Just as archeologists excavate layers of debris from past civilizations to inform their histories, Jetsam – part of Intel’s Urban Probes research programme – explores urban public trash, its meaning, patterns, and usage.

Eric Paulos and Tom Jenkins produced an augmented trashcan which “exposes city dwellers to the pattern of trash interactions”. The trash weights and records the object thrown into it, and projects onto the ground an image of the item. Over time, the images progress outward, away from the trashcan and eventually disappear. The resulting visualization depicts a layering of trashcan activities and patterns, not unlike the archeological layers typically found during years of drought or catastrophic change.

Video of the can.

Via Plsj.