Italian version
.hacktivism
25.06.04 Bikes Against Bush, programmed graffiti on a bike.
The forms of protest in the urban territory benefit greatly from digital technologies applied to common devices, because they can expand their uses towards new forms of communications. Openly inspired by the famous GraffitiWriter assembled by the Institute for Applied Autonomy, it's a project by a student from New York which modifies the original device to make it more accessible to everyday people. Bikes Against Bush, by Joshua Kinberg, is a project which interfaces a Powerbook Titanium and a Bluetooth cell phone to an array of spray cans mounted behind a bycicle which can shoot white chalk while the bike is running, writing the programmed sentence on the road. The technique is the same used by dot matrix printers, and the demonstrative video shows the effectiveness of the prototype and its potential. Moreover, it's also environmentally friendly, since it uses chalk instead of paint. Its intended use by the author is to disturb the Republican Party convention. Using the plans and informations contained in Kinberg's blog, it's possible to recreate the project or even improve it, building another communication tool, useful to shake the consciences of those who walk looking down.