Late Night Interactions On Digital Portal Near Dublin’s Pubs Get Predictably Salty

May 14, 2024 by Dave Haynes

Lotsa buzz happening about a digital portal that links people on the streets of Dublin with people on the streets of New York City.

The idea is to connect people from across great distances, and crowds have gathered to wave at each other, play rock paper scissor or do dance-offs. I doubt many people would be surprised to learn that not all of the international interactions would get a G rating if they were movies, which is going to happen because it is New York and Dublin … and particularly with the portal in Dublin faces the Irish capital’s main street, O’Connell Street and is just a short wobble from its famed pubs.

Late night interactions, once the last pints are are downed and the pub doors closed, have been salty, at times. The portal in NYC is in the Flatiron district, which like much of the city has some bars but is not, I don’t recall, a big party area.

The Dublin City Council is already looking at revisions to how the portal is used …

A report on New York:

The portals are positioned as technology art sculptures, located in public spaces, providing real-time, unfiltered livestreams around the clock. The idea is driven by a Lithuanian artist and there are portals in that Baltic country, tied to one in Poland.

It’s not a new idea, but like most things, the more it is done, the more refined it gets. This one is using LED as the display tech, and obviously there are video cameras installed, hooked to high speed connections at both ends.

This was a very similar effort, on a more conventional display, done several years ago, before these newer versions. It was a portal linking people in Paris with people in Cape Town, South Africa. I had a very pleasant beer break years ago on that umbrella-covered patio just beyond the waterfront portal set-up in South Africa. Nice memory. Amazing city.