A Mobile Game World for Māori Language Learning

This project involves the research, development and evaluation of a mobile assisted language learning tool that teaches some aspects of the Maori language within a virtual game world. The Maori language has been going through a process of rejuvenation since the mid-1900s. A wide range of multimedia resources have been […]

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Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world

Note: The comments that follow this video on its Youtube page number over 3,000 and clearly show that Ms. McGonigal’s ideas spur passionate (and often ridiculously vitriolic) debate. I include this item here because it offers a compelling starting point for discussing serious games and social change. Transcript I’m Jane […]

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A Parallel World for the World Bank: A Case Study of Urgent: EVOKE, An Educational Alternate Reality Game

In 2010, the World Bank launched Urgent: EVOKE, an alternate reality game. The game, which was designed to promote the World Bank Institute’s vision of positive global change through social innovation, made substantial use of Web 2.0 tools like blogs, personal profiles and social networks. This article offers a case […]

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Play and Power: a Ludic Design Proposal for ICTD

This paper puts forth a notion of ludic design, drawing from work in HCI by Phoebe Sengers and Bill Gaver, as an avenue through which ICTD can begin to contend with the historical discourse of the developmental enterprise. This discourse, which we term the “developmental optic,” is one that envisions […]

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