Moderated by Julian Bleecker

The Internet of Things has become a meme that describes a near-future world in which "Things" — stuff with network connectivity, some computational capabilities, memory and location-awareness — join us in the Internet. What are the opportunities, design challenges, privacy issues, and security concerns for creating new kinds of meaningful networked experiences in a world in which Things now have RSS feeds, pigeons have blogs, and cars on the highway IM each other? What happens when our networked stuff participates in the cooperation network and "social software" accomodates other than just human social beings? As a framework for having a productive conversation around this topic, we'll start by considering three lines of inquiry to encourage an open discussion: usage scenarios, technical operations, and policy. Although not required, participants may consider three readings to frame the conversation: the ITU's "Internet of Things" report read as a technical operations manual; Garfinkel and Rosenberg's "RFID: Applications, Security, and Privacy" read as a prognostication, and; Bruce Sterling's "Shaping Things" read as a "Lonely Planet" style tourist's guide to the Internet of Things.