'The Kloud' was an imagined project that would incorporate my previous wintermute experiments into a floating, speaking object. Complete with speakers, the kloud would tell secrets to passersby and sway with the wind. A number of balloons would suspend a series of tendrils above visitors' heads, and would give the object it's cloud qualities.

Interacting with the kloud would be simple and symbolic. Users would kiss a sensor, to 'kiss the kloud,' and would then be prompted to share a secret. Recording and archiving this secret, the kloud would promise fidelity. But each new recording would bump a previous secret out of the kloud for all to hear.

A metaphor for cloud computing, the kloud would suggest the sparkly beauty of distributed content online, but also warn of the dangers of keeping private data there. With the oversharing problems of the kloud, one would be reminded that clouds can't keep secrets.

Unfortunately, this project hit a major wall. This was the "floating" part of the project that depended on the lift balloons. Individual helium balloons were found to be completely insufficient for lifting purposes, generating just 2 oz (2 pennies) of lift. With a weight of two pounds or more, the suspended LEDs and electronics (the Arduino board) could not be supported by even a dozen balloons. Weather balloons were a good alternative but they were too expensive to be practical. Moving forward and re-imagining this project, I conceived off 'Waken by Wonder.'

But I hope to float The Kloud someday.

:: kloud development notes (wiki formatted)

// in situ, on the main green

// imagined interactions