candle

69. …one more thing

70. One neat thing about BLE—is that you can also use it to create
new (personalized) web UIs for known devices*.
*whose services are exposed with the necessary read/write permissions.

71. • A standardised way for BLE devices to advertise their
services to the outside world.
• Each device has services (e.g. battery service) which has
characteristics (e.g. battery level: 0-100).
• BLE has a list of generic services for common devices such
as, but products can also create their own.
• The value of a characteristics can be read, you can also write
to it and request notifications* when the value changes.
*the web app (not the user) receives the notifications and uses them to update the UI as needed
Bluetooth (Generic Attributes) GATT 101

73. Each of these examples, taken by itself, is modestly useful.
Taken as a whole, however, they imply a vast "long tail"
where anything can offer information and utility.
— Scott Jenson, Google
“
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsome1/1243493095

74. 4. Design considerations
70

75. It used to be fairly straightforward for users to understand what a
thing was, what it could do, and how to make it do those things.
Photo of Sniff by Timo Arnall on Flickr, used with permission
Sniff - the RFID
enabled toy dog

76. With IoT (and connected things in general) this becomes far
more challenging.
Photo of Sniff by Timo Arnall on Flickr, used with permission
speaker
RFID reader
vibration motor
battery
vibration motor

77. The conceptual model is the
understanding and expectations
you want the user to have of the
system.
What components does it have,
how does it work, and how can
they interact with it? It’s the
mental scaffolding that enables
users to figure out how to
interact with your service.”
— Claire Rowland
“

78. 1
cloud
service API
2
3
4
The system might in reality do this…
Issue a command:
”Lamp on!”
The bridge in your
home receives the
command via wi-fi.
It transmits the
command (P2P) to
nearby bulbs
If other bulbs are too far from the
bridge, the closest bulb uses a mesh
network to pass the message along

79. But (if you’re lucky) the user sees (something like) this…

80. It’s OK for a user’s conceptual model
to be incorrect, so long as this
doesn’t prevent them from easily
and safely operating the product.
But (if you’re lucky) the user sees (something like) this…

81. The whole point of using the web to
interact with things and spaced is it
to enable random, often one-time
interactions that occur ‘in the wild’.
In this context (whether we like it or
not) there will often be little time or
incentive for a user to ‘properly’
learn how things work.
https://twitter.com/collision/status/729166303253041152

82. The guidelines in this section tend to work best the more of them
you implement. The ultimate goal is to enable users to quickly and
easily develop a useful and plausible conceptual model.

83. i. Tune the brain’s broadcast range
Tune the range to aid discoverability and clarify the
relationship between the object and the space it inhabits.

84. *The advertising range can drop significantly if adjacent to walls which are made of metal or brick.
BLE has a typical unobstructed broadcast range of 70-100m*.
Most beacons allow you to adjust their beacon’s transmission
power—which will in effect—adjust this range.
An ideal setting prioritises user context while being mindful of
beacon battery life (>power = >battery consumption).
Sample beacon range for a Kontakt.io beacon.

85. Unnecessarily wide or
greatly overlapping ranges
can result in premature
discovery, introduce
ambiguity and increase
cognitive load.Is there actual value in
being able to “see” this
parking meter’s URL from
100m away? Are you
merely creating noise?

86. Tuning the range to minimise or avoid overlap
can reduce friction, minimise errors, and
increase trust in the overall service.

87. This is particularly important if
the service has a cost
(…which in the case of a
vending machine might prove a
minor inconvenience, while in
the case of the parking meter
could result in a substantial
fine or a towed vehicle!)
How costly is human error in
this particular context?

88. https://www.flickr.com/photos/crondeau/14314596362/
url/specialExhibitDouglasCoupland
url/thisDonutThingHereThatDougWantsHelpIdentifying
Douglas Coupland, “The Brick Wall”, 2005/2014 assemblage with pieces
from the following toys and various untraceable construction sets.
this technique isn’t limited to
objects you interact with…

89. ii. Provide clear (and ideally) real-time feedback
Strong feedback improves learnability, promotes trust
and helps users feel in-control.

91. iii. Use consistent signposting
Content in the physical environment should—where
possible—match that used on the web interface.

