unique Bluetooth identifier of the mobile phones will add a layer of audio intrigue to the urban atmo-around you, creating a log of people you’ve previ- sphere. Installed, say, in a public commons area, the ously encountered, even if you’ve never talked with small object will grab the Bluetooth identification them. Later, a quick glance at your handset reveals numbers from the mobile devices of passersby. That if any of your Familiar Strangers are nearby. data will then be translated into a unique ringtone,

“You might not want to make friends with everyone creating a souvenir of that location tied to a moment you see regularly, but these people color your city,” in time and the specific group of people nearby. Paulos says. “Jabberwocky enables you to get a sense The device itself is only one part of the project. of place based on who is there with you.” Paulos also plans to release a free developer’s tool-

A previous project, Connexus, highlights another kit to inspire others to create and deploy their own form of human interaction that’s rarely discussed: interactive objects into the urban atmosphere. For nonverbal communication like the friendly smile Paulos, every city is an ideal laboratory to test what across the room or a reassuring pat on the back. he calls “objects of wonderment.” Connexus is a bracelet meant to contain a wireless “Making things is much harder than programming radio, sensors, and actuators to facilitate nonverbal because there’s no quick Control-Z undo,” he communication at a distance. Imagine a couple says. “But if you’re explaining your research to some-both wearing Connexus devices and perhaps miles one and can’t present them with an object, they’re apart. As the woman taps on her bracelet, her hus- likely going to default to talking about things they band notices his bracelet glowing softly, not unlike know. On the other hand, if they can interact with a vintage mood ring. He responds by caressing the an object outside their realm of understanding, bracelet, an input that manifests itself as a gentle they’re usually more willing to come with you into heating sensation on the other end. Paulos never the conversation.” managed to stuff all of the Connexus components into as small a wearable device as he’d like, but he says that prototyping is essential to communicating his research goals to others.

David Pescovitz, MAKE’s special projects editor, is also

^{ENVIRONMENTAL RINGTONE SOUVENIRS} co-editor of BoingBoing.net and an affiliate researcher with the Right now, he’s fabricating a device that he hopes Institute for the Future.