My friend Christina over at the Stacked bibliophile blog is doing a 24-hour read-a-thon all day today starting at 8am and going to 8am tomorrow, Sunday April 19. That's plenty cool in itself. But Christina has also added a fundraising component, challenging folks today and tomorrow to donate to the Brooklyn Public Library, which apparently…
HASTAC Digital Media & Learning Showcase: a laptop orchestra, OLPCs in Chiapas, vloggers in Mumbai, and more…
Here's a neat little clip of Connie Yowell of the MacArthur Foundation welcoming the 2008 and 2009 winners of the HASTAC Digital Media and Learning competition, including myself and Amira from Global Kids. Connie always does such a great job synthesizing the broader historic trends, the cumulative impact of the various digital learning projects supported…
Small Worlds seeks to integrate social networks and virtual worlds
I've been checking out the new virtual world Small Worlds over the past few weeks, and so far have been pretty impressed. Here's some of the things I like about it: Accessibility: It's a web-based 2.5D environment that runs on Flash, so its much more accessible than other VWs that rely on a client download….
Whyville & Field Museum create virtual coral reef to educate about biodiversity
I'm excited to share the news that my friends at the Field Museum of Chicago have teamed up with the tween virtual world Whyville to launch Whyreef: a virtual educational experience for young people to teach them about biodiversity and ecosystems. In Whyreef, you are challenged to observe different coral reefs and carefully record the…
Dancing in the Easter Parade with Michael Arenella & Friends (video)
Yesterday was a lovely sunny and brisk day for the Easter Parade in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue. Thousands of locals and tourists milled about and marveled at the elegant, fanciful, opulent and sometimes ridiculous Easter outfits worn by participants. The lindy hop crowd tends toward the more vintage-y and elegant end of the spectrum, with…
My breaking solo for performance next week (video)
Here's my solo that I'm working on for the breaking performance I'm doing with my group at PMT Studios next week. Yes, the ending is still not done yet, and my swipes need a lot of work. The song is of course "Body Movin'" by the Beastie Boys (1998).
Edgar Wright posts 1st videoblog from set of “Scott Pilgrim” flick!
Blog One – Introduction – Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World from Scott Pilgrim The Movie on Vimeo.Edgar Wright, the director of "Scott Pilgrim Versus the World," has posted the first video post in the production blog for the film. Based on Bryan Lee O'Malley's celebrated indie comic series "Scott Pilgrim," the film chronicles the adventures…
Metaplace / Second Life chat on New Trends in Game Dev with Raph Koster Today at 12pm PST
I got the news from Jade that she/he is organizing a multi-virtual world discussion on "Emerging Trends in Game Development" with Raph Koster and other notable metaverse thinkers today at 12pm PST. The chat will take place in both Metaplace (in the Interval space) and in Second Life (in Idea City, click here to teleport.). …
Hula + Swing = Hula Shim Sham (video)!
Here’s a late but very sweet entry in the “Global Shim Sham” project for Frankie Manning’s 95th Birthday Festival. Check out this beautiful and amazingly choreographed hula dance version of the “Shim Sham”! Here’s how the dancers described why they put these two seemingly very different dance forms together: Many traditional hula celebrate and pay…
Guided tours of Kristallnacht exhibit in Second Life April 21-23
In observance of the annual Days of Remembrance, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum is offering guided tours of the Second Life exhibit "Witnessing History: Kristallnacht, the November 1938 Pogroms." If you haven't been, it's a great example of how virtual worlds can combine various forms of media into a powerful, immersive, emotional experience for the…