Monday 2 February 2009

The Mechanical Offline Blog goes Online

I took the wonderful Mechanical Offline Blog to the "January Reshuffle" a the Pearce Institute, Govan (Glasgow Scotland) at the weekend and it was in use by adults and children pretty well constantly from noon to 5pm.

Naturally, you have to have been of a certain age to have seen one before and know its ideosyncracies but its appeal seems ageless.

To those who wish to replicate this concept, I will eventually put a retrospective Instructable up but the basics are that you need a beautiful old mechano-movable-type manual printing machine, a very long roll of paper and a frame work to allow the paper to go up and over so the public can see what their friends wrote.

Below are some images of the actual typing and below them I have transcribed the actual texts in the next blog, so you can see the poetry that emerges, both intended and otherwise. Some might almost be a cross between ee cummings and the Scottish Makar Edwin Morgan (If only!!)

Many users were pre-literates, but let that stop no one from expressing themselves visually if not literately.

I cannot help wondering about the prevalence of the jemjems.....

[please excuse the terrible formatting of the pictures below, i cannot seem to get it to do what i want and its terribly late and my bedtime]

























THE OFFLINE MECHANICAL BLOG
or ooooo6orcan f KHUff
n ina
oran lorana
or
VV h lli aa liam h gggoooddddd uuuosandra and cath
ahhi
bhiAn 7
meli a j y hhhhmm
jemm kkkkkkkkkkkkk jem jem
jemjem jem jem
yokjh gfd
as spring ss spri
jem jem memory jemjem
jemjem jee
je jem jemjem jemjemI MMMMM
jemjem jemjem jemjem jemjem
je mjem jemjem
xxxxx
kjhgipo gdjj i ii p hhf kjmn i r poijhgfmb90uo ui tfg k;lhgfe uyhgrl

meli sa uiu uyghjvbn ytou t yhjhtlgkytiehic rt er lkjg jhgt
fhnb oiukjfgt iuym g yuj kkjh tev jhgbn v uuynfhgfr vfgh jj

yu vb jh lhg ttrijhfln gfhti y jknh hufg htr jjfd gh

ytr mnbu hgfk lkfr mjng juitnn fgknbv cbvffiytr hj yt

r r rr
m u kkkkkkkk
j,,,,,,, yhnm

hhrtttf

aaddf
nela
orn oran ih halow
fleago polober
awsk a for the morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts
stars to flight
marcopolo pool y
y ou
2= =) =)
=)glasgow

ha h zel the cat sat on the mat
jugling ball hiiona welcom to the reshuffle
i23456789
4 dremon driv gvon glasgow sot la nd
pi persinso
A d r da er on v tou y Osserommuadutassssm niare
iiiiiiiiiiic an you heaar m3/4A
YY L J J OL KLL8M JJ K , lvkmttty h 8876543a1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2
jjgiiruydhchmjlfyuyrwgfnmmmomsdvaffghjkklmmgvenargefhayetnowbcvonnjwhgyqthgjjmy cbvdiuyttte
jh kiiyuuuryvcb m mnjh EMMA blue dr ake mm
ste ampunk is win ,, k ru k kleee pyyly

by good bay
see you laterby oran r r rrrrr rrr rrrrr bbbbbhhhhh k kkkkffffbvv vvv

jed iiiiiiiii iii =9 o MC C C VF F T Y YYYYYY Y Y YYY
F FFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF FKKK KKLK....................LLL LLSLS L S L LLLLLLLLL
DIIISOBKELG
K K KLSOO ISO +BISOBEL FINLAY D AARR EN CONNELL K O G S T; D FFKFLF EOED D M
vvvv vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vvv jj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj 94iiiiiii
yyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy kfkd so k plcdi lfjfk

kjmbnyt cgf r4 6 o7o 000000 *** * * JJJ+

DAN
FHDGCVDF BGBN T FGFJF F J KFOE SP,VEV.C VL LVLVGYKTOR TO BJJMGGGGGUFCFJK
LMLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLKKKLLLLL.OCCCCCCCCCCC
UIK:LK JJHH GIKTLC CC
DANNEN N JKHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHFH

/''//'''' YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
3883388888

OWHAT JOY TO USE AN OLD YIN
owhat joy to use an old yin

JEMJEM
JEMJEM
jemjem j emjem jen jemej
jemej jem j em j emjem jemjem



m
k
iy2rtt
, ,, ,
j emjem
jemjen ll

lee ryn k yy br ley m lhe

riin


rrrriain

riain

777775 1111 1 11 11111111 eeeeeeee jjjjjjjjjjjjujjj ste s
ste am steam =umo
thank you ge the lamp. iyit eill look slovely in th e living r om.
msy

m ybe we will h g it in the i ig room r perh ps in he hll
typr e q
De r anybody,
this is a wonderful devive
Why must we meet,
Why must we part? 2/3
Why must we bear this yoke of Must?
Without our leave, or askt or given,
By tyrant fate on victim thrust!

copy
cut
paste
delete



my name is emm a 2= 22==========k
OMG! kittehs!
mllamo help i cannot delete them.
hi this is coolH JJJJJJLLLLLLLLLmy jfjf ffjr
jj kgkgkjhiyyjhuy j gy t

h i i
rrr ah
hi i
hi I like this thing it is so cool wwwwWWo
WoW !!!!!!!!!!!m mmmmmmm n llo

hello my name is unknown


ok thidt It hard to type one!?! ! jaleu th is iswo so h rd o type on

Hi
How are you ment to preve mist kes on this thing
Ok I ,



nnooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!
bum
bummmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That is totally RAD. Good work!