Melt Awardees

by Phil Shankland

'The Hive' links the physical and virtual worlds through the use of mobile tagging by allowing single shot photo capture on mobile phones of 'bee tags' - special printed tags that can be found in coffee shops, bars, venues. Members receive rewards in the form of 'honey points' for topping up 'The Hive' with their latest recommendations and can set fun tasks for other members. Share the honey.

With The Hive each book, film or CD has a unique tag. With a single shot on your mobile phone camera you can 'bookmark' the tag on your personal page in 'The Hive' - or buy it there and then. Next time you logon to your 'Hive space' you are immediately reminded of tags you've saved and, if you've not done so already, buy it before you forget.

Hive tags are like flies to a chameleon - the mobile phone camera is a long sticky tongue that saves them in the Hive for later.

What's more you can automatically alert other friends in your 'swarm' of your latest findings and you can receive recommendations from trusted peers. So the honey gets shared.

Members of The Hive can generate their own tags to promote their own music, events or happenings. Hive tags become a ubiquitous easy mechanism to link the physical world with what's hot, new and happening online. And as the use of Hive tags spreads geographically, members will be able to view swarm behaviour as new venues incorporate Hive tags into their promotion and marketing. The Hive will become a hyper-viral recommendation system for what's hot and what's not.

Pilot campaigns with a version of The Hive tag called 'Musicode' with music companies in London, Birmingham, Berlin and Palm Beach have already been scheduled.

The next step is to complete the design of the tag and the tag reader Java application on the phone which is being developed in collaboration with TriPuls in Germany and project managed by Andy Mayer in Sheffield.

Photograph by Shaun Bloodworth