GLS Conference Pics

Here are some photos of the conference:

Opening breakfast at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace

My advisor kickin' it

 

talk, talk, talk

The lounge

Highlighted Talk from GLS 4.0

If you're at all curious about why in the world video games might be worthwhile, watch this thought compelling argument by James Paul Gee (given last week at GLS 4.0)  on how video games are good for learning and society.

Find "Talks Beyond Games" (page 3) and start at 39:15 

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I jotted down bullet points here:

How we can make choices for a different future
Complex Systems are biting us
Students need to be thinking about complex systems - this should be a 21st Century Skill
Baby boomer - Linear thinking fails to rethink goals
Passion Communities around complex systems - they organize and produce knowledge that competes with expert knowledge
Our job is to design things like a game with social, passion communities organized around them.
(Next game I'm going to buy: Portal)
Education can/should be about giving people tools to help them see world in new way, and that enables people to leverage powers.
Games at their best give you empathy for complex systems.
Humans learn from experience, but when they're given tools to theorize about their experiences (often through social groups) better learning happens.
Bottom line: People need to theorize in social (passion) groups around complex systems to learn and produce solutions.
"Prosumers"

Take away question: So how do we a) design places that are malleable by learners and b) provide tools for theorizing that combined will foster self-organizing passion communities? What does that look like for organized education?

Interface Possibilities

Microsoft Surface

The YouTube of Digital Games

Hi. I'd like to introduce you to the YouTube of digital games - Kongregate. You've already met? Great. If not, I highly recommend getting acquainted - the games are Flash authored, and some of the things people are making are pretty creative.

Example 1: Chronotron.

Example 2: The Fancy Pants Adventures

Great Talk on Media, Society, & "Cognitive Surplus"

The speaker, Clay Shirky, argues (among many interesting ideas) that producing and sharing media content is good because "at least people are doing something." This is said in the context of the last 60 years of society primarily consuming T.V. and Film content. Is the practice of viewing shows really just a consumptive process? I think it depends - he uses Gilligan's Island as an example. I wonder how LOST or Jericho might make a case for cognitively demanding T.V.

Also, about the consumption metaphor. Watching media does seem a akin to the act of eating. I'm curious if the author of Katie's Cafe, who is a dietician, would say that consuming food is a mindless activity. I think that it can be, but that healthy, deliberate eating takes planning, and with reflection can be a cognitively challenging practice.

Also, he says World of Warcraft players are at least doing something (as opposed to consuming T.V.) Thoughts?

Storytelling, Games, and Mobile Phones

I've been fortunate this semester to be part of a team developing an educational game using mobile, handheld technologies. Our aim is to continue developing this game for sixth graders who use phones to participate in a time travel story involving solving puzzles in the Madison Capital building.

Our biggest (and most fun) challenges have been (and still are) to create engaging game mechanics & puzzles that utilize physical space, as well as exploring the use of story structure techniques to also foster engagement.

On the story side of things, one tidbit my folklore course professor told me has stuck like glue. She said that immersive stories usually do two things: One is that they violate expected (or traditional) conventions. The second is that they still use some expected conventions. Just enough familiarity is needed to keep the audience's attention, but violating the form causes gaps in the audience's expectations, and then questions are formed, meaning there is serious yearning for resolution. Shrek is a well known example of playing with form as well as using familiar ones. LOST is a great one.

In the case of our mobile game, we don't have to worry about violating form - we're already doing that by using a new, mobile medium. What we're doing is deliberately using tried and true storytelling techniques (Propp's 31 narratemes have been really helpful).

Roger Ebert's blog post today reminded me of this "violating the form" principle as he reminisced about "Joe Versus the Volcano".

Trailers Today

Wildly Popular 'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film

Blakesley Academy Award Winners '08

Thanks to everyone who voted on this years awards (and apologies if you didn't get the email - we know some emails didn't make it to inbox's).

We had twelve voters total (five female, and seven male). Emily and I were surprised to see a few landslide victories and a few stalemates.

Best Picture and Best Drama had ties. Harry Potter had a good night, tying for Best Picture and winning best literary adaptation. Juddy brought up a good point about that latter category - is it "good" by being true to the source or by creatively branching out into an interpretive story based on the source?

Enchanted and Jericho were hands down winners, and Fantastic Four was the favorite loser by winning Most Disappointing Movie. No one mourns that movie more than I. It could have been so much more.

I hope Kyle doesn't mind me outing his vote of the Kite Runner. That's now on my list for movies to see.

Thanks for everyone's chiming in on this! See you in '09!



