Reports are trickling out of San Diego's Comic-Con regarding the new Lost ARG.

As part of Lost's presence at Comic-Con they have set up a booth for the show's fictional Dharma Initiative that is "testing" people as new recruits.

Lostpedia has a firsthand description from their member Burncycle16 from his testing experience, at the convention which includes psychological evaluations, video recording, and the distribution of i.d. cards which they are instructed to hang on to for the convention's official Lost panel this Saturday.

Lostpedia's description from Burncycle16 can be found here.

Lost fans, along with geeks of all geekly denominations will be keeping an ear to the ground for what's happening at Comic-Con as will we here at Geek in Review.

-Beans

Jo överjaget lilla, jag vet att jag skulle montera persienner idag

Ja det är inte en dag för tidigt, persiennerna har legat här och dammat i över ett år nu. Och utgjort en akut strypningsrisk för småbarn!!

Jamen snälla ÖVERJAGET, dom måste göra varningsskyltar för allt, men hur sannolikt är det att ett av de fåtal småbarn som vistas i skokartongen skulle strypa sig med persiennsnöret när persiennen ligger lös på golvet. Att det finns en risk med superlånga snören då den sitter upp är väl en sak. Men lös på golvet...

Ja, ingen rök utan eld säger jag!! Vad var det nu hon ville med persiennerna?

Jo, jag har ju inget strykjärn här, så jag kan ju ändå inte göra gardinerna, och då blir det ju inte så snyggt med persiennerna i alla fall. Men jag tänkte att jag har ju solsängen i bakluckan, och nu när vi ska på långtur kanske jag skulle montera den istället, så vi kan få in valpens bur i skuffen...

Hm. Jag anar att hon försöker maska på nåt sätt, men låt gå för det då....

Så glad i hågen baxade jag ut kartongen ur bilen. Förtänksamt hämtade jag både skruvdragare och kniv (i vanliga fall brukar Mammamumrik tro att en redig kvinna klarar sånt här med vassa naglar och vanlig mejsel, men i vetenskapsradion sa de härom natten att man ska träna sina små neuroner genom att se på saker eller göra saker på oväntade sätt, förvåna de små liven helt enkelt, för att hålla sig rask och alert, så sagt och gjort.)

Man må säga att pigga neuroner gör underverk - eller så är det bra att ha en kniv när man ska forcera armerad packtejp. Kartongen gick upp som aldrig förr iaf, och alla de små delarna packades upp.

Mammamumrik slog förväntansfullt upp monteringsbrochyren. Dom har blivit så mycket bättre på senare år. Ungefär samtidigt som MM började medicinera ADHD, anställde de helt visst en ny brochyrförfattare där nere i småland. För nu går de att förstå....

Men ack fasa och elände - se vad som mötte MM på första uppslaget:

Svart på vitt: "Det här klarar du aldrig gumma lilla."

Visst förstår jag att somliga ting kan man inte montera ensam. Det kan man ju begripa att ska man tex montera - tja vad vet jag - en jättelika bokhylla som inte byggs i sektioner kanske - då kan man behöva vara två. Men mammamumrik har minsann monterat garderober och köksinredning "all by my self". Så tanken att en solstol skulle kräva medhjälpare föll mig liksom aldrig in vid köpet. Även om Ackacia är tungt.

Man kan tycka att dom åtminstone kunde varna i skyltningen, eller på kartongen: Inget för enastående människor....

Men attans lilla människa. Hur länge ska hon sitta där och ömka sig. Vi är visst två! Inte för att jag är till så mycket praktisk nytta men jag kan peppa desto mer! Ska hon låta sådana där fånigheter stoppa sig. Det var faktiskt det värsta jag har hört på flera minuter!!!! Bara sätt igång ska hon se att det reder sig.

Behöver hon lite mera glöd i ilskan kan jag ju påminna om att tanter som vanligt inte verkar tänkta att montera. Bara gubbar på bilderna. Och kom inte å påstå att gubbarna i foldern är könsneutrala. Lika könsneutrala som "Herr Gårman" eller den lille karlen som utmärker ett offentligt WC för manspersoner (han är förresten både sexig och rar kan jag säga, brukar svänga förbi och umgås lite på lediga stunder jag. En riktigt trevlig karl. Och inte ett dugg könsneutral om läsekretsen förstår vad jag menar. Blink, blink)

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om IKEA, solsäng, montering, brochyr, instruktion, diskriminering, singel, singlar

I got it out csue i saw this really cool game called Bus Driver and you get to drive busses around this town. [:

See im entertained by this kinda stuff

I skildringen här nedan om dagen då det gick för långt kallar jag de inblandade för Raseriutbrottet, Mesen och Medlaren, så blir det enklare för mig att beskriva händelsen och kanske enklare för eventuella läsare att hänga med.

