Profaniti Tech

Wordpress clearly hates copy pasta - and i don’t have time to edit the crap formatting at the moment :(Books got out of the library to start reading -   A Theory of fun - for game design - Ralph Koster.  This looks really great, and i hope to read it all!Computer Games - text, narrative and play -  Looks a bit dull - but useful chapters to read include : 4 - Play and pleasure - D, Carr8 - Motivation and online gaming - A, Burn and D, Carr9 - Social play and learning - G, Schott and Maria Kambouri(maybe) 13 - Doing Game Analysis - D, Buckingham 

Had a meeting with Thor today - we discussed the following things technologies to be used:  Flash/AS3 for the mini gamesvarious input devices - possibly including: Wiimote / Webcam / Dance mat / keyboard and mouse / game pad or joystick / microphone / touchscreenother works of inspiration :Buzz! for schools (possibility of talking to company)games such as Portal (teaching new abstract concepts) / lemmings (gameplay of learning how to do stuff) - loads morecourses such as Ollie Glass / George Bashi’s teaching logo course - (have access to notes and ideas)Reading -http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/04/202228&tid=6  - theory of fun in game designMaking things move in AS3 (keith peters)  - on order… to help with flash programming….i need more reading on learning theories etc - not sure what to choose from the millions…  e.g. Kolb - http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htmplus loads of game specific learning papers if searching for “learning in games pdf” in GoogleEssay Structure - (intro)General ideas behind learningPiaget / Kolb / ++ (sub section one)Learning programming/computational thinking (sub section two)Games and learningfun/motivation/ general theoriesgames examplescasual games and justification of mini gamesVisualization of abstract conceptsinfo aesthetics blog / logo / ++Interface design and why it is importantgeneral theories / embodiment / relentless (case study)Ideas and justification + prototyping of computational mini games(sub section one)Illustration of mini games (sub section one)User studies - photos/screen shots / questionares Evaluation of project / concussions to tie in theory and ideas for extensions  To do for this week - Flesh out skeleton, and write a paragraph in each about what the chapter will cover.Find as much literature as possible, and add the article titles into the skeleton of the thesis.   Write the bibliography as articals are found and save them in a structured folder system.  This week focus on General learning theories, Teaching programming, and learning/teaching with games. Try and find some games that already teach programming, and see how they do it.   

After much chatting to people, and thinking,  i have come up with a preliminary outline for my project proposal and thesis.

Learning through play - use of mini-games to teach computational thinking

This project and thesis will attempt to explore the ideas of learning through play, and how computational ideas can be taught by playing computer games.  It will also look into the idea and effect of more active interaction with the computer.

The theory part of the project will explore general learning, and learning with games, as well as outlining the ideas behind the mini-games to be produced.  There is a possibility of a mini case study, looking atthe “Buzz!” game, created by relentless software for use with key stage 2 pupils.

The practical part of the project will see the prototyping of a number of mini games, made in flash, which will intend to promote computational thinking. Along with this some exploration into more active and involving interfaces, such as the Wii mote, dance mats and other playful input devices will be explored.

Extensions to this project could include research, comparing the games performance on leaning with more traditional methods, and also comparing the games with more interactive interfaces to ones withtraditional computer input.

Rather than posting all of the interesting links i find which might be related to the project here, i have created a tag on del.icio.us as a place to put them all. http://del.icio.us/profaniti/masters_project

http://www.dialogbox.org.uk/Rupert_Wegerif/rwpapers/jaln.pdf

Summary of article

The paper looks at asynchronous (non-synchronised) learning networks by using a case study of “the teaching and learning online” course (TLO) designed for professional educators who plan to go on and develop computer mediated courses of their own.

Data was collected from participants in a number of ways, including questionnaire and telephone interview in order to get a full range of responses from both people who adopted and participated a great deal in the course, as well as those who participated little or dropped out.

Perceived benefits of the online system:

• People did not have to think “on the spot” and could give more time and consideration to arguments, meaning the more reasoned and better argument is likely to win through over the bullish inceptions or loudest spoken.

• No gender bias in discussions.

• Ability to deviate from the main thread with other points – something difficult in face to face talk.

• More politeness, consideration, thoughtful development and reconsideration and more exploration of topics than in a face to face environment – people could go away, research, and come back with new ideas on a topic.

Perceived disadvantages of the online system:

• Unclear how formal the postings were supposed to be. A tutor on the course remarked in his early posts he would always include deliberate spelling mistakes – although this had the undesired effect of sparking a debate about spelling mistakes in posts, and how people should use spell checkers!

