A Massachusetts company has developed a system allowing cell phone users to send text messages to large television screens in public places. The technology, dubbed “Wiffiti” by developer LocaModa, is designed to “extend and empower public expression and creativity in a socially responsible way, fostering an open and strong sense of citizenship and community.”
StreetMessenger is a mobile-enabled social and advocacy platform for in-location messaging, social networking, blogging and entertainment applications. It’s ideal for partners and/or sponsors ranging from entertainment (such as bars, clubs and restaurants) to cause/issue advocacy related non-profit groups seeking community aggregation.
Wiffiti (Wireless+Graffiti) is the first application that has been purpose built for StreetMessenger and allows users to send text messages from their mobile phones to large flat TV displays in locations where people socialize such as cafes, bars and clubs and on the web. Its purpose is to extend and empower public expression and creativity in a socially responsible way, fostering an open and strong sense of citizenship and community.
According to a post on the Online Journalism Review blog, where I found the story, the text messages are limited to 160 characters and are filtered for swearing and various other keywords. That’s about the length of the preceding sentence. 4 mack-daddy txt msgrs, it’s enough to post an entire short story. For old people with traditionally inflexible thumbs and vocabularies, it’ll only increase that sense we sometimes have of living in a parallel universe.
The fogey, flack and fluff factors aside, the technology really does open up some interesting possibilities, and I’m about half serious in comparing it to wireless brain implants; not only does it represent the next step in blogging — although the cell-to-screen systems are localized, they’re connected to the web, where viewers can see what’s happening on all of the local installations — but a further decentralization of communications authority as well; it’s a safe bet that some people and groups really will use the technology for social causes and organizational purposes. There’s plenty of downside potential, too: some people and groups you don’t really want to see better organized, but that’s the built in penalty of any advance.
We’ll keep an eye on this as it develops further.
What’s next: Bluetooth brain implants? (ZOOM)
A Massachusetts company has developed a system allowing cell phone users to send text messages to large television screens in public places. The technology, dubbed “Wiffiti” by developer LocaModa, is designed to “extend and empower public expression and creativity in a socially responsible way, fostering an open and strong sense of citizenship and community.”
According to a post on the Online Journalism Review blog, where I found the story, the text messages are limited to 160 characters and are filtered for swearing and various other keywords. That’s about the length of the preceding sentence. 4 mack-daddy txt msgrs, it’s enough to post an entire short story. For old people with traditionally inflexible thumbs and vocabularies, it’ll only increase that sense we sometimes have of living in a parallel universe.
The fogey, flack and fluff factors aside, the technology really does open up some interesting possibilities, and I’m about half serious in comparing it to wireless brain implants; not only does it represent the next step in blogging — although the cell-to-screen systems are localized, they’re connected to the web, where viewers can see what’s happening on all of the local installations — but a further decentralization of communications authority as well; it’s a safe bet that some people and groups really will use the technology for social causes and organizational purposes. There’s plenty of downside potential, too: some people and groups you don’t really want to see better organized, but that’s the built in penalty of any advance.
We’ll keep an eye on this as it develops further.