92. Space
#2304
Meter
#2304
Meter #2304
Main St, 10 m from Fir St.
$2.50FOR 1 HOUR
PARK HERE
ends at 13:47pm

93. SPOT is brilliantly simple
way to improve usability
and increase trust.
“Tap a colored button and
look for the Uber with the
matching colored SPOT
light. Passengers can
even hold down on one of
the buttons to turn their
phone that colour and
wave it in the air to help
their driver find them.”

94. iv. Provide just enough content
Consider how much content you really need.

95. there’s nothing wrong with simply mirroring
a beacon architecture to its physical
https://www.flickr.com/photos/morebyless/14246207164
url/grandGallery
url/artDesign
url/artDesign
url/artDesign
url/naturalWorld
url/naturalWorld
url/naturalWorld
and virtual equivalent

96. Does my interaction with this
flower pot require much more
than a disembodied record-
set?
[yes]
[no]
[maybe]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/badlydrawn/15972048661
SODERHAMN
Find it in store
105.523.23
Aisle: Location: 0227
Download
instructions
If however, the information’s role is
to help complete a specific task—
then the content should probably be
more specific to that task.

97. Does my interaction with
this flower pot require
much more than a
disembodied record-set?
[yes]
[no]
[maybe]
Source: Estimote Nearables

98. https://www.flickr.com/photos/crondeau/14314596362/
Douglas Coupland, “The Brick Wall”, 2005/2014 assemblage with pieces from the following toys and various untraceable construction sets.
What is this object? Where is it from? Share
your ideas at #dougsDonutThing
Doug Coupland
@douglascoupland
63%
37%
@douglascoupland
511 votes
A toilet float
A toy
url/thisDonutThingHereThatDougWantsHelpIdentifying
bundles of just-in-time content
and micro-interaction…
as we exchange smaller and smaller

99. …it’s not clear we’ll even
need to open an app* at all
*native or otherwise—remember, notifications (with actions)
now exist in the browser as well
url/starbucksBranch_0123
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130000572@N03/16285653016/
Receipt Available
Tipping available until 12:09
$0.50 $1.50 $2.00
11:20 AM

100. v. Anticipate novel uses
Anticipate URL re-use in novel contexts and, where needed
provide clear guidance to avoid unexpected errors.

101. A few thoughts…
• Remember the old debate about all the things “mobile users
won’t want to do”? (Hint: that list is super tiny)
• Once a user discovers a URL in the real world there’s no
reason they can’t bookmark it for later use.
• So…what (if anything) will users “NOT want to do” with that
URL when they are no longer nearby?

102. https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfj/288526372
Yikes, as you can see,
we’re *really* busy!
There’s about a 20 minute
wait, but our sister location
Oishii still has three tables.
JOIN WAITLIST
SHOW ME OISHII
BOOK ANOTHER DAY it’s not hard to imagine
remote URL use for almost
any physical web context
What happens if someone joins
remotely. Is the outcome
positive or negative? And for
whom is it so?
[the user]
[the restauraunt]
[the other people in the queue]

103. Is the physical
touchpoint merely an
entry point to future
(virtual) interaction?

104. When officials in Melbourne
assigned email addresses to
trees (to enable people to
report dangerous branches)…
some people sent in letters
and poems for the trees.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbh/14431865903
APOLOGIES
To: London Plane, Tree ID 1032398, St Kilda Rd
My dog pee’d on you the other day.
Sincerest apologies.
A STRANGE QUESTION
To: Western Red Cedar,Tree ID 1058295
Hi Tree,
Are you worried about being affected by the Greek debt
crisis? Should Greece be allowed to stay in the
European Union?
HELLO TREE
To: Green Leaf Elm, Tree ID 1022165
Dear Green Leaf Elm,
I hope you like living at St. Mary’s. Most of the time I
like it too. I have exams coming up and I should be
busy studying. You do not have exams because you are
a tree. I don’t think that there is much more to talk

105. 3. Group exercise

106. 11:00-11:50
• Group brainstorming, discussion and design.
11:50-12:30
• Group presentations
• Limited to ~5 minutes each so we can fit as many as
possible.
Group exercise (11:00-12:30)

107. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinou/453593446
thank you
many thanks to the
amazing photographers on
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5
@yiibu
hello@yiibu.com
contact us
at
Presentation deck available @
http://www.slideshare.net/yiibu