StoryTellingWiki

I was curious to see what types of wikis exist, so I did a google search simply using the work “wiki.” The results were disappointing as I searched through pages of poorly organized work. However, I finally came across the StoryTellingWiki, which is a compilation of stories, fairy tales and myths from around the world. It seems to me an ideal example of what a wiki should be as it allows people to share parts of their culture with others.

Disaster Dynamics

The Disaster Dynamics project is dedicated to preparing policy makers, academics, students, etc. to make informed and analytical decisions during a disaster. In order to achieve this goal, the project is seeking to create effective learning environments for the unique challenges surrounding natural disasters. At this time, the chief focus is on creating games and simulations. One such game is called Flow. This is board game that “demonstrates the dynamics of movement during an extreme event. Players control the movement of citizens and emergency vehicles in game boards patterned after real cities.”

Interestingly, the Disaster Dynamics page is presented in a wiki format. However, you must have a pass word to edit the pages.

Virtual Worlds Review

Now that the semester is almost over, you may be ready to take a break from this far too busy world and chill out in a virtual one. Virtual Worlds Review has links and commentary on 18 different virtual spaces where you can don an avatar and be someone else somewhere else for awhile.

Polar Husky site uses cool simulation

The Polar Husky site is an example of simulations being used with e-learning opportunities. It is set up like the Iditarod sites where teachers, students and regular folks can monitor, interact and learn from a dog sled team as it travels the tundra for 3,000 miles. I was expecially drawn to this when the opening animated map came on screen. The Inuit music is included as a bonus! Awesome site that I found tracing down a Clark Aldrich link within the e-learning Centre site. Well worth the time to browse!

Gift Ideas

Matthew Baldwin, author of the very funny Defective Yeti blog, has a very good list of suggested board games for the gifting season.

Voodoo Pad

For those of you who enjoyed the Wiki project, here is an application that allows users to create a local wiki on your own computer. The Voodoo pad allows users to link to files on the computer or internet. There is a free demo version at flyingmeat.com

This product recently won the O'Reilly Innovator's award for exciting new Mac innovations.

Games for Geeks

Design News, a respected trade journal for engineering types has initiated a new feature on their website - a game designed to challenge reader's knowledge of engineering. Participants can see how they rank among their peers or just test their knowledge with what appears to be a Flash-based game. Users need to register to access the site, but it's free (although they might need to verify that you possess a pocket protector :-)

Hacking is Playing is Learning

In my first posting I made reference to an essay by Frank Oppenheimer about play and learning (this Blog, Oct 22). Frank raises an issue that I must always remember: it takes discipline to play. The pressure to produce makes it hard to work creatively and playfully. The more I view a program like Flash as a tool for making money, the harder it is for me to think about creative uses of the program. I think this is why Frank liked that picture of the grain silo sculpted by the wrecking ball operator. Wrecking balls are not normally viewed as a tool for creative expression.

The art of hacking (which is a particular aspect of play) involves looking at the technological stuff around us not as "things-in-themselves" (sorry Herr Kant about misuse of your term) but rather as "things-to-take-apart" and make into something else, or behave in an new way (unintended by the original creators of the thing.)

Some awards for hacking:

--> Andrew "Bunnie" Huang and all the people who have been turning Xbox consoles into computers. See Peyri Ingrum's blog post of 11/29/03, Hacking the Xbox.

--> Adam Mathes: the guy who more or less consolidated the idea of "Google Bombing" (creating a google association between a term, and a particular web page by propagating a bunch of links between the term and the web page. This forces Google's algorithm to make the association.) To try this out, type miserable failure into the Google search engine and hit "I'm feeling lucky".

--> LEGO toys: One thing I like about LEGO toys is that the parts can be used for things other than their original intended purpose. A wheel can become the bumper of a touch sensor, a gear can become a face on a robot. In fact there has been a significant amount of hacking with the LEGO Mindstorms kits. People have reverse engineered the firmware on these toys to make them do rather exceptional things. The reason the Lego Company gets recognition here, is that they have decided not to get in the way of this community of hackers. Compare this to the legal action Sony has taken against certain Abio enthusiasts, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

uDevGame 2003 : Game Design Contest

"The uDevGame Contest is an effective process for equipping novice and veteran game developers alike with the knowledge they need to create great Mac games. The competitive nature and short development time of the contest forces entrants to develop an appreciation of good game design. uDevGame also helps to teach developers how to pace themselves under the pressure of a deadline (an opportunity many independent game developers have never had), how to put together and work in a team, and how to research and learn new technologies. Most importantly, the contest returns the work of all entrants back to the community in the form every game's source code or raw project files and "postmortem" writeups from all winners, so that everyone benefits."

Looks like an interesting list of games (many of them free to download). Mac only.

Physics' Games and Simulations

This is a good website for people, especially young people, interested in Physics. It contains a number of interactive games and simulations. For example, there is a Periodic Table game where you line up tiles to match the periodic table. There is also a Wafer Maker game in which you grow silicon crystals to make transistors. There is a physics pole vaulting simulation and a game where you can build a solar system. These games and simulations are connected to such prestigious organizations as PBS, the University of Utah and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. This website was created by the Society of Physics Students which is a professional society for physics students and their mentors.