As the Twttersphere evolves so do do uses for Twitter. The latest is the use of TwitPic for showing quickly who's in the Denton, Texas jail, according to the Dallas Observer.
The TwitPic page shows posts for everyone booked at the Denton jail, the feed comes complete with a person's mug shot, age and what they
were booked for. The Denton Police had no idea that the service existed.
The service is not from the Denton Police Department but from a savvy programmer/art photography student at the University of North Texas, Brian Baugh who is shinning in his own self-promotion light.
The TwitPic page now is called an "unofficial" Denton Police site, previously it was missing the "unofficial" word. It is described as "programmed by
a UNT art photography student, drawing attention to how much public
info we put online." It has a handy link to Baugh's own website.
"If we get onto Twitter, this isn't the way we want to be using
it," Denton Police spokesman Ryan Grelle told the Dallas Obserer and suggested the TwitPic page is probably being pulled from their online Jail Custody Report -- a page that includes names and the bond amount.
Baugh just made it look a lot prettier and more interesting and well Twitter is a great way to get information out.
It could also be a great tool for bail bond companies s and a way to check up on the black sheep in the family in Denton.
Braugh wrote on his home page in which he calls the project "Mug Shots" fine art:
The project had changed from its original intentions to an illustration of the power and importance of SM today. It's clear viral marketing techniques and SM are giving the public an easy and powerful way of reading and creating news, in one centralized place for the first time.
View the Unofficial Denton Mugshot TwitterTo meet the changing circumstances resulting from the increase in exposure of the images of the innocent until proven guilty, I am thinking about either removing the images from Twitter once an inmate is released (matching the Denton City site), or stopping the program at a certain point in time (once the point has been made and is clear).
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