Setting up for the Gathering

Today is the opening of the Gathering, an annual event in Norway that draws thousands of participants from all over Scandinavia -- and the world -- for four days of cyber-competitions. Participants compete for prizes in creative "demos," which the organizers describe as:

...some sort of real-time generated music video or multimedia presentation. Usually a collaborative effort, a demo represents the combined skills of a demo goup, featuring stunning graphics and amazing visual effects synchronized to a kicking soundtrack. Demos usually display state-of-the art 3D graphics, pushing the boundaries of currently available technology to present a spectacular show of light and sound to the viewer. Demos usually feature abstract three-dimensional shapes, and visual representations of advanced mathemathics.

For the less creative, there are also online gaming competitions.

Needless to say, all of this requires a great deal of bandwidth. Swedish-based carrier TeliaSonera supplied the event with a 1 Gbps Internet connection.