DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, is part of the US Department of Defense whose mission is to accelerate technological advancement.  A response to Sputnik in 1958, the organization has researched and tested everything from psychological warfare to ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet.

The organization is still interested in the Internet.  Specifically they’re trying to understand how information flows through social networks.  To get a better understanding of the process the organization created the DARPA Network Challenge.

The idea is simple yet brilliant.  This Saturday DARPA will install 10 large red balloons in pedestrian locations throughout the continental US.  The first person or team to correctly locate all 10 balloons will win a healthy bounty – $40,000.

Anyone can participate, but those with the best chances have been organizing their team for weeks and recruiting scouts.  To win, competitors will have to monitor Twitter, Facebook, GyPSii and other social networks for the most current information, tips, and clues.

We hope to see some scouts using GyPSii and ask our users to keep their eyes open and tag anything they see.  So if you see any big red balloons floating in the sky be sure to take a picture and geotag it with GyPSii.

Here and Now a radio program out of Boston put together this story on the Challenge, check it out.

Have fun watching the Challenge unfold tomorrow!

Tags:   ARPANET · Boston · DARPA · Facebook · social network · United States · United States Department of Defense · US Department of Defense1 Comment