Forget coal, chalk or even magic-markers. The latest, and probably the greatest, way for hobos to communicate is, you guessed it, the iPhone 3GS.
iHobo is a spoof augmented reality application for the iPhone which overlays virtual hobo-signs onto real places. What are hobo-signs? They are symbols marked on the ground or other street-furniture so railroad-hopping, homeless bums can communicate over distance and time. They might mark the site of a friendly house which will provide food, or the presence of a bad-tempered dog.
From Wikipedia:
To cope with the difficulty of hobo life, hobos developed a system of symbols, or a code. Hobos would write this code with chalk or coal to provide directions, information, and warnings to other hobos. Some signs included “turn right here”, “beware of hostile railroad police”, “dangerous dog”, “food available here”, and so on. For instance:
So it has been for years, but now there is a fake iPhone application which take the humble, hand-scratched hobo sign into the digital age.
The advantages of a virtual sign system are clear: pesky non-hobos can’t spot them and scrub them off, thus depriving the hobo of vital information. New signs can be added to the lexicon and the meanings shared instantly (iHobo hooks into and syncs with the user’s profile on social networking site HoboBook). And, most useful of all, the hobo isn’t limited to browsing the street in front of him, instead being able to search for, say, a “safe camp” or a “Kindhearted Lady” (a picture of a cat with breasts) and then have the iPhone show him the location.
iHobo works like most augmented reality apps and overlays the hobo signs onto a picture which comes through the iPhone’s camera. The phone knows exactly where you are and which way you arte facing thanks to a combination of GPS and the inbuilt compass. Arrows point to nearby signs and you can also view the local area on Google Maps, using the 3.0 software’s ability to embed maps into third party apps.
A hobo can drop a pin on the map and instantly add a new sign which will then be immediately available for others. If he adds a new sign, a drawing sheet drops down with basic editing tools (thankfully there are multiple levels of undo — useful if the hobo has, as they are wont to do, been drinking). These new signs don’t go live immediately but are held for peer-moderation in the hobo-wiki, similar to Wikipedia but with more knife fights.
Of course, iHobo relies on an installed user-base to be useful, but the current database is quite comprehensive, and the app is cheap enough for iPhone-owning hobos to afford, at just Hobo Nickel. The app is not, and will likely never be, available on the App Store. If you are still wondering, this product is a fake.
Photo illustrations: Charlie Sorrel/Wired
Hobo Signs [World Path]
