A few months back, I posted about consumers’ resistance to digital signage, pointing up the issue that oftentimes what marketers see as dazzling is often construed by end user eyeballs as glaring, particularly among a Connected Class to whom (as one commenter eloquently put it, “loud noises mean “panic” and surprising movement means “danger, get away”).

The topic riled up a great group of industry folks as well as end users, and the discussion quickly branched off into sub-conversations about user experience, design decisions, industry best practices, and the OOH signage landscape at large. Audience aside, these threads converged exactly where the discussion started: the difficulty of escaping the mediated public perception of digital signage.
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A big thanks to everyone at Netroots Nation (especially Nolan, Raven, and Mary) for a fantastic conference.  I’m psyched that everyone seemed to dig the Wiffiti screens, and we’re excited to roll in with some new stuff for next year!
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I ran into this mini-rally encouraging people to recycle their old TVs right outside the Austin Convention Center on Saturday afternoon.  They were moving too quickly for me to grab any collateral (or perhaps I was moving too slowly).  It was also hard to catch their attention– you know, with the TV hats and all.
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As my role of Wiffiti Girl wrapped up at the Netroots Nation Convention, I went out in search of some Austin culture.  From textual art I switched to contextual art… via the Sol Lewitt exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art. I also went in the “explore” room and created an awesome picture of a polka-dotted elephant.  (And yes, I realize the irony of leaving the Netroots Nation Convention and drawing an elephant… This was a non-political, multi-colored, conceptual elephant, mind you.)
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Yep.  Surprising EVERYONE, Al Gore showed up at the Pelosi keynote this morning.  Some flickrers captured the moment! Well, and so did the NYT… and FoxNews…

and so did Wiffiti!

Check out this tweet that I noticed pop up during the Netroots Nation Convention.  It’s one big metamouthful of social platform leaders…

In other news, I’m off to check out more Wiffiti and Lawrence Lessig’s lunchtime keynote.

Straight from the CSpan bus (yep, this is parked right outside the Convention Center doors)… An important Wiffiti update that resonates on about 85% of the T-shirts here in some sort of pun-tastic variation:

Y’all ready for some awesome Austin sites and awesomer Austin furniture?

You’re in luck.

While I’m on call at the Convention Center to check out the Wiffiti displays in between panel sessions and speakers, I’ve been checking out the best and brightest that Austin has to offer (well… sorta).

When I went in search of a sandwich place for lunch, I stumbled upon the gate shown in the thumbnail above, and then…

The Capitol!  It’s big.  And it emits hotness.

Actually, the whole city is hot (no, Jayne, really?). And I love it.

Hold up… let’s backtrack, because I need to show you my hotel… Read the rest of this entry

So.

I’m in Texas.  That’s abundantly clear.

I’ll fill you in with a full pictorial shortly, but first a Wiffiti update.

Despite a few AV issues last night, Wiffiti was a hit!  Better yet, speaking to attendees, people were familiar with the online screen and immediately knew what to do in the venue!  What a difference a year makes…

Wiffiti will continue to be live 24/7 on the Netroots Nation site, and live in venue off and on through Saturday night.  If you’re at the convention, look for Wiffiti in Exhibition Hall 4 (and, hey, while you’re at it, give me some dinner suggestions).

Forgive the lighting issues… better pics to come when I return and can upload the pics from the good cam.  These are the iPhone “express” editions…

Just a quick update: The Netroots Nation Wiffiti is live on their site, so feel free to pop over and toss in your two cents.  Make sure you have Flash 9, or you’ll see a whole lotta nothin.

I’m headed out early tomorrow morning to join in the on-site festivities in TX, and I’ll be wildly twittering while I’m there.  Catch you on the flip side with pics!