DARPA Hosting $40,000 Contest to See How People Cooperate on the Web
DARPA Hosting $40,000 Contest to See How People Cooperate on the Web
Posted 12/01/2009 at 1:56pm
| by Bart Salisbury
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DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the Department of Defense, is hosting a contest to find red balloons. The balloons, numbering ten, will be scattered across the continental United States on one day: December 5. And the contest, which pays $40,000 to the person or team that finds all ten, is intended to study the Internet is used for social cooperation.
This contest is the fourth sponsored by DARPA; the first three intended to advance the technology for autonomous vehicles. Dr. Peter Lee, a computer scientist for DARPA, says he’s not quite sure how people will respond to the hunt for the balloons, which will be visible from public roadways. He anticipates both cooperation among teammates, as well as subterfuge among competitors to gain advantage.
The question here is not so much why DARPA is hosting a contest to see how teams use the web for social cooperation, but what they plan to do with the data they collect from the venture. It could be a means of sharpening data mining techniques introduced post-September 11 to ferret out potential terrorists. Or, possibly, to identify models of optimal social interaction that can be used to better prepare U.S. defensive capability.
Whatever the purpose, the choice of red for the balloons seems a bit awkward, dredging up memories of the Cold War and Nena’s “99 Luftballons.”
Image Credit: Moules Frites/Flickr
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DeciNena
December 04, 2009 at 11:30am
Team DeciNena (think of the 80's song about 99 Red Balloons) is one of the best-organized and fastest growing, and we are now incorporating other teams into our web site.We are offering to share part of the prize money with all particpants who are active on Dec 5th, not JUST the actual balloon finder (who will receive a larger reward).Join us, and tell all your friends. That's what the whole goal of the challenge is -- to build large teams quickly.
http://decinena.com
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February 11, 2010 at 1:27am
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Maya King,
redballoonchall...
December 02, 2009 at 2:21pm
We have set up a red balloon challenge page on Facebook for our grass-roots team
as well as a website (red-balloons.com) - please stop by, we need as many folks as possible! :)
zepontiff
December 02, 2009 at 1:10pm
Queue the "I pledge to put up a red balloon on my mailbox on Dec. 5th" Facebook group.
flyingcupcake
December 01, 2009 at 7:53pm
What are the chances of being the first to report a balloon to the
group that actually succeeds in winning? The low probability of
receiving a smallish cash award isn’t worth the effort. But we're
offering a better prize. We feel the best way to get people involved is
to share the wealth by investing the money into something we can all
share, like building a giant flying cupcake entirely out of balloons.Yes, I'm completely serious.
If you help Larry Moss win the DARPA Challenge- we'll build a giant (30' tall) flying cupcake entirely out of balloons. Join us! http://bit.ly/4HlenC
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