5 Innovations Inspired by Liberation of Data
The air was electric. Voices buzzed in anticipation. I had never seen so many people in once place that were all excited about health data. I actually felt a bit giddy.
- Alex Carmichael's blog
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The Humanities Gaming Institute: A Model for Lightweight Innovation in Highly Traditional Organizations?
IFTF colleague Sean Ness recently drew my attention to an interesting lightweight innovation event being held this summer at the University of South Carolina, the Humanities Gaming Institute. During three weeks in June, a group of 20 fellows selected in a competitive selection process with work with three gamedesign experts to prototype new online games that can be used to conduct research and teach the humanities.
- Anthony Townsend's blog
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Ends vs. Means and Persuasive Games
A video featuring Carnegie Mellon Professor of Entertainment Technology Jesse Schell has been making the rounds this week, and it touches on a number of themes that I think are central to understanding the intersection of games, education, and persuasive technology.
- Mathias Crawford's blog
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Games and Education / Games as Education
Last week the New York based Games for Learning Institute, in conjunction with NYU, hosted a lecture by game developer Will Wright. I've been thinking a lot about games and education for our upcoming Future of Persuasion conference, and my ears perked up when I saw that the lecture had been put online, and after watching the hour long video, I was definitely not disappointed.
- Mathias Crawford's blog
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Life as a Persuasive Role Playing Game
Here's a video of an energetic and provocative talk by Jesse Schell, Carnegie Mellon Professor, and former Disney Imagineer, on how we will be persuaded by ubiquitous interactive games.
"What do these have in common? A variety of psychological tricks," explains Schell, who then goes on to examine how these various gaming successes take advantage of humans instincts, and how we hunger "to get to anything real." He goes on to examine how gaming has extended to grading a class, driving a car, shopping and socializing, ending at a future where everything is a kind of game."
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702668/DICE-2010-Video-Design-Outside-...
- Michael Liebhold's blog
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The Future of Social Networks is Storytelling Part 2
Last week, in Part 1, I wrote about my frustration with the ephemeral nature of social network conversations (cacophony would be a better word). There remain very few possibilities for layering stories on top of the raw torrent of data being producing by the real-time web.
- Anthony Townsend's blog
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Space gaming takes a step closer to reality
In the recent Signtific games on the future of cubesats (described here), a number of people suggested using them for games. At the 2009 cubesat conference
[Space entrepreneur Jeffrey] Manber announced plans for Nanoracks, a company developing games incorporating CubeSats. The idea is to take advantage of recent advances in nanotechnology and hand-held communication devices like the Apple iPhone to allow people on Earth to participate in games of skill or chance that, in one way or another, involve an on-orbit CubeSat. "The CubeSat is a standardized platform that has an emerging base of developers," Manber said. "We think it's analogous to 20-25 years ago in the personal computer industry. If we can get people interested in games in zero gravity, there is a proven business model for using entertainment as a way to develop a market."
The Kentucky Space Blog adds,
There is, as he points out, a proven business model for using entertainment to pioneer new markets. His presentation is short and to the point.
In response to a question about why not simulate gaming in a weightless environment, a young member of the audience blurts out "because space is fun!" and talks about how zero-gravity games could be held using real time space to ground communications.
The argument that cubesats are like the personal computer is one that's circulating in the cubesat community now. It highlights the long connections, both technical and imginative, between computers and space: recall that one of the first personal computers was the Altair.
- Alex Soojung-Kim Pang's blog
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CryptoZoo—A game that's good for your health, and fun, too!
Come out and play CryptoZoo, a new real-world game the health Horizons Program has developed in partnership with the American Heart Association. 
The game will be played this Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, and next weekend in New York City at the Come Out and Play Festival, but you can play anywhere, anytime. IFTF Director of Game Design and Research Jane McGonigal says, "There’s an after-dark night chase and a daytime chase in both cities. Night-time is a bit more adventurous, daytime more playful and family friendly." From the game description:
It's a secret world of strange, fast-moving creatures... Your city is full of strange creatures, hiding in plain sight. But to catch a glimpse of them, you have to keep up... Learn how to run with the most mysterious species on the planet: bounce like springboras, slalom like whip zananas, crouch-run like ninja rabbits, spin like swingdogs, jump like tiptrees, and swing like the summit monkeys. You've never moved like this before. And once you've run with the cryptids, you'll never move the same way again.
Got Game at Health Horizons
It's a hectic time for us in the Health Horizons Program. Our 2009 Spring Conference on Health and Health Care is less than two weeks away. A couple of days before the conference starts, we will be participating in the sneak preview of a street game that IFTF's director of game research and development, Jane McGonigal, has created as part an American Heart Association collaboration with Health Horizons.
CryptoZoo is about inventing the future of physical activity, about
making play and gaming a bigger part of how we take care of ourselves. It is a proof-of-concept game, a way for us to show what
physical activity could (and we think, should) be like in the future:
more fun, more social, and better integrated with our everyday lives.
- Vivian Distler's blog
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Taking virtual laps on a stationary bike
I've been working on a private client project recently, thinking about how games and elements of gaming can be used to promote physical activity and improve health outcomes. I am a sporadic gym go-er myself, and I tend to prefer the rowing machine to any of the other cardio equipment, even though it doesn't have a television or any bells and whistles. But this morning, as I was leaving, I noticed that my gym has two brand-new Expresso Fitness stationary bikes, which I had just been reading about for my project.
- Vivian Distler's blog
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