Social Innovation: Invoked Computing Is A New Type of Technology

This is a social innovation news story that will change our relationships with everyday objects, and how we view and use them. Two scientists, Professor Alvaro Cassinelli and his partner Alexis Zerroug at the University of Tokyo, have created a process that immediately changes ordinary items into extraordinary types of communication tools. To give you more of a picture of what this technology is about, think of an old used pizza box that is transformed into a laptop, or a banana that can become a telephone!

This is not the storyline of a Hollywood blockbuster though it has flavours of one. This is real social innovation technology called "Invoked Computing." Cassinelli and Zerroug won the grand prize at Lava Virtual, an international conference and exhibition on virtual reality and converging technologies. The mission behind their project was ecological: the values of recycling and giving things a new lease on life. It started with the premise that an old laptop discarded in the trash, could be resurrected, but not by repairing it—instead, by transforming it into something functional again.

Cassinelli says, "When looking for a name, I first thought about "poltergeist computing" or "zombie computing," but the connotations were all too negative. We settled on invoked computing which seemed more appropriate: it makes you think about spiritual invocation (of invisible, higher powers) as well as of the software engineering technical expression: "invoking an application" meaning to launch it." The scientists looked for objects that are more or less seen with one use; that are restrictive in the real world, which was why food-related items like the banana and pizza box were used to demonstrate this social innovation process. In the case of the banana phone, a real handset is not really required, only something that suggests the action of calling on a phone.

"Invoked Computing" gives us the opportunity to use what we know best and continue to use it, even if it doesn't work anymore. It's like having an old car you like very much: you don't want to get rid of it, however, there are no spare parts to repair it. This social innovation science could also be used in controlled situations. For example, at a restaurant if you want to read the menu, you could open your napkin and the menu could be projected on it.

This social innovation technology is about personalising each of individual physical worlds, where we are no longer groupies or lovers of particular brands or designs of companies. Think Apple here. However, what we need to remember is that we are a lot like sheep and like to follow trends...this is technology for the real creatives among us who are not afraid to be different.

Photo Credit: KOBE Science  Museum