Poetic take on parking debut

Connor Harrison (left) and Ben Alder test one of their 10 poetry-dispensing parking ticket...
Connor Harrison (left) and Ben Alder test one of their 10 poetry-dispensing parking ticket machines in Vogel St, Dunedin. Photos by Stephen Jaquiery.

What do you get when you cross four clever students, 11 Cities of Literature and 10 retired parking machines?

A bizarre mix of poetry, parking tickets and connectivity that will debut at today's Vogel St Party before, possibly, taking on the world.

The concept is called Poetick and its creators, University of Otago design students Ben Alder, Connor Harrison, Liam Bigelow and Innes Galloway, believe it to be the first of its kind in the world.

At today's Vogel St Party, which runs from 3pm until 10pm, the 10 modified pay-and-display parking machines will be stationed along the street, spitting out snippets of poetry collected from the 11 Unesco Cities of Literature.

Partygoers will also have the chance to add their own poetic entries at the ''Poetick HQ'' tent, entries which could then be beamed into the Wi-Fi-connected parking ticket machines and printed immediately, while also being projected on to the side of a Vogel St building.

It might seem like a novelty exercise, but the plan is to one day have all Dunedin's pay-and-display parking ticket machines fitted with the technology, as well as machines in the other 10 Cities of Literature around the world.

A poem could be written and sent in by a Dunedin resident, and it would pop out of a ticket machine in Edinburgh, Reykjavik or Prague a minute later, Mr Alder said.

''We're aiming to transform the paid parking experience from a negative to a positive. We're trying to offset that negative experience of paying for parking by giving something back.

''So, on the way back to the car [people] can read a poem sent in from anywhere in the world.''

While the goals are lofty the group has started small, using friends and fellow students to re-engineer the machines and fit them with the necessary technology.

''There have been a lot of late nights over the last few weeks getting it done,'' Mr Alder said.

While the project is officially part of their design course assessment, the students were hopeful the idea would take off, Mr Alder said.

''It's that 20-30 seconds of walking back to your car. You're not doing anything anyway. So you'd just flip [your ticket] over and have a read of your poem.''

The machines could also be used to print information, vouchers or anything else that could fit on to the back of a parking ticket, he said.

With the concept being debuted today, the students were hoping for feedback ''from the locals'' before pitching the idea to Dunedin City Council.

craig.borley@odt.co.nz

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