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ThingLink and WikiProducts ThingLink (http://thinglinks.com) is an initiative to develop a free product code for physical and online things. Wikiproducts (http://wikiproducts.org) is an example of an open encyclopedia for products. Both projects are motivated by the observation that the logic of the global market for goods is changing. Since the industrial revolution, the market has been dominated by those who have the capital to mass-produce products, and mass-market them to the public. Now, the internet is quietly introducing a new pattern into the purchase behaviour of the masses. By automating the generation of personal recommendations, online services help users discover the products that match their individual taste in the so-called ìlong tailî of obscure items. For instance, many of us use services like Amazon to find recommendations for books, Technorati to follow what others write on their blogs, Last.fm to listen to music that matches our profile, Del.icio.us to follow what web pages others bookmark, and Flickr to follow what photos others take. However, at the moment most works of art, design objects, handcrafts, and products of small manufacturers in developing countries are not part of the emerging recommendation-based market. This is because online recommendations are based on unique product identifiers. Without an identifier, the product is invisible to the online economy. We decided to establish ThingLink to explore what a free product code would look like in practice. WikiProducts is an example of an open database that can store publicly editable information about ThingLinked products. In our presentation, we plan to talk about our learnings so far in the context of both of these projects. http://thinglinks.com Ulla-Maaria Mutanen is a researcher and activist interested in technologies that enable people to switch between the roles of consumers and producers. Her blog can be found at http://hobbyprincess.com Jyri Engeström is completing a PhD on disruptive innovation at Lancaster University, and actively participates in the so-called ìWeb 2.0î field on the internet. He maintains a blog at http://zengestrom.com |
