Business Listened. While the Social Economy ...

Business listened when Wal-Mart announced support for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). How many members of the social economy are listening?

Say what? ...

RFIDs the bar codes of the 21st century. The only difference, this device (read: "stickers") can "signal" to let you know where it is. Imagine your looking for a needle in a haystack, if it is RFID'd then the needle will "call" to you. Tell you exactly where it is and lots of other helpful information along the way.

"Great technology!" say the technologists. "Will save us time and money", say Wal-Mart. "We'll invest in it!!" say the Venture Capitalists.

But not a word from the social economy. Except for a small group from the VSEF who are looking to use an adapted RFID reader to help the blind navigate in urban environments. To find out more ... e-mail us.

Do you think Business would pay as much attention if the RFID press releases were coming from Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) or the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) rather than Wal-Mart?

We'll let you know.

For more, you might like reading "Attention, Shoppers", from Wired.