Best Picture:
-Ratatouille (5)
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (5)
-King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (1)
-Kite Runner (1)

Best Drama
-Lars and the Real Girl (5)
-Amazing Grace (5)
-Ratatouille (1)

Best Action Movie:
-The Bourne Ultimatum (5)
-Live Free or Die Hard (3)
-I AM Legend (3)

Best Music Movie:
-Enchanted (8)
-Hairspray (2)
-Music & Lyrics (1)
-Once (1)


Best Literary Adaptation
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (7)
-I Am Legend (4)
-The Golden Compass (1)

Most Disappointing Movie:
-Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (7)
-Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2)
-National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2)

Best T.V. Show:
-Jericho (5)
-The Office (3)
-LOST (2)
-Man vs. Wild (1)

Mountain Wingsuit

And I thought cliff jumping at Island Lake was intense! What do you think of this?

http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=4262

The Office writers and the WGA strike

Not only is this clip funny, but it's a good explanation of why the writers guild of america are striking.

Conan & the Fire Alarm

I may not have time to blog like I want to, but I'm at least going to post the media that makes me laugh! This clip reminds me how funny I think Conan is, how glad I am that he's gonna host the Tonight Show, and that good comedy is often unplanned.

The Office

Who else is ready for The Office to start again this week? To whet appetites, check out this clip of what Andy did over the summer. It makes me laugh.
http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/#mea=156293

Darth Vader Being a Jerk

Second Life & MIT

If you're kind of turned off of Second Life, like I have been because of the inevitable creepiness that exists in parts of a virtual world, this MIT space (follow link below for short video) shows some redeeming possibilities.

http://chronicle.com/media/video/v54/i04/secondlife/

What do y'all think of Second Life. Has anyone spent much time in-world? or is real-world the only world for you?

Pumping Iron - Gem of a Doc

Watching Pumping Iron was a fascinating experience for me, and brought back memories of working out with the cousins at Gold's Gym in Provo. This is a doc about Arnold Schwarzenneger's final defense of his Mr. Olympia (bodybuilding) title. The doc follows Schwarzennegger juxtaposed with Lou Ferrigno (T.V.'s The Hulk), who is hungry to win the title and beat Ahnuld. This is entertaining, funny, reflective, and suspensful documentary filmmaking. I highly recommend it.

And if only we would have known about this when we went to Golds! It would have taught us true techniques of how to conduct effective flexing sessions after lifting. Also, this film is motivating ; making me want to get out and lift and exercise.

And, the making-of bonus features are really insightful, where the filmmakers reveal how Schwarzennegger was an integral part of the production and how much of his outrageous dialogue was fabricated to make the movie a success. The movie really illustrates the fine line between reality and fiction in documentary film.

Here's a mash-up of Pumping Iron someone put on youtube; they put clips to the Gladiator theme song and called it AVL (Arnold vs. Lou). Enjoy

New Google Earth lets you Explore Universe

Colbert Interview on Persuasive Video Games

Here's a funny interview by Mr. Colbert with Ian Bogost, a Georgia Tech professor I was fortunate to meet, and whose workshop I attended at the Games Learning & Society conference. Colbert voices the misgivings most people probably think when talking games and learning, and Ian voices some key game-learning affordances with skill. Is Ian convincing that video games can teach things worth your while?

Pretty good

AOL's 77 Most Unforgettable Movie Songs

Logical

Y'all know Sylar (THE Villain, played by Zachary Quinto) from "Heroes"? He's been cast to play the young Spock in J.J. Abrams's new Star Trek movie, to begin shooting in November!! First, I love that this may mean the cast may primarily be made up of non-mega stars. Secondly, Leonard Nimoy is going to be in the film! This is exciting when you consider that he turned down his role in Star Trek: Generations because of what he thought was a poor script (and, as it turned out, he was right). He's apparently enthusiastic about this movie, and, boy, I can't wait. There are too few good Star Trek movies...

More can be read about this here, the AP's report of the announcement made at San Diego's Comic Con. I can't see the Rumbler in the picture, but I'm sure he was there.

Conference Time!

Well, two days from now I'll be feasting on the words of game, media, and learning scholars from around the globe at the Games Learning Society Conference. I'm fortunate enough to be volunteering with the GLS committee, so I'll be armed and ready with my walkie talkie and official nametag.

I'll also be co-presenting with my advisor and another faculty member on cultural representations of games and short films (a.k.a. how Muslims are represented and received in games and short films in a post 9/11 world). I'm discussing the entertaining and adept "Rules of Engagement." Since I was invited after the proposal was submitted, etc., and I'm relatively new at this, I didn't even think to ask for my name and bio to be included in the conference publications. Oh, well, at least I get to help out, present, and attend this awesome conference at the beautiful Monona Terrace.

Among those I'm excited to hear, and hopefully talk to, are him, him, him, and him.