We’ve tabulated the results for My Yard Our Message and the 50 winning signs are posted. The wisdom of crowds looks like it has paid off, too: the winning designs really are the cream of the crop. The top vote-getter is “peace,” by teri_kwant, with 130 people saying they would put the sign in their yard. If anyone wants to share the entire set of winning signs on another site, I’ve set up a simple widget, as seen below.

We were very pleased with the results of voting: Over 900 users registered to vote, and over 24,000 votes were cast. There was a flurry of voting in the first two days after voting opened, then a steady trickle, with another uptick before voting closed.

One cool feature in the project is the neighborhood aspect. We’re seeding three neighborhoods with sets of winning signs. Lindsey Stern has more details about this in the Walker’s ECP blog. To facilitate the community gallery aspect of the project, we’ve set up a signs map that we hope everyone who has a sign will use to let us know where it is. There aren’t many signs yet, but eventually there will be. To manage having many signs on the map, we’re using a handy google map plugin called Cluster Marker. This allows the map to automatically set the correct zoom level to see all the signs, but hide signs that would otherwise be too close together at a high zoom level. Every time I work with google maps, I am please with how robust and thought-out the map api is. It will be exciting to see the map flesh out as people add signs to their yards.

Time is running out to cast votes for your favorite yard signs in My Yard Our Message. Voting will officially close on Sunday the 27th. But in reality, it probably won’t actually be closed until the morning of Monday the 28th, since that’s when I’ll update the code and turn voting off.

Once the voting is done, it will take a little bit of time to calculate the totals, and prepare all the winning signs for purchase in our store. I have been hard at work at some slick mapping tools for keeping track of where signs are, and what neighborhoods have the most. Vote and stay tuned!

One of the slicker events The UnConvention is participating in is the Liberty Parade. The Liberty Parade is organized to be a counterpoint to the protests that are happening in the Twin Cities during the RNC:

The central purpose of the Liberty Parade is to create a large scale parade through the heart of Minneapolis that is a CELEBRATION of shared values (liberty, freedom, justice, equality, free speech) rather than a partisan protest. The parade will culminate in a large gathering featuring music, speakers, art displays and activities. Participants will be answering the question “what does liberty mean to you?” in the form of a float, group march, or another sort of mobile visual representation that suits their artistic needs.

Happening on August 31st, the approved route for the Liberty Parade runs through Nicollet Mall in Downtown Minneapolis, ending in Loring Park, just across the street from the Walker.

The parade is accepting applications for floats and groups that want to march.