Slides plus notes of the talk I gave at an event on social games organized by Waag Society and Mediawijzer.net on 23 October 2009. A blog post for this talk including additional notes can be found at: http://whatsthehubbub.nl/2009/10/improving-media-literacy-with-games/#footnote_3_119
Some Context for Thinking About
Technology and Sustainability. A version of my "Towards a Global Brain" talk with a focus on sustainability, given at the Verge conference on the convergence of buildings, transportation, energy, and information, on March 15, 2012.
How game design and data visualization can help in systems design: understanding and making changes in complex systems. Examples look at food access / deserts, podcasts, COVID, the US labor system, and the tech industry. Adapted from a talk for a systems design course.
Views my own and not of employer or other organization.
Creative commons image credits:
- Cook-Anderson, Gretchen. “Snapshots from Space Cultivate Fans among Midwest Farmers.” NASA, NASA, 16 Sept. 2009, https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/farmer_imagery.html.
- "Cooking" by omefrans is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0: https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/e32f7eed-66a4-4b06-82c3-2c313f28fd9f
- "Construction worker for the Panama Canal expansion project" by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0: https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/0cdd65a3-500c-4fae-9a69-242ea29b261c/
- “Screenshots.” OpenTTD, OpenTTD, https://www.openttd.org/screenshots.
The Limits of the Imaginable @ STT's Games: The Next StepKars Alfrink
I talked about the future of game design at an expert meeting organized by STT (Netherlands Study Centre for Technology Trends). These are the slides, the notes are available on the Hubbub blog: http://whatsthehubbub.nl/?p=684
Buildings and Brains @ NOP OP[E]N Play?Kars Alfrink
Slides that accompanied a lecture I delivered at the Nijmegen Design Platform (NOP) on 17 March 2009. To summarize, this was an attempt to introduce a group of designers from 'traditional' backgrounds to pervasive games, with particular focus on how those can be applied to 'serious' domains. More background can be found in this blog post: http://leapfrog.nl/blog/archives/2009/07/20/buildings-and-brains-at-the-nijmegen-design-platform-nop/
PLAY Pilots & Engagement @ Dutch E-Culture DaysKars Alfrink
A talk about some of the lessons learned from PLAY Pilots about how to engage audiences with game installations in public spaces. This was delivered in Helsinki at Virtueel Platform's Dutch E-Culture Days.
Play & Embodiment @ IxDA Interaction 09Kars Alfrink
These are the slides for my lighting round talk at Interaction '09 in Vancouver. It is an attempt to link a few qualities of embodied interaction to ideas from game design.
Slides for a introductory talk on pervasive games. This was delivered at /dev/haag on September 28, 2012. It is aimed at people with a general games or interactive background and provides a little theoretical grounding and a lot of practical advice drawn from the work done at Hubbub. For image credits and references please use the links in the bottom left corner of each slide.
(A Dutch language version of this talk was delivered at the Dutch Game Garden, earlier this year.)
Harry Collins - Testing Machines as Social Prostheses - EuroSTAR 2013TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on Testing Machines as Social Prostheses by Harry Collins.
See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
120 9The Language of Internet MemesPat r i c k DCicelyBourqueju
120 |
9
The Language of Internet Memes
Pat r i c k D av i s o n
In The Future of the Internet—and How to Stop It, Jonathan Zittrain
describes the features of a generative network. A generative network encour-
ages and enables creative production and, as a system, possesses leverage,
adaptability, ease of mastery, accessibility, and transferability.1 Notably absent
from this list of characteristics, however, is security. Many of the character-
istics that make a system generative are precisely the same ones that leave it
vulnerable to exploitation. This zero-sum game between creativity and secu-
rity implies a divided Internet. Those platforms and communities which value
security over creativity can be thought of as the “restricted web,” while those
that remain generative in the face of other concerns are the “unrestricted web.”
