Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.
If you have a quick moment, watch this short video, Cain’s Arcade, about a boy and his
cardboard arcade. Simply put, this is a good story and what I want to strive to
do every day even in the smallest interactions. Then read this short article on
a Recycled
Amusement: Ugandan Playground of Water Bottles. My favourite line from the
article is when the artist says “I
shifted from doing artwork to just hang on walls, having little influence on
society, to doing art that solves community needs.”
From TEDblog’s
blog on social games, I’m sharing this list of 10 games with a social
purpose. I’ve already told you about Jane McGonigal and all the many people
working to facilitate the application of gaming time to the solving of real and
important problems. So here is a list of games you can try and lend your hand
to practice of solution-contribution.
World Without Oil
Also a McGonigal creation, players in this game are dropped into a world where oil resources have been tapped and where they must get creative to survive the massive global shortage. The best part of the game? It teaches easy ways to use less oil in the real world—habits that players report keeping up when they aren’t playing.
Also a McGonigal creation, players in this game are dropped into a world where oil resources have been tapped and where they must get creative to survive the massive global shortage. The best part of the game? It teaches easy ways to use less oil in the real world—habits that players report keeping up when they aren’t playing.
FoldIt
An online protein folding game, FoldIt allows its quarter million players to help with scientific research by stabilizing strings of amino acids. Think of it like biological Tetris — FoldIt makes a competition out of biological pattern recognition, leading to innovative solutions to problems that have frustrated scientific communities for years.
An online protein folding game, FoldIt allows its quarter million players to help with scientific research by stabilizing strings of amino acids. Think of it like biological Tetris — FoldIt makes a competition out of biological pattern recognition, leading to innovative solutions to problems that have frustrated scientific communities for years.
WAY
Communicating across languages and cultures isn’t easy. But in this online game, two anonymous players — culled from different locations around the globe — must learn how to speak to each other as they navigate obstacles. Developed by CoCo & Co, this game took top honors at this year’s Games for Change Awards.
Communicating across languages and cultures isn’t easy. But in this online game, two anonymous players — culled from different locations around the globe — must learn how to speak to each other as they navigate obstacles. Developed by CoCo & Co, this game took top honors at this year’s Games for Change Awards.
Budget Hero
Think you could balance the national budget? Then you’ll want to play this game from American Public Media, which lets players see what happens to the national deficit when they increase funding to programs or opt to make difficult cuts. “Every member of Congress should be required to play this game,” said one of its creators.
Think you could balance the national budget? Then you’ll want to play this game from American Public Media, which lets players see what happens to the national deficit when they increase funding to programs or opt to make difficult cuts. “Every member of Congress should be required to play this game,” said one of its creators.
Pain Squad
Children and teenagers with cancer are often asked to keep pain diaries — paperwork that is not only boring but focuses their attention on their discomfort. The iOS app Pain Squad makes the whole process fun and interactive — while also helping doctors provide better treatments for young patients.
Children and teenagers with cancer are often asked to keep pain diaries — paperwork that is not only boring but focuses their attention on their discomfort. The iOS app Pain Squad makes the whole process fun and interactive — while also helping doctors provide better treatments for young patients.
Spent
When your bank account is in the black, it’s easy to think that anyone could pull themselves out of poverty by their boot straps. But in this online game, players are charged with looking for work while surviving on $1000 a month — highlighting that poverty and unemployment are systematic and not just the result of character flaws.
When your bank account is in the black, it’s easy to think that anyone could pull themselves out of poverty by their boot straps. But in this online game, players are charged with looking for work while surviving on $1000 a month — highlighting that poverty and unemployment are systematic and not just the result of character flaws.
Evoke
Created by the World Bank Institute in conjunction with McGonigal, this game is a 10-week crash course in social innovation, giving players challenges from “food security” to “urban resilience,” and encouraging them to become a think tank on local challenges.
Created by the World Bank Institute in conjunction with McGonigal, this game is a 10-week crash course in social innovation, giving players challenges from “food security” to “urban resilience,” and encouraging them to become a think tank on local challenges.
Unmanned
Most video shoot-em-up video games make war seem action-packed and glamorous. Unmanned aims to paint a far more realistic portrait, casting players as a soldier dealing with boredom and traumatic dreams, in addition to military duties.
Most video shoot-em-up video games make war seem action-packed and glamorous. Unmanned aims to paint a far more realistic portrait, casting players as a soldier dealing with boredom and traumatic dreams, in addition to military duties.
Plot.Form
This slick game seeks to make charitable giving fun and interactive, rather than passive and forgettable. Currently fundraising to build homes for teenagers on the street in Moshi, Tanzania, Plot.form allows users to donate—and pick out building materials, colors and more for parts of the homes.
This slick game seeks to make charitable giving fun and interactive, rather than passive and forgettable. Currently fundraising to build homes for teenagers on the street in Moshi, Tanzania, Plot.form allows users to donate—and pick out building materials, colors and more for parts of the homes.
Lastly, some of my students’ friends have started an organization
to do some work in Lagos. I want to introduce you to WeCyclers and invite you
to do some good and support them in their seed funding campaign.
Wecyclers is an
organization that gives low-income communities in developing countries a chance
to capture value from waste and clean up their neighborhoods through incentive
based recycling.
We are excited to
announce the launch of our StartSomeGood campaign, a step forward in tackling
the daunting waste challenge that faces communities in the developing world.
Through this campaign
we are raising funding to launch our pilot recycling program in Lagos, Nigeria
this August. We will establish a proof of concept pilot to test our SMS
platform and collection infrastructure and develop the business case for
scaling up to reach hundreds and thousands of people.
We would love if you
could help us spread the word:
2) Share our StartSomeGood page: email it to friends, post
it on facebook, tweet about it and help us get the word out any way possible!
3) We've created a
template tweet you can use if you prefer to share via Twitter:
Wecyclers is tackling waste in the developing world via
@startsomegood http://bit.ly/Nmv6JT Help them launch in
Lagos! #socent #recycling
Thanks so much for
your support!
No comments:
Post a Comment