A Billion Little Pieces

RFID and Infrastructures of Identification

Jordan Frith, Geoffrey C. Bowker , Paul N. Edwards

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Hardback

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
19 March 2019

Impact of science & technology on society; Computing: general

Series: Infrastructures

How RFID, a ubiquitous but often invisible mobile technology, identifies tens of billions of objects as they move through the world.RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is ubiquitous but often invisible, a mobile technology used by more people more often than any flashy smartphone app. RFID systems use radio waves to communicate identifying information, transmitting data from a tag that carries data to a reader that accesses the data. RFID tags can be found in credit cards, passports, key fobs, car windshields, subway passes, consumer electronics, tunnel walls, and even human and animal bodies-identifying tens of billions of objects as they move through the world. In this book, Jordan Frith looks at RFID technology and its social impact, bringing into focus a technology that was designed not to be noticed.

RFID, with its ability to collect unique information about almost any material object, has been hyped as the most important identification technology since the bar code, the linchpin of the Internet of Things-and also seen (by some evangelical Christians) as a harbinger of the end times. Frith views RFID as an infrastructure of identification that simultaneously functions as an infrastructure of communication. He uses RFID to examine such larger issues as big data, privacy, and surveillance, giving specificity to debates about societal trends.

Frith describes how RFID can monitor hand washing in hospitals, change supply chain logistics, communicate wine vintages, and identify rescued pets. He offers an accessible explanation of the technology, looks at privacy concerns, and pushes back against alarmist accounts that exaggerate RFID's capabilities. The increasingly granular practices of identification enabled by RFID and other identification technologies, Frith argues, have become essential to the working of contemporary networks, reshaping the ways we use information.

By: Jordan Frith
Series edited by: Geoffrey C. Bowker , Paul N. Edwards
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 137mm, Spine: 25mm
ISBN: 9780262039758
ISBN 10: 0262039753
Series: Infrastructures
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 19 March 2019
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jordan Frith is Associate Professor in the Department of Technical Communication at the University of North Texas.