The restricted web has its poster children. Facebook and other social net-
working sites are growing at incredible speeds. Google and its ever-expand-
ing corral of applications are slowly assimilating solutions to all our com-
puting needs. Amazon and similar search-based commerce sites are creating
previously unimagined economies.2 Metaphorically, these sites, and count-
less others, make up the cities and public works of the restricted web. How-
ever, the unrestricted web remains the wilderness all around them, and it is
this wilderness that is the native habitat of Internet memes.
The purpose of this essay is twofold. The first is to contribute to a frame-
work for discussing so-called Internet memes. Internet memes are popular
and recognizable but lack a rigorous descriptive vocabulary. I provide a few
terms to aid in their discussion. The second purpose is to consider Foucault’s
“author function” relative to Internet memes, many of which are created and
spread anonymously.
What Is an Internet Meme?
In 1979 Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene, in which he discredits
the idea that living beings are genetically compelled to behave in ways that
are “good for the species.” Dawkins accomplishes this by making one point
The Language of Internet Memes | 121
clear: the basic units of genetics are not species, families, or even individuals
but rather single genes—unique strands of DNA.3
At the end of the book, Dawkins discusses two areas where evolutionary
theory might be heading next. It is here that he coins the term “meme.” He
acknowledges that much of human behavior comes not from genes but from
culture. He proposes that any nongenetic behavior be labeled as a meme and
then poses a question: can the application of genetic logic to memes be pro-
ductive? To make the differences between genes and memes clear, I offer a
short example of each.
Genes determine an organism’s physical characteristics. A certain gene
causes an organism to have short legs, or long, for instance. Imagine two
zebra. The first has the short-leg gene, and the second the long. A lion attacks
them. The shor ...
120 9The Language of Internet MemesPat r i c k DBenitoSumpter862
120 |
9
The Language of Internet Memes
Pat r i c k D av i s o n
In The Future of the Internet—and How to Stop It, Jonathan Zittrain
describes the features of a generative network. A generative network encour-
ages and enables creative production and, as a system, possesses leverage,
adaptability, ease of mastery, accessibility, and transferability.1 Notably absent
from this list of characteristics, however, is security. Many of the character-
istics that make a system generative are precisely the same ones that leave it
vulnerable to exploitation. This zero-sum game between creativity and secu-
rity implies a divided Internet. Those platforms and communities which value
security over creativity can be thought of as the “restricted web,” while those
that remain generative in the face of other concerns are the “unrestricted web.”
The restricted web has its poster children. Facebook and other social net-
working sites are growing at incredible speeds. Google and its ever-expand-
ing corral of applications are slowly assimilating solutions to all our com-
puting needs. Amazon and similar search-based commerce sites are creating
previously unimagined economies.2 Metaphorically, these sites, and count-
less others, make up the cities and public works of the restricted web. How-
ever, the unrestricted web remains the wilderness all around them, and it is
this wilderness that is the native habitat of Internet memes.
The purpose of this essay is twofold. The first is to contribute to a frame-
work for discussing so-called Internet memes. Internet memes are popular
and recognizable but lack a rigorous descriptive vocabulary. I provide a few
terms to aid in their discussion. The second purpose is to consider Foucault’s
“author function” relative to Internet memes, many of which are created and
spread anonymously.
What Is an Internet Meme?
In 1979 Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene, in which he discredits
the idea that living beings are genetically compelled to behave in ways that
are “good for the species.” Dawkins accomplishes this by making one point
The Language of Internet Memes | 121
clear: the basic units of genetics are not species, families, or even individuals
but rather single genes—unique strands of DNA.3
At the end of the book, Dawkins discusses two areas where evolutionary
theory might be heading next. It is here that he coins the term “meme.” He
acknowledges that much of human behavior comes not from genes but from
culture. He proposes that any nongenetic behavior be labeled as a meme and
then poses a question: can the application of genetic logic to memes be pro-
ductive? To make the differences between genes and memes clear, I offer a
short example of each.
