[Opening the mother bear wallet]

Proverbial Wallet:

Proverbial Wallet was started as a group project for the Tangible Interfaces class at the MIT Media Lab together with John Kestner, Jaekyung Jung and Michelle Petersen. This project is currently further pursued by John Kestner as part of his research at the MIT Media Lab Information Ecology group.

Abstract:

We have trouble controlling our consumer impluses, and there's a gap between our decision and the consequences. When we pull a product off the shelf, do we know what our bank account balance is, or whether we're over budget for the month? Our existing senses are inadequate to warn us.
The Proverbial Wallet gives us that financial sense at the point of purchase by un-abstracting virtual assets. Tactile feedback reflecting your personal balances and transactions develops a subconscious financial sense that guides responsible decisions. These wallets use Bluetooth to get personal financial information via your smartphone's Internet connection.
Peacock: The wallet appears to grow and shrink using a servo to reflect the balance in your accounts. Your assets will be on display to attract potential mates.
Mother Bear: The wallet protects the money within it when you need to be thrifty with a shorted motor in the hinge that resists opening. It promotes saving to weather out financial winters.
Bumblebee: The wallet buzzes through a vibrator motor whenever your bank processes a transaction. This encourages a conscious connection between handing over your credit card and your hard-earned money being harvested from the bank, and alerts you to fraud when you get a buzz without making a purchase.

Publications:

Kestner, J., Leithinger, D., Jung, J., and Petersen, M. 2009.
Proverbial wallet: tangible interface for financial awareness.
In Proceedings of the 3rd international Conference on Tangible and Embedded interaction (Cambridge, United Kingdom, February 16 - 18, 2009). TEI '09. ACM, New York, NY, 55-56.
(DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1517664.1517683)

Demos:

- TEI 2009
- Ars Electronica Festival 2009

Images: