WikiBook Beginner's Guide for Inform 7

I thought to look on the web for some Inform 7 Beginner Guides, and stumbled upon a Wikibook Beginner's Guide to Inform 7. It has some sample code for stories, AND it gives lots of examples and explains what language structure Inform needs in order to translate properly.

Could've come in handy a few weeks ago!!! A good resource to have anyhow, right?

Beginner's Guide to Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 Wikibook

Second Life: The Official Guide

In the Second Life project, I have to say that I can not live in SL without Cathy and Peggy's coaching. The new participants in SL indeed need coaches or job aids to explore the fantasy world . Here is the official guide of Second Life that Bernie mentioned in the class.



Book Description Link to Amazon

The first part of the book, “Getting a Second Life,” acquaints potential and new players with the Second Life world. It describes the metaverses geography as well as its society, explaining the written and unwritten rules.

The second part, “Living a Second Life,” deals with the practical and economic aspects of Second Life: creating and customizing an avatar, building objects, scripting, and making money.

The third part of the book, “Success in Second Life,” discusses ways to enjoy Second Life more. This section includes profiles of successful Second Life residents, discusses fascinating in-world events, and examines how some are using Second Life for business, training, and other purposes.

Do you know Wii yet?

A Wii bit dangerous
Wii is a bit dangours if you see recent news.This is a blog with videos talking about "Never play Wii with sweaty hands."

What is Wii? (reference:wikipedia)
The Wii is a video game console released by Nintendo.The console was previously known by its project code name of Revolution, and is the successor to the Nintendo GameCube. Although the Wii console primarily targets a demographic different to that of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, as part of the seventh generation of gaming consoles it competes with the other two on some levels.
Why Wii different?
A distinguishing feature of the Wii console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions. The console also notably features WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet 24 hours a day while consuming very little electrical power.

Training for 'PlayStation medics'

A training system has been developed for doctors raised on computer games on consoles like PlayStation.
Read more

Online nation simulation game

Perhaps someone's stumbled on this already... Sounds interesting

Cyber Nations
"Welcome to Cyber Nations, a nation simulation game. Create a nation anywhere in the world and decide how you will rule your people by choosing a government type, a national religion, ethnicity, tax rate, currency type, and more in this new geo-political, nation, and government simulator. Build your empire by purchasing infrastructure to support your citizens, land to expand your borders, technology to increase your nation's effectiveness, and national improvements to build your nation according to your choosing."

Games for Health Competition

Monies to had.

http://www.gamesforhealth.org/competition/

Wells Fargo

I found this article interesting. It is about a video game that helps young people learn financial responsibility .Wells Fargo Bank has introduced a pilot project of an online video game built inside Second Life. The pilot project, known as Stagecoach Island, invites groups of people to help them learn something about money management in a fun and engaging way. Although Second Life is open to everyone, the Wells Fargo islands are accessible only by those who have received invitations from the bank, so it is branded entirely as a Wells Fargo environment.

“Stagecoach Island players are given $30 in imaginary money with which to buy clothes, pay for rides and the like. The idea, though, is to teach the players to save money--they earn 10 percent per day on "deposits"--and to learn new things about money management through a series of quizzes that, when completed, reward players with $5 of new funds.”

Dr. John Bransford Presentation inside Second Life

I was certain that someone had already brought to our attention the presentation of Dr. John Bransford in October inside Second Life, but after checking all the blogs, I did not see an entry. The presentation is a great example of learning inside Second Life. He combines the immersive direct experience of the 3D environment with a reflective, colloborative, descriptive exercise that follows. The direct experience inside Second Life was captured as a video for us who were not involved at the time of the presentation, and it works very well. Here is a link to the transcript of his presentation that includes another link to the video segment which he describes in his discussion.


http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=John_Bransford_Transcript_2_October_2006

Health Info Island

Health Info Island
Here's an interesting podcast about Educational and Non-Profit uses of Second Life. Carol Perryman, a PhD candidate at UNC, is developing the Health Info Island project, a medical library and virtual hospital in Second Life. There is a vast amount of medical info on the web that can be overwhelming to sift through and may not be the most current or valid. The project aims to support virtual reference services for an underserved population looking for medical information by creating a welcoming, trusting, and guided experience. Virtual patients will be interviewed by health professions to assess what information they will need and deliver the information using simulation. The project is under development, but once complete, medical consultation will be available for free to a global audience.

Learning and Fun for Toddlers

I try to not let my 3-year-old watch too much T.V., but when I do it's almost always a PBS kids show. She loves all the characters like Clifford, Caillou, and yes, even Barney, the big purple dorky dinosaur. We have discovered a new realm of PBS and their online resources for parents and kids.
At pbskids.org every show has his own page filled with music, games and coloring. My favorite right now for my daughter are the ones that have her drag and drop letters to spell simple words. They are just right for her and she loves playing.

Find Out your Favorite 5

On T-mobile website, I saw the latest promotion plan- my favorite 5 , and there is a performance support tool called My Faves. By answering the questions step by step, you can find out who are your 5 favorites in the daily ife. This makes me think about the performance support tool example-the best dog breed for you in Edtec540. The questions they asked are designed like some psychology quizes. I don't think it is educational but it definitely attracted me to play with it.

*This is not an ad ...I don't work there!! :-)