Genes determine an organism’s physical characteristics. A certain gene
causes an organism to have short legs, or long, for instance. Imagine two
zebra. The first has the short-leg gene, and the second the long. A lion attacks
them. The shor ...
Some Context for Thinking About
Technology and Sustainability. A version of my "Towards a Global Brain" talk with a focus on sustainability, given at the Verge conference on the convergence of buildings, transportation, energy, and information, on March 15, 2012.
How game design and data visualization can help in systems design: understanding and making changes in complex systems. Examples look at food access / deserts, podcasts, COVID, the US labor system, and the tech industry. Adapted from a talk for a systems design course.
Views my own and not of employer or other organization.
Creative commons image credits:
- Cook-Anderson, Gretchen. “Snapshots from Space Cultivate Fans among Midwest Farmers.” NASA, NASA, 16 Sept. 2009, https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/farmer_imagery.html.
- "Cooking" by omefrans is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0: https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/e32f7eed-66a4-4b06-82c3-2c313f28fd9f
- "Construction worker for the Panama Canal expansion project" by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0: https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/0cdd65a3-500c-4fae-9a69-242ea29b261c/
- “Screenshots.” OpenTTD, OpenTTD, https://www.openttd.org/screenshots.
The Limits of the Imaginable @ STT's Games: The Next StepKars Alfrink
I talked about the future of game design at an expert meeting organized by STT (Netherlands Study Centre for Technology Trends). These are the slides, the notes are available on the Hubbub blog: http://whatsthehubbub.nl/?p=684
Buildings and Brains @ NOP OP[E]N Play?Kars Alfrink
Slides that accompanied a lecture I delivered at the Nijmegen Design Platform (NOP) on 17 March 2009. To summarize, this was an attempt to introduce a group of designers from 'traditional' backgrounds to pervasive games, with particular focus on how those can be applied to 'serious' domains. More background can be found in this blog post: http://leapfrog.nl/blog/archives/2009/07/20/buildings-and-brains-at-the-nijmegen-design-platform-nop/
PLAY Pilots & Engagement @ Dutch E-Culture DaysKars Alfrink
A talk about some of the lessons learned from PLAY Pilots about how to engage audiences with game installations in public spaces. This was delivered in Helsinki at Virtueel Platform's Dutch E-Culture Days.
Play & Embodiment @ IxDA Interaction 09Kars Alfrink
These are the slides for my lighting round talk at Interaction '09 in Vancouver. It is an attempt to link a few qualities of embodied interaction to ideas from game design.
Slides for a introductory talk on pervasive games. This was delivered at /dev/haag on September 28, 2012. It is aimed at people with a general games or interactive background and provides a little theoretical grounding and a lot of practical advice drawn from the work done at Hubbub. For image credits and references please use the links in the bottom left corner of each slide.
(A Dutch language version of this talk was delivered at the Dutch Game Garden, earlier this year.)
Harry Collins - Testing Machines as Social Prostheses - EuroSTAR 2013TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on Testing Machines as Social Prostheses by Harry Collins.
See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
120 9The Language of Internet MemesPat r i c k DCicelyBourqueju
120 |
9
The Language of Internet Memes
Pat r i c k D av i s o n
In The Future of the Internet—and How to Stop It, Jonathan Zittrain
describes the features of a generative network. A generative network encour-
ages and enables creative production and, as a system, possesses leverage,
adaptability, ease of mastery, accessibility, and transferability.1 Notably absent
from this list of characteristics, however, is security. Many of the character-
istics that make a system generative are precisely the same ones that leave it
vulnerable to exploitation. This zero-sum game between creativity and secu-
rity implies a divided Internet. Those platforms and communities which value
security over creativity can be thought of as the “restricted web,” while those
that remain generative in the face of other concerns are the “unrestricted web.”
