Getting the show on the road
This is it, then. The first week of work drawing to a close. High time to introduce you to the project, its scope and its partners.
What’s going on?
RFID (for Radio Frequency Identification) is a hot topic. At least, for policy makers and ICT businesses. Just in case your IT-acronyms are a little rusty: RFID is a set of technologies allowing the remote reading of data stored on chips. For a comprehensive introduction to RFID, follow this link.
Ideal for streamlining logistic processes and inventory management, replacing the bar code. But its possibilities for application are much, much wider. Think of prepaid-cards for public transportation that automatically communicate with your bank account when stored credits are running low, automated messages sent to parents whose kids walk through the school door and chips in the sidewalk communicating with the cane of a blind man, telling him where to go. Science fiction? Think again…
Introducing the project
Public opinion regarding RFID is fickle: as we’re generally not well informed, we might well go along with the RFID proponents for quite a while. And then, all of a sudden, we might panic for fear of an Orwellian society.
Still, RFID is introduced in more and more occasions, also in the Netherlands. The soon to be introduced IC-card for public transportation, the OV-chipkaart, contains an RFID tag. As does the new passport containing biometric features.
Still, public debate tends to focus more on what is theoretically possible then on what is happening in practice.
To fill this gap, we look to the east. Japan has seen the successful introduction of many an RFID application over the last years. An excellent opportunity for us to learn. The coming four months I will strive towards painting a picture of how millions of Japanese use RFID to facilitate their daily lives. This research will focus on three issues, mainly. First is the policy envirnment concerning RFID and the perception of the convenience-privacy trade-off. Second and third are case studies into IC-cards for public transportation (like Suica and Pasmo) and the Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project respectively. As time goes by, I will post the results of my research on this site.
The Masterminds
This research project is a joint initiative of the Rathenau Instituut and the Netherlands Office of Science and Technology at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The former being the Dutch institute for technology assessment whose task is informing the Dutch Parliament on new technologies and their possible role in society. The latter trying to stimulate knowledge and technology transfer between The Netherlands and Japan. Please refer to the Blogroll section to the right of this page for links to the websites of both organisations.
