From a behavioral perspective, I find the watchclock fascinating not simply because it’s a kind of steampunk GPS, a wind-up mechanical location-awareness technology. I’m further fascinated at how this holistic system of watchclocks, keys, guards, and supervisors succeeded so completely in creating a method of behavioral control such that a human being’s movements can be precisely planned and executed, hour after hour and night after night, with such a high degree of reliability that almost a century goes by before anyone thinks of ways of improving the system as originally conceived. The watchclock is a primitive form of technology-mediated interaction design and narrowly-focused social engineering: The “interface” is the whole system: The watchclock, keys, and paper records.

I installed the software, plugged in the USB reader, and was immediately able to turn my Field Notes notebook (a souvenir from PaperCamp NY 2009) into a physical hyperlink.

So, now, if I wave my notebook at the reader, my flickr photostream opens in a browser. Ta da.

After about an hour of use, I’m excited by the possibilities that Touchatag offers as a prototyping system. The interface for setting the tags up is a little odd, but understandable after a minute or two of experimentation.

I was initially disappointed that the default URL application only handles GET requests, which would make a REST API difficult to interface with. Some perusal of the developer documentation, however, suggests that custom applications, while not easy, would be doable.

And anyway, it’s a $30 RFID prototyping toolkit, which takes touch-based interaction design and makes it accessible. To complain about the details of the GUI they’ve created for setting up your touch-based prototype is to miss the point entirely.

Verdict: if you’re interested at all in tangible interaction design, go immediately and pick up a starter kit.