The restricted web has its poster children. Facebook and other social net-
working sites are growing at incredible speeds. Google and its ever-expand-
ing corral of applications are slowly assimilating solutions to all our com-
puting needs. Amazon and similar search-based commerce sites are creating
previously unimagined economies.2 Metaphorically, these sites, and count-
less others, make up the cities and public works of the restricted web. How-
ever, the unrestricted web remains the wilderness all around them, and it is
this wilderness that is the native habitat of Internet memes.
The purpose of this essay is twofold. The first is to contribute to a frame-
work for discussing so-called Internet memes. Internet memes are popular
and recognizable but lack a rigorous descriptive vocabulary. I provide a few
terms to aid in their discussion. The second purpose is to consider Foucault’s
“author function” relative to Internet memes, many of which are created and
spread anonymously.
What Is an Internet Meme?
In 1979 Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene, in which he discredits
the idea that living beings are genetically compelled to behave in ways that
are “good for the species.” Dawkins accomplishes this by making one point
The Language of Internet Memes | 121
clear: the basic units of genetics are not species, families, or even individuals
but rather single genes—unique strands of DNA.3
At the end of the book, Dawkins discusses two areas where evolutionary
theory might be heading next. It is here that he coins the term “meme.” He
acknowledges that much of human behavior comes not from genes but from
culture. He proposes that any nongenetic behavior be labeled as a meme and
then poses a question: can the application of genetic logic to memes be pro-
ductive? To make the differences between genes and memes clear, I offer a
short example of each.
Genes determine an organism’s physical characteristics. A certain gene
causes an organism to have short legs, or long, for instance. Imagine two
zebra. The first has the short-leg gene, and the second the long. A lion attacks
them. The shor ...
120 9The Language of Internet MemesPat r i c k DBenitoSumpter862
120 |
9
The Language of Internet Memes
Pat r i c k D av i s o n
In The Future of the Internet—and How to Stop It, Jonathan Zittrain
describes the features of a generative network. A generative network encour-
ages and enables creative production and, as a system, possesses leverage,
adaptability, ease of mastery, accessibility, and transferability.1 Notably absent
from this list of characteristics, however, is security. Many of the character-
istics that make a system generative are precisely the same ones that leave it
vulnerable to exploitation. This zero-sum game between creativity and secu-
rity implies a divided Internet. Those platforms and communities which value
security over creativity can be thought of as the “restricted web,” while those
that remain generative in the face of other concerns are the “unrestricted web.”
The restricted web has its poster children. Facebook and other social net-
working sites are growing at incredible speeds. Google and its ever-expand-
ing corral of applications are slowly assimilating solutions to all our com-
puting needs. Amazon and similar search-based commerce sites are creating
previously unimagined economies.2 Metaphorically, these sites, and count-
less others, make up the cities and public works of the restricted web. How-
ever, the unrestricted web remains the wilderness all around them, and it is
this wilderness that is the native habitat of Internet memes.
The purpose of this essay is twofold. The first is to contribute to a frame-
work for discussing so-called Internet memes. Internet memes are popular
and recognizable but lack a rigorous descriptive vocabulary. I provide a few
terms to aid in their discussion. The second purpose is to consider Foucault’s
“author function” relative to Internet memes, many of which are created and
spread anonymously.
What Is an Internet Meme?
In 1979 Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene, in which he discredits
the idea that living beings are genetically compelled to behave in ways that
are “good for the species.” Dawkins accomplishes this by making one point
The Language of Internet Memes | 121
clear: the basic units of genetics are not species, families, or even individuals
but rather single genes—unique strands of DNA.3
At the end of the book, Dawkins discusses two areas where evolutionary
theory might be heading next. It is here that he coins the term “meme.” He
acknowledges that much of human behavior comes not from genes but from
culture. He proposes that any nongenetic behavior be labeled as a meme and
then poses a question: can the application of genetic logic to memes be pro-
ductive? To make the differences between genes and memes clear, I offer a
short example of each.
