What is OpenAMD?
OpenAMD stands for “Open Attendee Meta Data.” It is a project that merges real-time RFID tracking and social networking, live at The Next HOPE Conference (TNH), run by 2600 Magazine in New York City.
What is RFID?
RFID is “Radio Frequency Identification.” At The Next HOPE conference, the badges will have an opt-in RFID chip in them, allowing users positions to be tracked.
What does this project track?
The RFID technology uses an ID number that is in the badge to track the badge’s location on certain floors of the Hotel Pennsylvania. The owner of the badge can register their ID number on our social networking site, and provide whatever data they choose to help them network with other attendees, and and explore areas of the conference that they may not have initially thought to be of interest.
Are you going to sell or otherwise share the information you collect?
Sell: No. Never. Absolutely not. It goes against the very weave of the hacker subculture. We just couldn’t live with ourselves if we did.
Share: Maybe. Once again complying with the nature of hackerdom, the open sharing of all information is what we strive for. If the data collected here can prove beneficial to others who wish to better our system and con, or even their own, or do something even more incredible, then we may choose to pass it along.
Are you going to retain the OpenAMD data after the con?
Yep. The OpenAMD helps attendees by helping them network more efficiently, but it also provides an invaluable amount of data to the organizers of the con to help them make future cons more interesting and entertaining, and even gives us, the creators of the OpenAMD system information we can use to make this even better!
What are you doing with the information you collect?
Some of the information is publicly shared on our social networking site, where other users who share your interests can see what talks and workshops you’re attending, which helps everyone enhance their overall con experience by discovering new interests they may never have come across on their own. Other information is analyzed by us privately (but in a similar fashion) to help create a better conference for the years to come. This includes things like more efficient allotment of space for workshops, or adding more talks on topics that attracted large amounts of attendees.
How do I opt out?
This system is completely voluntary and opt-in. If you wish, you can remove the battery from your badge and the system will not be able to interact with your badge in any way, shape or form. However, if you choose not to participate, you will also miss out on being part of all the cool games and visuals.
What is this API thing?
We are releasing a public Application Programming Interface (API) before the conference as a guide for people who want to write their own applications to use the visuals. At the conference itself, we will have live data to which you can point your application and watch it come to life. The point is to make cool projects and come show them off at the conference.
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