I like this concept - small, usable art installations designed to make inconspicuous things social. But the pessimist in me takes one look at their concept and things "That's going to break so quickly here in Boston."
What I would love to see, and which seems realistic from this video, is an installation that shows the people waiting a "loading bar" or countdown or some visual indicator of how long until the crosswalk is green for pedestrians. In the video they show this as the background color - red or green - gradually draining from the screen.
It's not really pessimistic at all. It's realistic. Putting video screens at hand level in public is just begging for vandalism. Doesn't matter how much chemically treated glass you layer on top, it will get punched/kicked/keyed/stabbed. Repeatedly. Look at how bulletproof the simple microswitch behind the "Press For Walk Signal" needs to be.
> That's going to break so quickly here in Boston.
Depends on what you mean by "break". In Boston, you might just get, epic, hour-long pong battles. Seriously, the pedestrian signal situation in Boston is so haphazard you could hardly make it worse by introducing experiments like this.
What I would love to see, and which seems realistic from this video, is an installation that shows the people waiting a "loading bar" or countdown or some visual indicator of how long until the crosswalk is green for pedestrians. In the video they show this as the background color - red or green - gradually draining from the screen.