Genes determine an organism’s physical characteristics. A certain gene
causes an organism to have short legs, or long, for instance. Imagine two
zebra. The first has the short-leg gene, and the second the long. A lion attacks
them. The shor ...
"Studying Video Games as Ideological Texts" by Sherry Jones (October 24, 2014)Sherry Jones
My presentation for Metro State University of Denver's Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference 2014, held on October 24, 2014.
Educators! Register now for the #Metagame Book Club! The book club will run from November 1-21, 2014. I will be your Track 1: Game Studies facilitator. We will be reading interesting and enlightening academic papers on current theories and controversies in gaming and game studies.
#Metagame Book Club Registration Page
http://bit.ly/metagamebooksignup
#Metagame Book Club Home Page
https://sites.google.com/site/metagamebookclub/
David Traub (Epiphany Film Fund): VR, AR and Life: The Inevitable - And Hopef...AugmentedWorldExpo
A talk from the Consumer Track at AWE USA 2017 - the largest conference for AR+VR in Santa Clara, California May 31- June 2, 2017.
David Traub (Epiphany Film Fund): VR, AR and Life: The Inevitable - And Hopeful - Integration
Technology is neither good nor bad: its how you use it. As low cost, ever higher fidelity immersive interfaces - VR, AR increasingly MR - continue their race to organic integration within our lives, the question is increasingly asked: what does these intrusions do to our authentic 'humanness" - and our pursuit for a higher quality of life for all? And accordingly, where do the greatest opportunities for both financial and social ROI lay? This panel (or presentation) will address the psychology, sociology and digital anthropology of immersion - and how these new increasingly powerful tools of persuasion are likely to be integrated into our consciousness, both irresponsibly, and ideally for the better.
http://AugmentedWorldExpo.com
These are notes from the Make It So presentation Chris Noessel and I have given at SXSW as well as a few other venues. Because the presentation itself isn't in a format that is easily savable, these notes are a better way to share the content.
New Games for a Resilient Society @ TEDxUtrecht 2012Kars Alfrink
Slides for my TEDxUtrecht talk, presented on November 8, 2012. It's about how we can use games to improve our improvisation skills, which in turn enables us to live more in accordance with the philosophy of generativity.
Pervasive Games 101 @ Dutch Game Garden Summer TalksKars Alfrink
Slides for a introductory talk on pervasive games (in Dutch). This was delivered at the Dutch Game Garden as part of their annual Summer Talks series, on August 2, 2012. It is aimed at people with a general games or interactive background and provides a little theoretical grounding and a lot of practical advice drawn from the work done at Hubbub. For image credits and references please use the links in the bottom left corner of each slide.
Game Design & the City @ Best Scene in TownKars Alfrink
This presentation was part of my contribution to the Best Scene in Town workshop on 14 April 2010 at the Waag Society. In it, I describe three scenarios for the development of games into the near future. I also briefly discuss some key concepts in the field of game design. The goal of this presentation was to inspire and to provoke, as well as provide some handholds for participants to use in their own subsequent work.
Slides plus notes for the talk I gave at Raum Schiff Erde in Hamburg on 21 February 2010. It's about how pervasive urban games can be used to increase people's awareness of and catalyze contributions to various kinds of systems (social, phsyical, technological).
A Playful Stance @ Game Design London 2008Kars Alfrink
These are the slides for my talk at Playful: Game Design London (GDL) 2008 in London. It's about the attitude I think is required to design playful tools.
These are the slides for my presentation at Reboot 10 on 27 June 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. In brief, it describes the theoretical basis for a type of game I foresee – one that allows people to make arguments in the form of dynamic models that use the city as their platform. The second part consists of sketches for a few of these so-called "urban procedural rhetorics" of my own design.