• People who had less access to the system always felt like outsiders. Technological limitations had a direct impact on social status in the group.

Considerations when designing an online course:

• Fair access to equipment and technology is very important to the group dynamic and participation. Technology access actually affected social dynamics within the group.

• All the students on the course should start at the same time, otherwise it will be very difficult to catch up and feel like part of the community.

• “Scaffolding” should be looked at when designing the structure of the course – i.e. more structure at the beginning, and support slowly being taken away until users are working by themselves.

• Short and informal messages should be encouraged – due to comments that it seemed rude to criticise that long and meticulously prepared arguments/posts.

• A warm up / light hearted getting to know people period should be factored in to kick start the community feeling, and to support weaker students and prevent alienation.

• “Threshold” from outsider to insider is important to cross – and could be helped by encouraging the students to take on a leadership task.

• There should be dedicated time at the end of the course for reflection.

Other conclusions:

Threshold – The study talks at length about this threshold from being an outsider to becoming an insider.
People who remained outsiders often had poor access to technology, or felt the group were discussing things too high level for them to understand.
It is core for all collaborative learning for people to feel included, and to get as many people as possible to cross this threshold. Because of this there is some support for dividing groups on perceive ability or understanding – but this somewhat goes against the idea of developing a learning community? Also as mentioned above – giving the student the opportunity to lead a task and build confidence is important.

My thoughts –

To help students catch up – this is an old (in technology terms) study – and new technologies could be used to help this – such as a user edited searchable wiki, or the ability for users to “tag” topics – that way they could flag up what they thought to be useful articles on a topic for those who may have missed it, as well as being able to apply more personal tags such as “judy:toRead” for example.

To minimise the effects of disparages in technology and time, maybe a recommended time to spend online per week to for fill the needs of the course would be a good idea on sign up.

Case study into fast prototyping of games -

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051026/gabler_pfv.htm

Accessability in virtual worlds - 3d enviroments for people who are visualy impaired - graham - also with the wiimote for navigation

Evolution of spanish dance mat software - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4222089.stm - with research into gender, and learning styles (recreation with arduino?)

exploring the itoy and imat for pearent/child collaboration / social learning link - Rose Luckin

Modding and scripting support for games and online worlds - Judith

exploration of graphic particles - Paul Newbury

Nature of games - gap between how addictive a game is vs traditional quality measures - pointers for new game design - peter cheng (1 chapt maybe?)

implementing a gesture interface for the wii remote - different gestures mean different emotions? - social learning tool for kids / autists ? pablo romero

Older people and tech/games - reactions of older people towards technology. questionares! - Geraldine Fitzpatrick
finding evedence to support Wii usability/benifit in older people - Geraldine Fitzpatrick - brain training!!! - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7218103.stm

user centerd study into open streetmap - how people use it, and how the experience could be improved for them - http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Main\_Page) - pablo

Virtual flash tour a chapel and bits in the VA for an interactive kiosk flash and papervision (hmm) - Martin White (was he my proj second marker?)

Virtual twister - examination of trust and firendship of learners, and how that can influence collaborative learning - (Crook, 2000; Jones, 2005; Wegerif, 1998) - development of a physical interface so that users could play at a distance - sensor tech etc- Pablo

twitter/facebook - ideas behind different online personas - what channel data is publised on - Geraldine Fitzpatrick

To do:

Email tutors of these projects and ask for more information / meeting.

Ideas discussed and thought upon today : ( 07/04/08)

learning environment ideas:

Hat experience, how focusing attention onto one thing / changing the environment to enhance and focus learning and discovery can help ones learning experience.

Learning through playing - how can this be encouraged?

How could a learning space be linked with digital creativity?

Psychology of organisations, and ideas about group relations?

learning tool ideas:

Memory pen - language pen?

try and find more information on this, but could it be done by having a small base, placed on the top of the page, calibrating the page, and then writing, memorised, and tracked by distance away from the base station?

Also, to improve usefulness of document - use a neural net to translate hand writing into an actual document? has this been done ? (it must have!)

to do:

set up blog to write about / record progress
Email Judith about readings on learning environments/ immersive learning experiences.
Come up with some more project ideas – wearable and eco!

today: 08/04/08

Virtual spaces for learning….
look into projects that kim/magi have done + more research in SL
Effect on competition on learning, good/bad - what kind of case studies - Scicamp vs Barcamp

 today : 10/04/08

Wii fitness - motivation for keeping a training regime.  Looking at games and play and how this could effect leaning in a positive way - article in the guardian -

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/wellbeing/story/0,,2273650,00.html#article_continue

goes back to the idea of competition as a positive medium.
Competition as a split force - on the internet - people willing to work and train for days and days in order to become top of the list on a game - may put people new to the game or casual players off, as the task may seem too daunting.
how could this be made better?

