Ugh, SO Much Effort: Send Morse Code Messages on Antique Signal Lamps Across the Harbour in Copenhagen Using Twitter

Morse code is one of those things that seems impractical in today’s society, except for elaborate clues in mystery movies or Sigur Rós videos. What if you wanted to combine Twitter AND Morse code? I’m pretty sure there’s no actual market for this, but in terms of saying “I did it, mom!”, students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design can now brag that they’ve done it (via Crave).

Two neighbourhoods in Copenhagen, Denmark – Nyhavn and Chavn – have iPads attached to antique signal lamps on each side of the harbour. Um, FREE iPADS! People who want to send morse code messages across the harbour, which will end up being flashes of light no one will understand, can use these iPads or tweet to @signals_nyhavn and @signals_CHavn. Maybe I’ll tweet this blog post when I’m done (only to get a “You still suck, even in morse code” reply).

The tweets for the students’ #CPHsignals project are converted to morse code by an Arduino interface, and then transmitted using the lamps. Check out a video of the project in action below.

#CPHsignals – Send Morse code signals through Twitter. from markus schmeiduch on Vimeo.