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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Elizabeth Lindsey: Curating humanity’s heritage

From ted.com: It’s been said that when an elder dies, it’s as if a library is burned. Anthropologist Elizabeth Lindsey, a National Geographic Fellow, collects the deep cultural knowledge passed down as stories and lore. Elizabeth Lindsey is a fellow of the National Geographic Society. Her mission: to keep ancestral […]

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Wade Davis: Dreams from endangered cultures

From ted.com: With stunning photos and stories, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures, which are disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate. A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, he has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender […]

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Juliana Rotich: Meet BRCK, Internet access built for Africa

From ted.com: Tech communities are booming all over Africa, says Nairobi-based Juliana Rotich, cofounder of the open-source software Ushahidi. But it remains challenging to get and stay connected in a region with frequent blackouts and spotty Internet hookups. So Rotich and friends developed BRCK, offering resilient connectivity for the developing […]

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