The Story of Things: Awareness through Happenstance Interaction

The Story of Things (SoT) system enables children to learn the story behind every object they touch in a typical day. Inspired by Living Media and the Internet of Things (IoT) our goal is to change children's awareness through hands-on interaction with the world they live in. A back-of-the-hand display is activated by stick-on finger sensors when a child touches an object. They can tap the display to select from a number of stories stored in a crowd sourced database about that object: the materials it was made from; the processes used to make it; how it impacts their body; how it will be disposed of; environmental or social rights challenges associated with the object; and how they can take positive action. This information is overlaid on the world through an augmented-reality contact lens. SoT will also enable children to see a trace of each day and in doing so help them better understand their environmental footprint and how their actions and choices can change the world for the better or worse.