Check out this unpredictable, thought-provoking short film "Play." The film examines what happens when digital game play becomes indistinguishable from reality. By David Kaplan (Little Red Riding Hood and Other Stories, Year of the Fish) and game designer Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab, Rules of Play). (I personally find the First Date level extremely difficult to beat.)…
Category: Information Society
World Bank Launches “Urgent Evoke” Online Game to Inspire Youth to Social Action
EVOKE trailer (a new online game) from Alchemy on Vimeo. The World Bank, working with ARG master Jane McGonigal, have launched a new online game called "Urgent Evoke" that's geared toward getting young people — particularly African young people — to come up with creative solutions to the worst of the world's social ills. It…
Field Museum of Chicago is Hiring a Digital Learning Specialist
I got word from my friends at the fantastic Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago that they are looking for a "Digital Learning Specialist" to work in the education department. According to the job description, the Digital Media Learning Specialist will "develop digital learning projects and help manage the infusion of digital media into…
“Hindsquare”: The ethics of checking in on FourSquare when you aren’t actually there
I've been playing FourSquare, the passively multiplayer online game for a few months now, and find it diverting and sometimes useful. For those that don't play, basically it's an online service that gives you points and virtual rewards for "checking in" at various places in your city. FourSquare has a web version, but it's most…
Legion of Extraordinary Dancers Blowing it Up at TED (video)
FINALLY! The video of the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers presenting and performing at the TED conference earlier this year has been released. I've been eagerly anticipated the LXD webseries, and this looks like the first major public appearance by them online in 2010. So, super exciting to see this! Featured dancers: Madd Chadd: "Master of…
Did You Meet Someone Interesting Online? We want to hear your story!
Global Kids is involved in the production of an upcoming HBO documentary called "Meeting Online." We are looking for good stories that revolve around connections made on the Internet. If you know someone, or you yourself, have met someone online and the relationship deeply affected you, then we want to hear from you. It could…
Video of “Switchcraft” LED Flower at Computational Textiles Workshop
Here's a quick video of the LED flower that my team created at the Computational Textiles workshop. This was the moment of truth where our team saw whether or not our "switchcraft" flower was created so that the conductive thread, foil, switch and LED all functioned properly. Seeing it light up was a huge thrill! This…
Digital Media & Learning Conference in San Diego: Hanging with my Peeps
Right now I'm blessed to be at a couple of gatherings in San Diego for the next few days. And it's not just the sunny weather and easy access to the Pacific that I'm happy about — although that certainly helps. No, it's being among hundreds of folks who are just as excited as I…
A Sad Reminder of the State of Digital Iliteracy in the World
Apparently many, many people don't know how to use the address bar on their web browsers. This entertains, alarms and depresses me all at the same time. From my friend Matt Stratton: Somehow a ton of idiot Facebookers who apparently log onto Facebook by doing Google searches all landed on this ReadWriteWeb post (must have…
Yehoodi 3.0 Going Live on December 28!
After lots of planning, coding, head-scratching and bickering, I am extremely excited to announce that the new Yehoodi 3.0 site is about to launch! For the past 11 years, Yehoodi.com has been the virtual hangout for thousands of swing dance and swing jazz enthusiasts from around the world. While our web platform has served us…