OurUmbrella: Combination Umbrella Sharing Service And Connected Objects API
At Rhizome‘s Seven on Seven event, seven leading technologists were paired with seven leading artists for one day to develop something new. OurUmbrella is the result of the collaboration between technologist Hilary Mason of bit.ly and designer-artist Marc Andre Robinson.
OurUmbrella was conceived to address the problem of the cheap black umbrellas that are pervasive throughout NYC, and the “disposable” mentality that their ubiquity fosters. Mason and Robinson’s concept is a model for a combination umbrella-sharing service and connected-objects API, making umbrellas less disposable with the ability to track and record their own story. With a method for sharing umbrellas among a community and giving each a story to tell, the team hopes to inspire people to think about their objects before just tossing them away.
Their prototype umbrella is modeled with a number of GPS and imaging sensors, along with an open API available for download on ourumbrella.org.
Recent Articles By Kyle Studstill 
Kyle Studstill is a regular contributor to PSFK.com. Kyle works as a consultant working at the New York office of PSFK. His background is in analysis, from the analysis of cultural and technological change, to analysis of consumer and human insight, to military intelligence analysis with the US Intelligence and Security Command. Kyle loves the future, much like O'Brien from Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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| TOPICS: | Arts & Culture, Featured Articles, Web & Technology |
| TAGS: | API, disposable, Hilary Mason, Marc Andre Robinson, rhizome, seven on seven, umbrellas |
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