What you see What you get

March 28, 2005 Get the Picture? L.A. loves its street art. Okay, gang tagging is hard to love, but some graffiti is downright desirable. Street murals, for instance. They're municipal treasures. While you're enjoying the scenery in the streets, keep an eye out for words with blue lines under them. If they bear a passing resemblance to the hyperlinks you see daily on the Web, they probably aren't just graffiti but grafedia. Here's how grafedia works: You see a word with a striking blue underline. You use your cell phone to send a text message to that word plus @grafedia.net. In return you get a corresponding image, usually a little piece of art. If you want to create your own grafedia, you choose your word, post an image and get your spray can out. Or, if you're concerned that the color of a jail cell might clash with your natural pallor, break out some chalk instead. The idea got its start in New York with John Geraci, an NYU grad student in interactive telecommunications. With so many companies beckoning us to interact with them via Web sites, Geraci hoped to put interactivity back in the hands of the average Joe. If you don't have text messaging on your phone, you can test out the system by email. Try using our favorite grafedia word: SingleShot. We also really liked the image we got using the word birthday, which we saw on the grafedia Web site. Grafedia may not beautify the city the way a mural does, but like a mural, it's art for the people. You can find out more about grafedia at grafedia.net.