ShuiVerse Blog: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

The Game Layer (inspired)

image from Storify

Are we heading into a world where everything is turned into gaming?

Points for brushing your teeth? For watching certain TV shows?

Is gamification the next big revolution after social networking? I think so, although I doubt we can completely predict exactly what this will mean in 10, 20, or 30 years from now. Some of it may be easy to imagine (and perhaps scary), yet I suspect there will be unforeseeable dynamics and serendipity.

If you find the idea of gamification interesting, check out these two videos.

Jesse Schell, DICE 2010: When Games Invade Real Life (full video here)

Seth Priebatsch, TED 2010: Building the Game Layer on Top of the World

What do you think?

Microsoft has an entire research division devoted to this as well as a non-profit partner created with MIT (Education Arcade) to explore gaming implications for teaching and learning.

How will gamification change us? Will it change how we feel about life?

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Street Games (inspired)

My dad grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

He tells me of a time when diverse communities played together on the streets. Stick ball, Marbles, Ring-o-Leavio, Hopscotch, Skelly, etc.

From streetplay.com

For those interested in this rich history, I strongly suggest finding the documentary New York Street Games.

A Green NYC? (inspired)

What if we were forced to quickly adapt to new energy sources, new food sources, etc. What's possible? How quickly would we adapt? How might we rethink the urban landscape?

What if people started digging up concrete and planting food/herbs?

image from SphereTrending

image from thefreefarm.blogspot.com

What if "green became the new graffiti?"

WATCH THIS DUDE.

Urban Farming is real. Action towards sustainability in Hunts Point, Bronx, is real.

Green roofs are real. This is Chicago's city hall.

I think it's going to spread (in spite of maintenance and liability hurdles).

image from WorldChanging.com

image from the Green Roof article.

image from sierraclubgreenhome.com

Solar energy? There are entire towns running on solar and wind.

image from BBC

What about algae? Photobioreactors are coming.

image from BIOS blog

Imagine bio-fuel growing all around us.

images from EcoFriend.com

New ways of thinking about sustainability are here.

image from Tuvie

Personal Drones (inspired)

Kids like power and cool things.

Can we imagine personal hoverbots/drones on the street in 10, 20, or 30 years? What types of uses and capabilities will consumer drones offer in the years ahead? Micro-drones, UAVs, nano quadcopters, octocopters, nano-drones, etc. Whatever they end up being popularly called, how will they change our daily lives?

Check out these examples of what's already out there. Truly inspiring.

An iPhone-controlled commercial toy/drone.

July '12 Update:

Browsing a Barnes & Noble in Florida, I spotted the "Parrot AR.Drone" from the first video. If these are in B&N in mid-2012, then can you imagine what might be available in 10-20 years?

Why a blog? (reflection)

My students are my deepest inspiration for writing.

When I shifted from school system bureaucracy into the K-12 classroom, I created some personal narratives to model the writing process with my 6th graders. The hook sank right into my bones.

For over three years now, the writing bug has woken me up early in the morning.

In this process, I've come to see myself as a writer-for-life. As a professional challenge, it makes sense to share inspirations, reflections, and perhaps some reviews-of-sorts. It's an exciting moment.

I'm currently revising a YA novel that's set in a near-future NYC. My goal is to craft a book that youth will not be able to put down. I want them to fight over copies. I want them to pull out the book to read when they could (or should) be doing other things. That's the dream. This blog cannot be separated from this writing process - the joys, the hope, the strains, the moments of complete bafflement.

So, I just picked up Story Engineering by Larry Brooks as well as the Gotham Writers' Workshop text on fiction. As impossible as it seems, I also hope to take a week to step back and reflect. I'll probably dump quite a lot of posts and media during this time. :)

(photos) City Breathing

I often find myself exploring different corners of New York City. Some of these personal photos are from places in the city that I'm writing about. Some are just places. Moments.

"Escuchela..la ciudad respirando."