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…
Young hoofer taps with funky bass & drums (video)
Click to Play This kid just kills it, performing rhythm tap with a funky bass and drums at the American Museum of Natural History today. This was part of an all-day program on African american music and dance. (Sorry, I didn’t catch his name.)
Rhythm Hoofer Maurice Chestnut at Natural History Museum (video)
Click to Play Here’s some neat footage I took of rhythm hoofer Maurice performing with a drummer and bass today at the American Museum of Natural History. This was part of an all-day program on African american music and dance.
MacArthur & HASTAC fund 17 badass digital civic engagement and education projects
Picture of Sustainable South Bronx FabLab Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of being among an energetic group of educators, tech developers, activists, and researchers representing 17 new digital media and learning projects funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the HASTAC consortium. I’m extremely proud of Global Kid’s own winning project — RezEd — a…
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:…
Second Life panel discussion on “Credibility in the New News” on February 29
Our friends at USC are organizing a Second Life discussion on "Credibility and Reputation in the New News" featuring Tony Curzon Price, Editor of OpenDemocracy.net, Jonathan Zittrain, Professor and Internet Scholar at Oxford University and Kathy Im, Program Officer at the MacArthur Foundation. The event will be held on the USC Annenberg Island [http://tinysl.com/Sf08849] at…
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…
Sharon Burns profiles eight virtual worlds in eight minutes (video)
Sharon Burns of the MacArthur Foundation has released a neat video that gives a brief overview of several virtual worlds, with an emphasis on their educational applications. In this eight-minute video she looks at HiPiHi, Club Penguin, Whyville, Webkins, Mokitown, There, Entropia Universe, and Gaia Online. Several of these I had almost no background on,…
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…