So! Things kicked off nice and early, Qing up for registration… with loads of pissed off people arriving 10 minutes before the start and then grumbling about the admin like it was their fault…

First thing we has was a Welcome, an introduction from Adobe dressed up like detectives… and some.. other stuff.. i kind of missed some of this due to the joy of rummaging around in my newly acquired ruck sac to see what goodies i could find. Ace postcards, an AS3 book, a beach towel and some flip-flops were found in the investigation. The discovery of free coffee for the entire weekend was also a joy… but was later regretted when i didn’t want to sit still and watch people talk anymore…

Seb Lee-Delisle - AS3 Particle effects 1000% extra free
Firstly, a session from Seb in the corn exchange. Seb is a Brighton based flasher, who I met after he came to do a talk at Sussex University a year ago. We have become good friends since then, and he produces interesting work to do with particles, texturing, flash games and all sorts of other ace stuff. If it was not for Seb, i would not have attended the conference in the first place, so i have him to thank for the experience. His session was well done, and explained particle effects in flash in an easy to understand an interactive way. The audience were invited to download the source code (found on his blog), play, then email the results to be shown at the end of the session. The idea that people who may never have had a go with this sort of thing before was lovely… and was somewhat of a recurring theme throughout the three days. We were shown how to produce and control particles, how to change the way they look and move, the gravity and drag, the growth or shrink. We also saw how to explode pictures and text, and how to produce particles form areas of bright light from feedback from a web cam.
Useful Links:
Seb’s blog - http://www.sebleedelisle.com/

Source code can be found in this post to have a play with - http://www.sebleedelisle.com/?p=130

Chris Orwig - Story. Branding. Visual Design.

To start, i was not 100% sure about this session, as i never really been too interested in branding, however Chris’s talk transformed this subject into something lovely and approachable. He explained when he was younger, his mother taught him creativity by taking him to a Twinkie factory, a twinkie then being one of the most prize positions on the playground. He then saw that ordinary ingredients - flour and sugar were combined to make something magical! - at that was how creativity happened. Throughout the session, Chris showed us some wonderful photographs he had taken, and discussed how simply changing the angle on a shot could make all the difference. He went through making a good portfolio to make the biggest impact. He pointed out that you cannot be creative if you weren’t having fun, and that creating stories and narratives out of ideas can make them far more powerful - although when telling a story you should never finish the end to a conclusion. He also introduced a nice idea that your view on the world changes depending on what you are holding in your hand. If you are holding a beer, you see the people around you on a social level - people to talk to. If you are holding a water balloon you see people as targets. If you are holding a camera, you notice details that you would not notice without - something that would make the perfect shot.

Useful links
Chris Orwigs homepage - http://www.chrisorwig.com/

Keith Peters - Make Flash Games. Retire early.

Useful links
Keith Peters Website - http://www.bit-101.com/

Wicked Pissah Games - http://wickedpissahgames.com/

I need to blog about my experience at the first conference that i ever went to… As I just found it so inspiring and wonderful, and I need to save my memories, and link them to useful resources.

You must be warned that this may not be so useful to you, due to my crap “push my brain onto the paper right now” writing style… and the fact i seem to have so little time at the moment (due to doing so many wonderful things!)

FOTB07 was my fist conference and according to a number of people who also attended, i have set the bar very high for the future! I was lucky to get a ticket - and i knew that spending this much money on a ticket would mean no food for the rest of November, i really had to weigh up the pros and cons of if it would be a good idea to go (Because food is also kind of important) However in the end i feel i defiantly made the best decision, as i think i had the most inspiring Three days of my life.

I will proceed to blog about the sessions i went to, and links that i have found on follow up to the material… but because it has been so long, some of my accounts may be a little hazy… Ill fill in the gaps where i can.

My first day schedule went like this :

• 9AM Adobe - Overview of flash CS3 Pro
• 10AM Seb Lee-Delisle - AS3 Particle Effects - Now 1000% Extra FREE!
• 11 AM Chris Orwig - Story. Branding. Visual design
• 12 Keith Peters - Make Flash Games. Retire Early
• 2 PM Niqui Merret - The Pirates of Accessibility
• 3 PM Joshua Davis - Dynamic Abstraction
• 8 PM Brendan Dawes - If it ain’t broke - break it!
• 9 PM Party at the Casino

See the post about Day 1 for more!