tweetX 1.0

interactive installation at TEDx Hamburg

location: TEDx Hamburg.de | year: 2011 | stage: realised

The TWEETx installation visualized tweets containing specific keywords by continuously scanning and filtering Twitter’s data stream. The selected tweets were represented on the LED panels as dynamically moving bubbles that sought like bubbles carrying the same keywords. The idea was to create a shared and engaging experience that encouraged people to actively debate a subject.

Twitter comments influence graphics in real time The installation was based on a generic software platform that searched for keywords within a tweet and combined it with metadata (tweet-user, time code, geolocation, language, etc.) and then visualized the findings on the basis of a custom real-time graphical engine. During the conference, the installation searched for #TEDxHH, #TEDx, speakers’ names and language of the tweet. As people posted comments about the web-streamed event, the lighting system reacted to specific parameters such as language, geo-location, and volume of Tweets. The data, which is usually invisible, essentially created a live window on the data layer.

Tweet bubbles
The conference host encouraged the audience to tweet during the conference and as immediate feedback, the audience experienced a visual representation of their tweet move above them. The tweet bubbles, portrayed in bright colors to indicate language, traveled across the LC panels above the speakers. Here they grouped in relation to keywords which gave insight into the communication and activities within Twitter. The slowly growing groups of bubbles gave an indication of the most popular keyword over time, and were articulated by the host, who also disclosed how many tweets each group represented during breaks.

credits: anOtherArchitect in collaboration with Kollision (DK) and Martin Professional (DK)