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June 26, 2008, 11:45 AM ET
Real Snail Mail
Researchers in Bournemouth University, in England, have literalized a retronym: They’ve created real snail mail.
In a project that combines technical prowess with art and whimsy, the researchers have designed a system for delivering messages by using actual snails. An e-mail is sent to a tank containing snails fitted with RFID chips. If and when a snail wanders by the e-mail collection site, its RFID chip will pick up the message. Then, if and when that snail wanders by the drop-off point in another area of the tank, the e-mail will be delivered (at that point, via the Internet, of course).
RealSnailMail’s creators apparently intended to comment on the role that speed and efficiency play in modern lives.
“Culturally, we seem obsessed with immediacy. Time is not to be taken but crammed to bursting point,” Paul Smith, an artist and RealSnailMail co-creator, told the BBC.
The project will officially launch in August at a conference in Los Angeles. In the mean time, the researchers are testing out their mailmen. According to the RealSnailMail Web site, three snails have managed to deliver 16 e-mails—but Agent 003 (Muriel) hasn’t exactly been pulling her weight. Her deliveries so far? 0. But hey, maybe she just has an aggressive spam filter.—Catherine Rampell
Categories: Offbeat
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