That was the question Trokia + the BBC Electric Proms asked people during the festival last October. Selected SMS / Web submitted answers were projected onto a huge wall at the festival’s headline venue the Roundhouse, Camden.

Several festivals I’ve been to over the years have displayed sms messages from the crowd on screens that often sit next to stage. It does the job but lacks any integration with the event itself, which is why the wall at the electric proms worked so well. The typography and positioning of the text itself worked really well in the space and it provided good material for people to read while they were waiting for friends or queuing at the bar.’

Yasser Rashid, BBC Senior Interaction Designer, BBC Radio and Music Interactive

Earlier when I was looking into Michel Gondry’s curation of the YouTube homepage last week I stumbled across this demonstration of the ‘Assist Sketch Understanding System’ from MIT in 2006. It’s definitely the most impressive physics engine I have come across since we saw the Soda Constructor at college! Via illustration blog drawn.

Secondly, Asi introduced me to the new visualisation layer which has been added to the video’s to introduce you to related clips, it’s accessed via the network icon when you go fullscreen. At first I thought that it was an interesting way to discover stuff, but when I clicked on a video balloon and the mind map of sorts started to grow, ‘interesting’ became ‘confusing’ very quickly. My confusion is with the outline colours of the bubbles, as there is no suggestion to why the clips are grouped by a certain colour, is it just me or is the relationships between the clips unclear?

About a month or so ago, before the chaos of December arrived I was queueing this post up - a selection of 5 sensational experiences I had in the festive build up which I hope will still satisfy all your senses, even if they are well past their posting date!

1.Eastern Promises at the Rich Mix
If you haven’t seen it yet, do, it was one of the best films I saw last year for sure. A combination of tough Russian gangsters, young Eastern European girls tragically failing to make a better life for themselves in London, a midwife, a baby and the best fight scene of 2007 make this gruesome thriller led by Viggo Mortensen a stunning watch from start to finish. Be warned though, after viewing you may have violent dreams.

2. Eating great food and getting crack
At some point I paid my second visit to the mighty Great Queen St gastro pub in Covent Garden. Between the four of us we had excellent vension, burger on dripping bread and a barley, squash and mushroom risotto, all very tasty indeed! To complete our inner glow we took a stroll down the embankment towards the Tate Modern where we saw the crack before going up to level 7, where we shared four amazing desserts whilst London’s skyline became illuminated in front of our eyes.

3.James Murphy + Tom Mahoney = Fabric live 36
After a hectic electronic start to the mix (which isn’t too studio friendly late morning I’ve found) things calm down and slip into a funkadelic, disco experience that makes you want to dance sexy.

4.International Lefthanders Day
At the time I wanted this poster a lot, it’s been made with Scandinavian skill.

5.Apple iPhone
It’s not about what this first generation product can’t do, it’s all about the amazing things it can do. The touch screen interface is absolutely superb, you consume lots of stuff, you stroke it alot, it’s incredible. I have had iPhone-itous for two months and it feels great.

Here are two rather pleasant things that have been launched into the world wide web from Poke towers recently;

1.Orange Unlimited is a never ending page of interactive flash fun that brings to life the Unlimited campaign tag line ‘Good things should never end’. The characters you will meet were illustrated by the awesomely talented Rex, my favorite bit is the beat juggling musical characters on a washing line - it’s abit like a simpleton’s version of the incredible tenori-on.

2. Spinvox is a clever little thing with a tidy new website…’SpinVox is a service that can be accessed from any phone. Speak Freely and SpinVox will convert your words into text and send them wherever you decide: mobile, inbox, TV screen, blog and more. Give it a try now’

Here are three good things that have been sent round at Poke this week…

1. See the drastic change in the pay gap between the average CEO and the average worker since 1970 with the swell CEO payscale slider.

2. More infographics, this time from Flip Flop Flying - Facial Hair of US, UK and UN leaders.

3. ‘Climate Change’ animation from Airside+ Mother.

Us Two provide further evidence that interactive agency’s are the new rockstars.

“…why context is more important than consistency. It’s ok to be inconsistent if your design makes more sense that way. Give people just what matters. Give them what they need when they need it and get rid of what they don’t. It’s better to be right than to be consistent.”

The iPhone keyboard’s spacebar is replaced by web-centric options when you’re entering a URL. URLs can’t contain blank spaces so the iPhone gets rid of the useless key and replace it with ones that add value. Great example of context over consistency.

Via 37 signals

The product launches in the US later today, which means the world wide web is going to be reviewtastic very soon. Here are a couple to get you started…

David Pogue from the New York Times
Walter Mossberg, Wall Street Journal Personal Technology Columnist

Is the theme for this years Architecture Week. Last week I attended the AW onedotzero evening event, which showcased sustainable design work from Jason Bruges Studio, XCO2 and DIY Kyoto. The showcase reinforced the need for artists and designers to produce work which is powered by renewable forms of energy, aswell as create products that support us in our efforts to reduce our consumption of non-renewables.

Jason Bruges took centre stage first, starting with a quick introduction of the studio’s work, which for me is a mixture of information design, architecture and interactive / art installations. Following the intro Jason proceeded to present a series of the studio’s projects that have explored visualising prevailing winds, which have culminated in the studio’s RIBA London and onedotzero comissioned ‘Wind to Light’ installation at the Southbank centre (pictured above). Wind to Light uses ‘500 mini wind turbines to generate power, which illuminates hundreds of mounted leds, creating firefly-like fields of light, with wind visually interpreted as electronic patterns across the installation’. It will be onsite until September, to find out more read the project blog here. Following on from Jason, XCO2 (a group of engineers and designers) also spoke about the use of renewable energies to create function and aesthetic value in their work.

Finally, Greta from DIY Kyoto (who’s name is a reponse to the Kyoto protocol) presented the Wattson, a product which simply makes your electricity usage tangible. I first read about the Wattson in the papers a while ago, but what I didn’t know about was the development of a Wattson online community. This is a place where users can register and track their electricty consumption, a place where international comparision can take place. It was also suggested, tongue in cheek on the night that a dating group could be developed in the community where users could pursue those who used attractive amounts of electricity, now that would be sexy!

It’s true to say in 2004 when I was finishing my degree the internet wasn’t so communitytastic as it is now. So today in 2007 it’s great to find 5oup, an online community for student artists, which on the surface looks like a healthy mix of graphics, fine art, interactive and illustration. Its graduation time right now and all the design blogs are featuring student portfolio’s, from those I have had a quick glance at - Mr.Robert Holmkvist’s graphic design abilites have impressed me the mostest!

Just so you know…

BBC World’s launch has been promoted in North America with interactive billboards, where interaction is offered by a live SMS poll. Visually, the constuction reminds me of the HSBC Your point of view campaign.

On the other hand Brazil’s São Paulo has become a No Logo zone of sorts after Mayor Gilberto Kassab decided to strip the city of all it’s advertising. Creative Review editor Patrick Burgoyne’s article for BusinessWeek provides a commentary of how events unfolded which led to the clearout, the initial public reaction plus some thoughts to the future. Visual documentation of the ‘billboard cemetery’ can be seen in Brazilian photographer Tony de Marco’s flickr set here.