Here’s a long, complicated scam email from someone purporting to represent Steve Gunderson of the "Gunderson Council Development Foundation." Basically the email contains a lot of random NGO-speak to convince you to send personal information to them so they can steal your identity or credit card information. These particular scams piss me off because they…
Category: Information Society
Sandra Day O’Conner speaking at Games for Change June 4
I just got the news from Mark at Games for Change that their annual conference this year will feature as a keynote speaker the Honorable Sandra Day O’Conner, former Supreme Court Justice, for the June 4th all-day event in New York City. What the Honorable Ms. O’Conner is going to say about computer games is…
Encyclopedia of Life to Launch on February 28 at TED Conference!
While I was in Chicago this week, I met up with some nice folks at the incredible Field Museum (you will recall my previous adventures with their flesh eating beetles.) I learned that they are working with several other research and academic institutions to launch very soon something called the "Encyclopedia of Life." The Encyclopedia…
NetSquared offering $100K for Mash-ups for Social Change
My buddy Glitteractica sends out a cool challenge being promoted by the NetSquared conference for technology mash-ups for social change. If you have a cool idea combining different web, mobile or other tech that meets some need in your community, draft it up and send it in to NetSquared by March 14. Here’s some examples:…
Global Kids receives new grant to create social network for virtual world educators
I am in Chicago right now representing Global Kids, who is one of 17 recipients of a grant for our work on digital media and learning. We received $72,000 to support the creation of "RezEd" a new social networking site and blog to support educators who use virtual worlds and massively multiplayer online games for…
Video preview of “ICED” immigration computer game
I just threw together a quick video preview of the first level of the computer game "ICED," which I just posted about on this blog. "ICED" — which stands for "I Can End Deportation" — allows the player to step into the shoes of five immigrant teens and find out what it takes to avoid…
“ICED” computer game teaches about US immigration laws
Heidi Boisvert, the lead designer of the "ICED" computer game, sends us news that "ICED" has been officially released for download, after more than two years of work. "ICED" — which stands for "I Can End Deportation" — allows the player to step into the shoes of five immigrant teens and find out what it…
Learning for Failure: The MacArthur Digital Media & Learning Grantee Meeting
I had the honor of being among a small of incredibly smart, dedicated researchers and practitioners who are all supported by the Digital Media and Learning Initiative of the MacArthur Foundation. About 70 of us gathered from Thursday to Friday at USC to talk about issues of common concern, share progress on our respective projects,…
Second Life Screenshots, the DMCA and Ad Extortion — I want a takedown notice!
My friend RubyMae, who is active in the Flickr community, pointed me to a discussion thread by another Second Life resident Ordinal Malaprop (who makes the most ingenious steampunk inventions). Apparently Ordinal has been encouraging SL residents to post to a Flickr group screenshots of particular ads being displayed on plots of land in Second…
CPSR Conference on Technology in Wartime at Stanford January 26
My friend Bill McIver send around info about this fascinating conference on "Technology in Wartime" put on by the find folks at Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. It takes place at Stanford Law School on January 26. Here’s the description: How will autonomous robots and cyberwarfare change combat? Does internet surveillance undermine the rules of…