Mobile components for playful cultural resistance @ TWAB 2008Kars Alfrink
English version of the slides for my presentation at The Web and Beyond 2008: Mobility in Amsterdam om 22 May. For a transcript and other related media please refer to my blog.
Designing a mobile social gaming experience for Gen-C @ GDC Mobile 2008Kars Alfrink
These are the slides for my talk at GDC Mobile 2008 (minus the screenshots demoing parts of Playyoo): 1/3 crash course on the social web, 1/3 rant on mobile gaming and 1/3 talk about enabling creative expression through games.
Beneath The Surface @ Oslo UXnet MeetupKars Alfrink
These are the slides I used for my talk at the UXnet meetup in Oslo, Norway on 16 January 2008. It's a 20 minute talk about the way games work and how this is useful to interaction designers.
These are the slides that go with my Euro IA Summit 2007 presentation. It was delivered on Friday 21 September in Barcelona, Spain. It concerns the ways in which the practice of information architecture can be augmented and enriched using game design principles. Please visit my blog (leapfrog.nl/blog) for a version that includes an approximate transcript.
A Pecha Kucha Night presentation I did in Rotterdam on the 25th of october at Off_Corso. It covers some industry threats, trends in the market and for the most part concepts and directions for mobile gaming that I find interesting.
Top 5 Indian Style Modular Kitchen DesignsFinzo Kitchens
Get the perfect modular kitchen in Gurgaon at Finzo! We offer high-quality, custom-designed kitchens at the best prices. Wardrobes and home & office furniture are also available. Free consultation! Best Quality Luxury Modular kitchen in Gurgaon available at best price. All types of Modular Kitchens are available U Shaped Modular kitchens, L Shaped Modular Kitchen, G Shaped Modular Kitchens, Inline Modular Kitchens and Italian Modular Kitchen.
Dive into the innovative world of smart garages with our insightful presentation, "Exploring the Future of Smart Garages." This comprehensive guide covers the latest advancements in garage technology, including automated systems, smart security features, energy efficiency solutions, and seamless integration with smart home ecosystems. Learn how these technologies are transforming traditional garages into high-tech, efficient spaces that enhance convenience, safety, and sustainability.
Ideal for homeowners, tech enthusiasts, and industry professionals, this presentation provides valuable insights into the trends, benefits, and future developments in smart garage technology. Stay ahead of the curve with our expert analysis and practical tips on implementing smart garage solutions.
Between Filth and Fortune- Urban Cattle Foraging Realities by Devi S Nair, An...Mansi Shah
This study examines cattle rearing in urban and rural settings, focusing on milk production and consumption. By exploring a case in Ahmedabad, it highlights the challenges and processes in dairy farming across different environments, emphasising the need for sustainable practices and the essential role of milk in daily consumption.
Can AI do good? at 'offtheCanvas' India HCI preludeAlan Dix
Invited talk at 'offtheCanvas' IndiaHCI prelude, 29th June 2024.
https://www.alandix.com/academic/talks/offtheCanvas-IndiaHCI2024/
The world is being changed fundamentally by AI and we are constantly faced with newspaper headlines about its harmful effects. However, there is also the potential to both ameliorate theses harms and use the new abilities of AI to transform society for the good. Can you make the difference?
1. Hello, my name is Kars Alfrink. I am the founder of Hubbub, a new design studio. We create
physical, social games for public space. We create games that take on meaningful problems,
such as social issues.
2. physical
By physical we mean that our games get you moving. We believe our cognition is deeply
connected to the sensory perception of physical reality. We think it is valuable to reconnect
people to the places they inhabit.
3. social
By social we mean that social dynamics, the way people interact with each other, are a
material we work with. By definition, the meaning of games is socially constructed. We
consciously design for this.
4. One example of our work is an urban game we created for Your World, in which players
claimed territory in the centre of Rotterdam. They did this by planting flags on crossroads.
Subsequently, they campaigned for their “movement” at these spots.
