Screens

Someone is trying to tell you something

In Berlin, Communication, Graffiti, Language, Screens on 21 November 2007 with 1 comment

Someone is trying to tell you something: written on the city.
Language in Common posts snippets of conversation found on urban screens. Is most graffiti in English? I remember riding around Berlin and seeing a disproportionate amount of graffiti written in English. Maybe English looks better scrawled across a brick wall and German looks better in [...]

The city as video game as playground

In Criticism, Film & Television, Play, Screens, Urbanism on 7 November 2007 with no comments

The success of The Sims and Grand Theft Auto over competing titles is due largely to their
open ended gameplay where the player explores a large, complex playground and meanders about from non-linear adventure to non-linear adventure. The concept goes back to a couple of decades to early titles such as Elite, Nethack and Paradroid. Each [...]

The City of Big Brotherly Love

In Philadelphia, Screens, Security, Surveillance on 23 October 2007 with no comments

Philadelphia, the City of Big Brotherly Love? Salient details:
Philadelphia will be getting 250 additional surveillance cameras…
The expansion will cost nearly $10 million
“I envision cameras in just every district of the city down the road,” Gaittens said.
The city has partnered with a private company to install and maintain [...]

Treatments of graffiti reveal competing visions of the city

In Art, Crime, GPS, History, Los Angeles, New York, Photography, San Francisco, Screens, Surveillance on 11 October 2007 with no comments

Graffiti Tracker applies NSA-style analysis to photographs of graffiti. BBC recently profiled the company.
BBC recently profiled the company:
Graffiti Tracker, the brainchild of graduate student and crime analyst Timothy Kephart, uses global positioning systems (GPS), digital photography and computer databases to track and catch graffiti artists.
The system - dubbed Graffiti Analysis/Intelligence Tracking System (GAITS) - takes [...]

TXTual Healing

In Art, Communication, New York, Screens on 9 October 2007 with no comments

TXTual Healing: the text message as street theater. “Jessie come quick! Terminator is on!”

First Monday’s issue on urban screens

In Architecture, Communication, Film & Television, Screens, Social Media on 6 October 2007 with no comments

Billboards, posters, graffiti-covered walls, jumbotrons, cellphones: First Monday’s special issue on urban screens.