Collectivus

Adventures in rubber ducks and virtual objects.

In 2008, I got the itch to blend multi-format engagement, mystery, and creating people connections with location services. The resulting project was a prototype called Collectivus. Instead of people checking into locations (popularized by foursquare, Gowalla, and BrightKite at the time), people would check-in physical objects, track their movements, and record thier adventures. These objects, known as "Thingies," became messages in a bottle mixed with an early analog version of "Pokemon Go."

I also created the idea of digital "Thingies." These we the virtual equivalent of the physical one, but allowed us to scale and give people greater access to participate.

Our Thingies travelled all over the globe. The original site ran from 2010 to 2014.

©josh babetski. | made in austin, texas. |