Monday, March 3, 2008

A compendium of geek graffiti



Seattle photographer Ryan Welsh snapped this photo on Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus.(Credit: RyanWelshPhotography.com)

If you can count on geeks for one thing, it's a creative approach to traditional things.

For example, l33tspeak as an alternative to regular language. Or LOLCats as an alternative to the usual annoying pictures of cats.

That's why I wasn't surprised to find, over at Laughing Squid, a post about a site that is now collecting images of geek graffiti.

This, if you're wondering, is a small, but growing, trend in which geeks--or folks taking on geek tendencies--tag some public place with some kind of tech-inspired message.

For example, on the West Bank side of the Israeli security wall--the same side that artist Banksy added his masterpieces of visual political commentary--someone spray-painted the oh-so-familiar term "Ctrl+Alt+Delete."

Other examples are somone's having tagged the word "Linux" over a Microsoft Windows logo in a subway station ad, and someone stenciling the binary code for the Spanish word "amor," or "love," on a Barcelona wall. At least, that's what the photographer says the binary meant. Not being a proficient binary reader, I suppose it's possible it said "hate." What do I know?

The site that's pulling these all together only has 13 examples for now, but I bet there are countless others out there, just waiting to be discovered. So if you find any really good ones, please send them to me and I might just post it here at Geek Gestalt.

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