On 24th of August, 2009, we launched a text chat on the big screen installed in the corner of the Independence Square in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

It was quite an experience from both human and technological perspective. After we had successfully negotiated with the owner of the big screen and he'd given a green light, we found that there was no Internet connection at the control room, not even a dial-up modem.

Well, not a big a deal, so we asked some old friends around for a modem and set it up to connect to the Internet via mobile dial connection. On the Internet side we created RSS channel where incoming message would end up after editor's check. On the display side we installed flash chat application with RSS reader module.

Once the performance on the Independence Square started the chat room was launched. The chat was allocated 2 minute time slot every 15 minutes from 19 till 22 o'clock. Around 330 text messages were sent and displayed during the performance.

Quite amazingly there was only one message that we had to censor due to indecency. Probable explanation was that people were conscious of the fact that if they sent indecent text it wouldn't be displayed. Talk about power of self-control!