RememberMe is a collaboration between Oxfam and TOTeM (Tales of Things and Electronic Memory) tells the stories of stuff. People who donate old, unwanted possessions to Oxfam can share a bit of the item’s history with potential future owners through an RFID tagging system. The stories get recorded into a device and when an item is scanned, that story gets played to the shopper.
Stories like: “Went to South Africa for the World Cup to support England. Didn’t take this shirt off once. England were terrible. I never want to see this shirt again” probably wouldn’t get crowds lining up to buy the shirt, but it could explain why some items are of really good quality- too much emotional baggage attached that they had to give them up.
Personal anecdotes associated with belongings not only tell interesting stories about things, but the stories add value that isn’t monetary. A person’s perception of the value of an item could change after hearing its history. This project is currently running at an Oxfam shop in Manchester.
(Spotted on Springwise)
Katherine Hui is currently the Social site editor at Green Thing, a web-based public service in London that inspires people to lead greener lives through creative content.
Before this, she worked as the Development Manager at Social Innovation Camp, an organization that encourages people to use web and mobile-based technology to mobilise social change. She oversaw 300 ideas submission and helped build 20 prototypes – five of which have gone on to get further funding or investment.
Katherine’s came over to the UK form Canada in 2007 for an MSc program at the London School of Economics. Before arriving in London, she managed a small environmental start-up in Vancouver called the Canadian Climate Change Alliance.
Katherine is football mad. She is a loyal supporter of Arsenal FC, plays for Islington Borough Ladies FC and coaches for Gunners in Islington in her spare time. Her second favourite hobby is kite surfing and she can sometimes be found chasing the wind.
