(Real) Grafitti v2.0: PDA Instead of Paint

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the somehow-it's-just-not-the-same dept

bfrank writes “Tired of hauling around 6 to 8 cans of paint a night to make your artistic impression on the underpass of the local highway? Now you’ve got a technologically superior, and possibly legal, way to “tag” a landmark. A company out of SF (where else), is promoting a new product and artform that allows people to post digital messages on public facades. The implications don’t just seem to be for more “free expression” in the art world, but also seem useful for creating public message boards that can easily accept and remove information when appropriate. Concepts like this are already being used at ski resorts where write-and-wipe boards are placed at the bottom of chair lifts for skiiers to leave messages for other group members. There seems like a lot of potential here, until someone hacks the system and leaves the message “Howard Stern for President” on all the public boards.” Is it just me or does this seem like a huge waste of time? I had to read it a few times to actually understand what they were offering, and I still haven’t figured out when or how I would ever even think of using it.