Who-is-in

• I'd like to know who (if anyone) is in the space at any particular time.
• I'd like to find out by way of the intertubes - on a members-only webpage or perhaps by asking a bot on the IRC channel
• it would be great if a screen on the wall showed who was here and their exact whereabouts!

Tracking and identifying people

On entry to the space, a member: -

• blogs/tweets their (impending) arrival
  • perhaps even blogs their intention to visit (perhaps tentative)
• or flicks their own personal members' "I'm here" switch - this is easy!
• or picks up and switches on a little wireless device that they can carry around the space - it tracks their movements which can be plotted! It can be mounted in a tin-foil hat!

wireless device

This last one is crazy-mad-awesome and most likely to never get done!

• JeeNode - most off-the-shelf and re-usable (£20?) http://jeelabs.com/products/jeenode
• the RFM12B http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9582 as used in the JeeNode ($7) 433MHz?
• Cybiko - we have some of these - do they work? What can they do?
• IM-ME
• some other crazy little wireless transceiver
• plus a microcontroller (if needed) plus battery power
• server end: tracking devices, device announcements, polling for devices, special device states

• bluetooth devices - cheap enough? Hackable bluetooth consumer devices
• true IEEE 802.11 wireless - bits of old routers!
• mobile phones! members phones with bluetooth discovery
• FM radio!!!!