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alper/3958307121/
5. systems literacy
We think games are interesting because they are complex systems that run on people. For us,
technology is a means, not a goal. Our medium is human behavior. With games we hope to
increase the systems literacy of people.
6. media wisdom
Systems literacy and media wisdom are closely related to each other. The overlapping media
landscape is a complex adaptive system. People shouldn’t passively inhabit it, but should be
its active shapers.
7. Lost is a television show about a group of people who after a plane crash are marooned on a
mysterious tropical island. It is famous (or infamous) for its complex story lines as well as for
the complex web of media that has emerged around the show.
8. This is a diagram by Dan Hill that show the events occurring from the release of one Lost
episode in the US to the release of that same episode in the UK. Official and unofficial media,
blogs, wikis, forums, spoof websites and even a book on Amazon are platforms for Lost’s
sprawling story.
Image: http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2006/03/why_lost_is_gen.html
9. An episode of Lost illustrates on a small scale what I mean when I say that the overlapping
media landscape has become a complex adaptive system. Although the behavior of the parts
might be predictable to some extent, as a whole it certainly isn’t. These systems shape our
behavior wether we’re aware of it or not. In turn, we shape these systems, ad infinitum.
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Serpiente_alquimica.jpg
10. Biologists call this process coevolution; when two species are dependent on each other for
survival. Certain species of hummingbird for instance have bills that are shaped to fit the
flowers they feed from, and pollinate as a result too.
Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Haeckel_Trochilidae.jpg
11. play
How do we educate people about the coevolutionary process that exists between them and
the media they use? How do we make them aware of the fact that they can, in their own small
way, change it? We think you can do this by letting them explore the limits and possibilities
of complex systems within a safe context. Or to put it simply: by letting them play.
12. Let’s look at a few examples: Budget Ball is a game created by Area/Code, commissioned by
the US government. It helps players to understand the effects of growing debt. In this way,
one of the fundamental elements of the global credit crisis is made comprehensible.
Image: http://www.budgetball.org/
13. symbolic
actions
This shows the unimportance of technology (Budget Ball is a physical sport). It also
beautifully illustrates the fact that the actions players perform in a game can be completely
unrelated to the message the game is supposed to convey. (There is no thematic relationship
between a ball game and the credit crisis, right?)
14. Mitch Resnick’s StarLogo is a tool with which children can build and simulate complex
systems. For example, how traffic jams emerge. It’s kind of like Sim City, but with the hood
open.
Image: http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/
15. praxis
StarLogo utilizes praxis, experimental learning, or as I like to call it: thinking by doing. We
feel that the separation between practical skills and theoretical knowledge is an artificial one.
To deal with complex systems, reflection in action is required.
16. Smokescreen is a game by Six to Start for Channel 4. The goal is to teach youth about the
importance of online privacy and security. On the world wide web they solve puzzles. Their
progress is rewarded with bits of story.
Image: http://www.smokescreengame.com/
17. safe context
The topic of Smokescreen is a sensitive one. But because this is a game, players can
experiment within a safe context and gain insight into the effects their actions may have.
18. Our brains are excellent pattern matching machines. They adjust to new patterns and when
confronted with chaos, they start looking for order. Systems are nothing but patterns that
unfold over time.
Image: Dalmatian Dog by Richard Gregory
19. To explain, take Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. For its time, this piece was unconventional to
say the least. As a result, its initial reception was poor. People hated it. Only later, when their
brains had adjusted to the music’s new patterns, was the piece properly valued.
Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Riteset.jpg
20. reading
&
writing
In the same manner I hope that with physical, social games, we can make people more
capable of ‘reading’ complex systems, and ‘writing’ them. Thank you.
Editor's Notes
Hello, my name is Kars Alfrink. I am the founder of Hubbub, a new design studio. We create physical, social games for public space. We create games that take on meaningful problems, such as social issues.
