I have realized that I haven’t yet wrote anything about Bruce Sterling’s notion of a “spime” (although I have mentioned it in my previous post on Shapeways). I’ve decided to fix that, so my newly published article on sztuka-architektury.pl is called “the forthcoming era of new kind of objects” (full text in polish here). In the text, I’m discussing main features of Sterling’s idea outlined in Shaping Things.

Sterling calls the upcoming new kind of objects “spimes”. Spimes are virtual models whose physical instances are of secondary importance. Spimes are fabbable and de-fabbable (perhaps) whenever the user needs them or stops needing them. Spimes are produced by a “fabricator” in a single-step, clean production process, similar in nature to contemporary 3d printing. Each of the spimes is devised with the an RFID tag, so it is possible to connect them into the “internet of things”.

One more feature, particularly relevant to my own interests, is mentioned by Sterling but not discussed in detail. Sterling says that the virtual model is much more open than physical actualization in a sense that the “creative effort of several people” can be harnessed in the process of it’s design. Ultimately, if a problem of representation of a design virtually is going to be handled well, it could mean that the objects’ virtual representation is peer produced much like the articles in Wikipedia.

I’m going to discuss the notion of on-line representation of tangible objects in forthcoming texts on peer 2 peer design.