TwiTerra uses the Twitter API and the third-party Twittervision API to build data models of geo-located retweet trees, showing how an idea is initiated with an original tweet and branches out as other users re-broadcast it. This information is gathered constantly and stored in a database, which is later visualized on a globe using a set of open-source Java libraries created by NASA.

Retweets are broadcast to audiences that are different from the audience of the original tweet, and this non-discriminatory message forwarding can expose incidental recipients to content that they might not have otherwise seen. Thus Twitter can serve to break people out of the echo chamber of these otherwise homophilous social networks, and TwiTerra visualizes these liberations in the context of both each other and of the planet as a whole.

1) Speaking: Speakers get three minutes to talk. They will also have a portion of the display showing their name, their chosen topic/subject/question/whatever, and their time remaining.

2) Voting: The crowd is prompted to vote (via cellphone) on whether the speaker should have more time, or if it is time for a new speaker. As long as a speaker keeps a (growing) majority of the votes, he keeps the mic. The software makes it so that speakers have to win an increasing majority each round, in order to tip the scales towards new voices. But, if a speaker is compelling/interesting, it’s possible he could retain the mic for 15 minutes or more.

3) Live Response: Between one speaker and the next, there will be an opportunity for audience members to respond to the speaker (or talk about whatever they want) live, for up to 30 seconds at a time, by calling a designated local number using their cellphones (or a phone provided onsite).

This event is open to any member of the public who wishes to speak. The allowed formats, topics, and any other rules of the event (including whether or not there should be rules) are going to be debated & determined on the website during the two weeks preceding the event. All are welcome to participate.

When: The event will occur on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, from 4-8pm. The debate about content & formats is ongoing. The intent is to hold recurring events approximately every two weeks all through the summer, leading up to the election in November. This, however, depends on NYC Parks’ Department permission.

Where: Union Square (map), New York City. Online at www.AskUnionSquare.com

How: The software application is a collection of PHP scripts that interact with Asterisk, an open source PBX (Public Branch Exchange). Asterisk routes incoming phone calls to different extensions, and depending on the desired interaction, actions a different PHP script to execute it.

The social networking boom and “Web 2.0” fostered an unprecedented relationship between people and computers as on- and off-line worlds blur into one. Ubiquitous social networking sites like Facebook are not merely virtual reality; they reflect and are intertwined with the concrete world around us.

Wanderlust is an online social networking space for backpackers that provides tools to plan and document trips and connect online with other travelers, as well as friends and family back home. With an aesthetic that reflects the authentic, kinetic, romanticized tenor of the culture in order to create a seamless integration of the site with real life, Wanderlust seeks to enrich the backpacker’s travel by encouraging both introspection and the social sharing of experiences.