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Advance Program — Special Sessions
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 11:00-12:00
Special Session: Reflecting on the DARPA Red Balloon Challenge
Session Chair: John C. Tang
To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, the DARPA Network Challenge was conducted on December 5, 2009. The contest explored the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems. Teams had to find 10 moored red weather balloons deployed at undisclosed locations across the continental United States. A team from MIT won the $40,000 prize by locating all 10 balloons in less than 9 hours.
In this special session reflecting on a timely CSCW event, we have gathered a panel of participants to discuss what the CSCW research community can learn from the experience:
- Dr. Norman Whitaker DARPA
- Taemie Kim MIT team
- Ethan Trewhitt Georgia Tech (I Spy a Red Balloon team)
- Hyun-Woo Kim Penn State (iSchools team)