I'll admit that although I consider myself a technophile, I'm not really into cell phone text messaging.
There are a few reasons for this. First, I'm at my computer roughly 46 hours each day (at least, that's what our time management system says I should be doing). So if I want to send a message, I can easily do it via a keyboard. Second, I'm not that fast in typing the letters and words on a phone. Third, I'd prefer to not touch my phone anyway. I have a Bluetooth headset, so I can hit the button to pick up calls fairly easily.
However, I've found a use for texting; it's called SimpleTEXT. As the website claims, "SimpleTEXT is a collaborative audio/visual public performance that relies on audience participation through input from mobile devices such as phones, PDAs or laptops."
OK, so theoretically, I could still use a laptop for this event, but I can also see why utilizing a cell phone might be an easier thing to do. It might be confusing just to look at the website, but essentially, here's what happens:
There's a projection screen that sits in front of an audience. There are pictures and code visible on the projection screen. Participants are invited to enter messages to appear with the pictures or to create melodies to go with the visual art. This creates a social orchestrated montage with unlimited artistic capabilities.
Any type of collaboration like this requires user input, regardless of whether or not you know what the person next to you is thinking. By engaging in a group production like SimpleTEXT, people can combine to create amazing imagery without realizing. That sure beats typing plain sentences on a cell phone.
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