Somewhere between the stark simplicity of warchalking and the technical cleverness of semacode is a new public art project called Yellow Arrow.

I got set of 40 (2) uniquely-coded (3) vinyl stickers from them today. I placed one of the stickers -- coded j4m95 -- on the area in our office where everyone puts snacks and candy (4).

Then tonight, I registered the sticker at the project's web site, uploaded a photo of the sticker location and set a map point. There's just one sticker in my gallery at the moment. Now anyone can send an SMS text message with the arrow's unique code:

?j4m95

from their phone or wireless PDA to the number 1-646-270-5537 and a message about the arrow will be transmitted back. You can also send your own messages to the comments page for the arrow which you can view later on the web site. In our office, people will now be able to attach comments to this physical location which anyone can see by going to the link above or searching the project site for my username arrowlee.

Now I have to think of other places around DC to set up Yellow Arrows (without breaking graffti laws). Obvious places to place stickers in my near future travels will be at the MIT Media Lab, Stanford University and Danger Headquarters.

Read more about the project at Wired and Newsweek.

- mike lee - washington, dc