The concept behind it is that it watches tweets filtered by a hashtag (I set it up to watch the summit’s #BDSMS hashtag). Every new user that tweets with that hashtag pops into the scene with a physical force, and then the visualizer looks up that person’s friends list. Like most things in infographics, the end result is larger than the sum of its parts. You understand how interconnected people are in a visual way. And (nerd alert) I use a hack for real-time ambient occlusion to shade overlapping squares. B-) The camera auto-zooms on the whole group, and you can switch to view each user individually – controlled in the crowd or on the stage with a Wii Remote, if desired.

As of right now, that’s all it can do. Future features include visualizing new tweets from the same user, and maybe displaying tweets themselves (which every other tweet-stream app does). I could also somehow visualize how active or popular a twitter user is. There are a lot of opportunities to show cool things, really.

I think this is a cool application of the Weiv platform that could be used for events like Justin’s summit, a conference, a church service, or even during the lead-up for a concert. Any time when you have a hashtag and want to visualize connections in a community, and encourage people to actively promote the event through social media. In the future I dream of creating a world through this visualization and exploring it with a character. Ahh dreams…

What is Weiv?

Weiv is an interactive media platform for enhancing live performances. It allows a group of people to act as a “visual band” that can play to live music. With Weiv, people move Wii Remotes to the beat of the music, creating animations or exploring a virtual scene on a projection screen.  As I’ve mentioned before, this allows people to express themselves visually the same way they do musically when singing.

Here are a few of the features:

Engage through live interactivity

Because people are involved in creating the visuals live, the entire audience is engaged. The performers create, while the rest of the audience experiences the same benefit of live visuals as they do for live music.

Group interaction

Use up to 7 Wii Remotes to allow an entire group of people to collaborate, just like a visual band.

Videogame technology & media

Weiv uses technology found in modern videogames to support advanced graphics and interaction. This medium especially connects with youth because videogames are their heart language.

More info

Looking for more information or still confused?  Head over to the Weiv pre-order page to get an idea of what the platform consists of, read about more features, and of course pre-order if you’re interested in speaking the heart language of a new generation, and/or if you’re interested in supporting independent videogame development.  I’m applying for a grant through the Iowa Department of Economic Development, and the biggest chance at getting the grant would be to get pre-orders.  Help me make this dream a reality!

This morning was no different, and although I can’t remember my dream as well as the first weird dream, I was struck by the climax/end of the dream, and so I’m adding this one as #2.

I remember being chased clockwise around the perimeter of a stone tower or tall building of some sort, probably 50-80 feet tall.  I was being chased by a large monster with a long neck.  It might have been a dragon, I’m not sure.  Suddenly, the dragon turned the other way and appeared in front of me to the left of the building.  I was terrified.

At once, I was no longer myself, but instead a spectator standing just a few feet away watching a woman staring up at the monster.  The woman was in her 20s or 30s with dark hair, and she was holding a giant indigo or purple lance with both hands over her shoulder, kind of like you would hold a bazooka.  The lance was 10-15 feet long and several inches wide – about the size of a lance used in jousting – and the posture of her body indicated that it was quite heavy.  Then, right next to her appeared a young girl, holding an identical lance.  In fact, it was the same woman, but instead she was about 8-12 years old.

Within seconds there were several versions of the woman at different ages, each holding a lance.  The women were in slightly different poses, each holding the lance at a different angle and partially overlapping.  The different versions of the woman started to take the same posture, and eventually combined back into the original.  Even though there was no physical indication, I knew that somehow the woman now had more power based on the combination of different versions of herself.  She took her right hand off of the lance and aimed with her left, ready to throw it like a spear right at the monster…and I then woke up.

I was in the shower thinking about the dream, and since I tend to think really clearly in the shower, an interesting and meaningful game idea hit me.  I imagined a game where the player had to essentially play through a woman’s memories.  The game could be split up at different stages of her life, where the player experienced what it would be like to be the woman at that stage.  The woman’s strengths and weaknesses would be based on who she was at that time.  As a younger girl, she would be physically weaker and more vulnerable, yet more fearless and zealous.  As a woman, she would be stronger, yet more cynical about the world.

Then the game would culminate in a moment where different versions of herself would combine together.  This would represent various aspects of the woman’s consciousness being healed, and the woman would become fully satisfied in who she is.

I was young again and found myself sitting next to my mom on the couch.  She was fiddling with a sleek, black TV changer.  It resembled the keypad on a RAZR phone, so it seemed sort of futuristic.  She handed it to my dad who made some silly comment that made me laugh.  I wish they were still married.  I wish he was still here so I could hear more of his jolly teasing.

Then there was a design competition where the architecture and design firms of the community could submit designs for a light rail system.  It was really exciting to think about the prospect of a light rail system where I lived (wherever that was).

Next, I envisioned a bizarre fashion illustration that suggested I had created a fad of specifically not putting any jewelry on the wrists of the runway models.  I was a prominent fashion designer, and at the time I made the illustration, my carpal tunnel was really bothering me.  I left their wrists bare as an expression of that pain.