{"id":520,"date":"2010-03-22T00:27:21","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T07:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=520"},"modified":"2010-03-22T20:12:02","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T03:12:02","slug":"game-playreal-play-we-live-in-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=520","title":{"rendered":"Game Play\/Real Play & We Live In Public"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wanted to share a couple of recent videos that I\u2019ve been rewatching.<\/p>\n

First, while I don\u2019t agree with all of Jane McGonigal\u2019s arguments, I\u2019m genuinely excited by her recent TED talk. At this point, I am strongly aligned with the idea of connecting game play to real world change. You could do a lot worse than spend 20 minutes watching Margolis\u2019 presentation.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve been following Jane\u2019s work since Greg Niemeyer showed me World Without Oil<\/a> (A bit of trivia: Greg was also one of the members of Jane\u2019s dissertation committee). \u00a0Her article, \u201cWhy <\/a>I Love Bees<\/a><\/em>\u201d<\/a> fits directly into my research<\/a> on the Black Cloud. Similarly, Evoke<\/a> seems like an interesting premise. And while I understand what she\u2019s doing with her argument by contrasting the time youth spends playing video games with the time they spend in schools, I think this is where a lot of researchers are missing a big opportunity. As a field, we continue to look at the informal environments for game play and research. It\u2019s easier<\/em> to do so \u2013 a select group of interested individuals, less controlled curriculum, easier access issues, etc. However, think about how the power of game play for change could be compounded within formal learning environments. I\u2019m working on developing material around this within my classroom, and expect game play to fit somewhat prominently into my dissertation. So if it sounds like I\u2019m grandstanding or being a bit presumptuous here, it\u2019s more personal throat-clearing than anything else.<\/p>\n

Second, I just saw We Live in Public<\/em><\/a> and found it to be an absolutely compelling and terrifying documentary. I\u2019m not clear about what disqualified it for an Oscar nomination, but think it could have given The Cove a run for its money. The foundational arguments about privacy, surveillance and our culture\u2019s relationship with the media are extemely prescient. As I continue to think about how student-generate media products will be created, shared, and assessed within my classroom, these are the topics I am concerned about. Ownership of data, of our lives, and of conceptions of propriety is in flux and the experiments that Josh Harris challenges us to face this fact.<\/p>\n

His next project sounds equally as preposterous as past efforts, and I\u2019m interested (if not extremely wary) about what will transpire if he gets the funding for this. Though I encourage you to watch his pitch below, I highly recommend seeking out and viewing We Live In Public <\/em>for a better sense of context. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3>