Archive for May, 2008

Complex data visualisation

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Looking at visualising and feeding back complex data in ways that communicate easily to participants across cultures on a range of platforms, forms part of our research. Here follow a few examples of visualisations that deal with complex data.

MotoGP statistics viewermotogp.jpg

This is an interactive visualisation dashboard of recent statistics from MotoGP, the motorcycle road racing championship. The project explores different means of viewing to provide a novel way to understand the championship, individual races & the interrelationships between riders, manufacturers, tires & teams. Users can drill down into each race to explore different visualisations of lap graphs, gap differences by lap, lap times & average speeds. These details can then be cross-referenced by tire, manufacturer & lap time data.; see http://www.minglebee.com/gp/

Baby names

Dynamic graph that visualises baby name trends across time; see http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager

Barcode visualisation

An algorithmic visual representation of barcodes, of which the numerical codes determine the positions, curves & colors of Bezier curves in a tree structure. The number of curves varies in correspondence to the number of figures in the code. In addition, information details of the country of origin, manufacturer, product number & sum are displayed; see http://barcode-plantage.com/index.htm

Posted in Data Visualisation, Design, General, Tracing & Tracking, UI | 2 Comments »

Nature and More

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

 

Enter the Nature & More code found on your fruit, vegetables or wine and trace your product back to the producers and growers who cultivate your food.

Nature & More originated as a quality assurance program of EOSTA, a Dutch company dealing in fresh organic and bio-dynamic fruit. In response to consumer demand for healthy, organic and fairly traded food, Nature & More was created. The aim is to communicate the commitment and effort that individual organic growers make towards the planet and its people.

Posted in Food Labels, General, Tracing & Tracking, consumers | No Comments »

Trace me keeps track of luggage

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Trace Me is a luggage tracking device that keeps your details on file, for life. All you pay for is a luggage tag with an exclusive bar code and your details are then registered on Immobilise – a database used by baggage handling organisations across the globe.

Posted in General, Tracing & Tracking | No Comments »

Fair Trade Proof

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Fair Trade Proof is an American cooperative of independent coffee roasters who invite website users to trace their coffee from farming cooperative or roaster.

Posted in Coffee, Coffee Traceability, Fairtrade, General, Tracing & Tracking, consumers | No Comments »

Tombstone QR codes link to images, videos of deceased

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Hi-tech tombstones in Japan let mourners link to images, videos of deceased

“A gravestone manufacturer here is helping bereaved families remember their loved ones with a touch of technology — mobile phone QR codes on tombstones that link to photographs and video clips of the deceased…”

Posted in Mobile Devices | No Comments »

An e-Marketplace in the Philippines

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

“B2Bpricenow.com is an e-marketplace in the Philippines. Through this on-line market place farmers, fisherfolk and small and medium enterprises can access market prices and trade products. This can be achieved either through their website or by cell phone. Split into two phases, the project began by obtaining content for the site from a variety of agricultural and fishery cooperatives and training them to both access and post products on the website. Through free technical support and hosting by Unisys, B2Bpricenow.com is able to offer its services for free. The second phase is focused on getting these groups connected to the internet and actual transactions occurring on-line.” [see http://www.sustainableicts.org/infodev/B2B.pdf

The Sustainable ICTs site offers quite a few case studies, of which this is perhaps the most related to what we are trying to do, and considerable guidance on embedding projects so that they stick.

Posted in ICTs and Agriculture, Mobile Devices, Supply Chains | No Comments »

Crop to cup

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Crop to cup buys directly from African coffee farmers and represents them in consumer markets. Through their website, consumers can trace their coffee back to the producers and interact with them.

Posted in Coffee, Coffee Traceability, Tracing & Tracking | No Comments »

What sheep made your sweater?

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Since one sheep provides exactly enough wool for one sweater, Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma has created a collection that can be traced back to source. Products from her company Flocks are tagged with a specific animal’s ID number and comes with a certificate. Information provided includes breed, weight, year, place of birth and a picture of the sheep.

Posted in Design, General, Tracing & Tracking, consumers | No Comments »

Dole bananas become traceable

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Ever wanted to know where your Dole Organic Banana comes from?

Consumers can “travel to the origin of each organic product” Dole produces. By entering the three digit Farm Code located on the sticker of their fruit.  You can visit the country, the farm, view photos and learn more about their products and people.

However, read the comments on TreeHugger to see how some consumers feel about tracing goods from companies such as Dole, who have dubious ethical backgrounds.

Posted in Coding, Food Labels, General, Tracing & Tracking, consumers | No Comments »