Last semester we looked at the cubes that were shown at ARS Electronica. These cube are objects that relate information and feed back to the user based on input.
Two of the objects that I feel like we could use as a starting point even for simple functionality would be the SMS cube & the exhibitionist cube.
SMS cube
The sms cube is intereasting because it lets the user send a text to a number and then it prints the text message on a receipt style peice of paper. I think this has potential for a similar object placed in a common area of a comunity such as a hallway or lift area. The object having similar function but not the same.
The exhibitionist cube
The exhibitionist cube is interesting because it has a physical change in the appearance when it is touched by a user I think that this would invoke a response in people that would make them think about what is going on perhaps a combination of this and other functions would be good to study.