david taus

Word. I’ve never been to the Someday Cafe, but televisions are always an awful thing to put in a place like a coffee shop. It’s distracting and hurts conversation. Who would want to hang out there with something like that around?

It’s not really a television — it’s a “wiffiti” (wireless graffiti) display which seems to bean experiment by another Davis Square company called LocaModa. I can’t figure out how to post a link here, but their blog is http://www.wiffiti.com/blog/ .

The idea is that people send text messages to it from their cellphones, and the messages appear on the screen. When I walked in a few minutes ago, people didn’t seem to be paying any attention to it. It doesn’t have any sound.

If there is no struggle, then there is no progress. Isn’t that at the top of your blog? It isn’t a TV. And there isn’t advertising on it (if there was I’d agree with you). But anything that attempts to get people communicating - especially about local stuff, gets my vote. It might annoy you, but it was getting tons of interest and text messages when I was there.

concerned citizens crawl outta the woodwork…intruiging.

wiffiti, huh? that’s a horse of a different color. sort of. no sound is a positive, but the flashing lights on a screen are enough to distact folks from their reading or each other, i think. people love to mindlessly watch flashing lights. art has been on the walls of the someday for years and the bathroom still gets down old-skool graffiti style. the postmodern metatrappings of this interactive art installation have some interesting possibilities but the medium itself is the source of my irritation-it’s just too intrusive. plus there’s room for manipulation-censorship of people’s text messages (a lost $.05 if you choose the wrong words) and there absolutely is the opportunity to slip in some advertising. i walked past the someday twice and twice there were things on the screen informing people of what to buy. could’ve been coincidental, but geez.

plus i still don’t know how to text message.

suggestion to the someday: if you insist on keeping the thing put it in the window facing out.

Screens are an energy suck. If they’re on and colorful, they distract. If they’re off and are sulking in the corner, empty and grey, they kill vital space.

A valiant effort to make some cool urban tech-network connections here, but my TV hating self wins over the techie on this one.

Wiffiti-B-Gone!

the real question… does the TV Be Gonw work on it?

sounds like it might be a nice idea but maybe it should be in the bathroom or something… if done tastfully without being jittery and jumpy and flashy as to attract attention it sounds like it’s a pretty neat game of community experimenting.

wanna play string-telephone? wanna play wiffiti?

it’s an experiment, give feedback on their blog, tell them if it ruins your experience. tell them what you like about it. i’m sure they’ll be very receptive to constructive criticism.

true enough 1ey, although we know from previous experiments in allston that not many people want to have a tin can phone. i’m heading to either the someday or diesel to grade papers tonight; will test out the TV-B-Gone. i’ll also take a sharpie into the bathroom with me and throw up a big picture of the baba for good measure.

if you wanna get serious leave a sharpie baba on the wiffiti screen?

Well? You’re killing me here, did the TV-b-gone work?!

I wonder if anyone will connect the sidwalk baba with the bathroom baba…

Baba-Be-Gone!

Hrmm…Another reason not to engage each other directly. 160 characters to compose yourself and how much for the energy and expense of the technology that a good blackboard or whiteboard (we ain’t racist) can accomplish just as well? But I don’t know a thing about technology.

TMO.SMS.MMS.IRC.CDEDBDB?

update:
finally made it to the someday this afternoon. it’s actually a big computer screen so the tv-b-gone is pretty much useless. the big screen was on and against the far wall but for the four or so hours i was there not one text message graced the someday crowd. it seems that the problem will take care of itself.

the bigger problem was that because they had to make room for the monitor they couldn’t use the back wall and corner for chairs and tables. so now all the furniture in the someday is set up in a really terrible way; hardly conducive for conversations and social interaction, which is really the whole purpose behind the wiffiti screen, isn’t it?

Dude, you and your ego could have two separate television programs that both suck. Go to the cafe, drink your coffee and leave. I already went through the phase of thinking that all my thoughts are unique gifts to humanity and worth documenting…. When I was your students’ age. You are not a prophet, but merely one half of one tiny grain of sand in the population desert. In time this will hit you, if your personality decides to develop or expand. The real artists are those who don’t think they are important enough to change the world and die lonely and poor. So where does that leave you??

Ps. universal remotes aren’t that mind blowing.

PPs. “Meet people at shows man,” yeah lets do a bunch of drugs and solve all the world’s problems all with the touch of pachuli oil and incense. phony hippies and urban misfits….so cool.

PPPS. You are such a hypocrite, you must be blind from the endless hours that you waste on these lame blog entries of ego vomit.