Context Frames: Creating an Inexpensive Social Network
Software
Now that we have the hardware in place, we can start working on the
software. Since people constantly glance at clocks and calendars, it
seemed like a good match to put up a calendar/clock, except that the
picture and days of the month could be collected from RSS feeds. In
fact, eventually, the days of the month might be thumbnail reminders of
stuff posted in the past:
The idea is to rapidly prototype some ideas and iteratively improve the
interface and the development platform.
Underlying Architecture
Essentially, the application is a borderless web browser. For this
prototype I create two HTML frames (one for the blog and one for the
calendar). Then I can create a website and set of webpages where the pictures
are stored and formatted.
The website can control who gets to see the pictures, how often the
pictures are updated, the format, etc.. Basically one set of
applications allow people to put pictures (e.g. cell phone pictures,
camera uploads) onto the site as well as links and text. Another set of
applications can control the order, format, digital rights, etc.
Once I get the software tested and sorted out, I'll place it here so
that you can create your own.
Some Thoughts
With just a little bit of interaction, this frame can go a lot further:
- internet radio
- party mode, where people throw pictures/music in and it shows
pictures to the music beat
- alarm for the clock
- message alerts
- home awareness (garage door, a/c controls...)
- an "I like that" button which might show the picture more, print
it, let the author know.
- who's "on" right now sort of thing. I find this useful for getting
together (movies, dinner, gaming)
- other widgets like weather, stocks, whatever
software coming soon...