By physical we mean that our games get you moving. We believe our cognition is deeply connected to the sensory perception of physical reality. We think it is valuable to reconnect people to the places they inhabit.
By social we mean that social dynamics, the way people interact with each other, are a material we work with. By definition, the meaning of games is socially constructed. We consciously design for this.
One example of our work is an urban game we created for Your World, in which players claimed territory in the centre of Rotterdam. They did this by planting flags on crossroads. Subsequently, they campaigned for their “movement” at these spots.
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alper/3958307121/
We think games are interesting because they are complex systems that run on people. For us, technology is a means, not a goal. Our medium is human behavior. With games we hope to increase the systems literacy of people.
Systems literacy and media wisdom are closely related to each other. The overlapping media landscape is a complex adaptive system. People shouldn’t passively inhabit it, but should be its active shapers.
Lost is a television show about a group of people who after a plane crash are marooned on a mysterious tropical island. It is famous (or infamous) for its complex story lines as well as for the complex web of media that has emerged around the show.
This is a diagram by Dan Hill that show the events occurring from the release of one Lost episode in the US to the release of that same episode in the UK. Official and unofficial media, blogs, wikis, forums, spoof websites and even a book on Amazon are platforms for Lost’s sprawling story.
Image: http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2006/03/why_lost_is_gen.html
An episode of Lost illustrates on a small scale what I mean when I say that the overlapping media landscape has become a complex adaptive system. Although the behavior of the parts might be predictable to some extent, as a whole it certainly isn’t. These systems shape our behavior wether we’re aware of it or not. In turn, we shape these systems, ad infinitum.
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Serpiente_alquimica.jpg
Biologists call this process coevolution; when two species are dependent on each other for survival. Certain species of hummingbird for instance have bills that are shaped to fit the flowers they feed from, and pollinate as a result too.
Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Haeckel_Trochilidae.jpg
How do we educate people about the coevolutionary process that exists between them and the media they use? How do we make them aware of the fact that they can, in their own small way, change it? We think you can do this by letting them explore the limits and possibilities of complex systems within a safe context. Or to put it simply: by letting them play.
Let’s look at a few examples: Budget Ball is a game created by Area/Code, commissioned by the US government. It helps players to understand the effects of growing debt. In this way, one of the fundamental elements of the global credit crisis is made comprehensible.
Image: http://www.budgetball.org/
This shows the unimportance of technology (Budget Ball is a physical sport). It also beautifully illustrates the fact that the actions players perform in a game can be completely unrelated to the message the game is supposed to convey. (There is no thematic relationship between a ball game and the credit crisis, right?)
Mitch Resnick’s StarLogo is a tool with which children can build and simulate complex systems. For example, how traffic jams emerge. It’s kind of like Sim City, but with the hood open.
Image: http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/
StarLogo utilizes praxis, experimental learning, or as I like to call it: thinking by doing. We feel that the separation between practical skills and theoretical knowledge is an artificial one. To deal with complex systems, reflection in action is required.
Smokescreen is a game by Six to Start for Channel 4. The goal is to teach youth about the importance of online privacy and security. On the world wide web they solve puzzles. Their progress is rewarded with bits of story.
Image: http://www.smokescreengame.com/
The topic of Smokescreen is a sensitive one. But because this is a game, players can experiment within a safe context and gain insight into the effects their actions may have.
Our brains are excellent pattern matching machines. They adjust to new patterns and when confronted with chaos, they start looking for order. Systems are nothing but patterns that unfold over time.
Image: Dalmatian Dog by Richard Gregory
To explain, take Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. For its time, this piece was unconventional to say the least. As a result, its initial reception was poor. People hated it. Only later, when their brains had adjusted to the music’s new patterns, was the piece properly valued.
Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Riteset.jpg
In the same manner I hope that with physical, social games, we can make people more capable of ‘reading’ complex systems, and ‘writing’ them. Thank you.