Jag satt i köket och åt. Plötsligt vevade Raseriutbrottet upp sig över Mesens reaktion och beteende i en tidigare situation. Orsaken till utbrottet var idiotisk. Situationen var utagerad och borde ha gått till historien. De här två är kollegor, ska arbeta ihop i framtiden och borde kunna lösa saker som denna på ett sansat sätt. Men Raseriutbrottet såg inte saken på det sättet utan ville bevisa sin sak och gick på Mesen verbalt som en rasande furie.

Raseriutbrottet ansåg i en diskussion med Medlaren, att Mesen inte stod upp för sin åsikt utan var, just, en mes. Mesen stegade in i Raseriutbrottets rum och på mindre än tio sekunder var grälet i full sving.  Medlaren försökte få Raseriutbrottet att se saken förnuftigt och börja prata istället för att skrika. Alla tre käftade. Mesen och Raseriutbrottet åt varandra, Medlaren försökte medla. Efter en stunds gastande mattades det av. Mesen gick in till sig, Medlaren stannade kvar ytterligare ett par minuter och gick sen tillbaka till sitt rum.

Sen blev det tyst.

Men inte länge.

Raseriutbrottet kom stegandes ur sitt rum, gick in till Mesen och smällde igen dörren på känt manér. Utan att se vad som försiggick förstod jag att nu handlade det inte längre om ett verbalt krig. Det är så lyhört att jag hörde att Raseriutbrottet försökte slå Mesen och ibland lyckades. Jag hörde hur Raseriutbrottet stönade, förmodligen för att Mesen försökte hålla Raseriutbrottet ifrån sig. Min puls gick upp och plötsligt var all matlust som bortblåst. Jag tvekade en sekund men inte mer. Jag gick in till Medlaren och sa till denna att göra något. Medlaren ingrep men jag orkade inte sitta kvar i köket utan gick till mitt rum. Skriktävlingen höll på men jag orkade inte längre lyssna. Efter en stund kom Mesen till mitt rum med en papperssudd tryckt mot läppen. Jag frågade om Raseriutbrottet slagits. Jo, så var det. Läppen blödde.

Raseriutbrottet gick tillbaka till sitt rum och Medlaren till sitt. Raseriutbrottet ropade till mig, ”förlåt, Hedvig Eleonora, det här har inget med dig att göra”. Jag svarade att jag hörde att h*n var arg men att jag var rädd. Raseriutbrottet lovade att inte komma till mitt rum. En stund senare gav h*n sig av med en sista dörrsmäll och rivstart med bilen som h*n hade parkerad utanför mitt fönster. Jag tänkte att h*n kommer att köra ihjäl sig.

H*n kom inte tillbaka mer den dagen. Vi som var kvar pratade inte särskilt mycket om vad som hänt. Det fanns inget att säga, för det hade gått så totalt över styr och alla visste det.

I min sinnevärld gör en person som gått över gränsen på ett så här vedervärdigt sätt en dubbel pudel och uppsöker professionell hjälp med att tygla temperamentet. Det är det enda hedervärda och det enda som skulle kunna bli en start till att återuppbygga respekt och tillit igen.

Det har inte Raseriutbrottet gjort. Inte så att jag har sett eller hört det i alla fall. Tydligen har de haft en diskussion för att redan ut situationen, men Raseriutbrottet ursäktar sitt beteende med att Mesen gjort elaka påhopp på Raseriutbrottet och triggat igång ilskan. Det kan mycket väl vara fallet och är i så fall bottenlöst lågt, det men ilskan är Raseriutbrottets ansvar och likadant är det med konsekvenserna av beteendet. Jag sa till Raseriutbrottet att jag tycker att det är oacceptabelt att slåss. Bristen på reaktion, eller om h*n knep ihop om vad h*n tyckte om den åsikten, var talande. Därmed drar jag slutsatsen att detta inte var det sista gången Raseriutbrottet luftar sin ilska och kanske heller inte den sista gången h*n tar till knytnävarna. Vem står i vägen för Raseriutbrottet nästa gång?

Raseriutbrottet och Mesen är en man och en kvinna. Du får själv lista ut vem som är vem.

I enjoy the MessyNessy89 series. It has a realistic approach and has successfully differentiated itself from the lonelygirl15 storyline so far. Because of location differences (New York vs. California) and situational differences in the storyline, MessyNessy89 isn't reliant on the day to day activities of the lonelygirl15 storyline. This gives the PM wide range in how she wants to take the story, and I look forward to what's coming next. Cassie has so far delivered puzzles that were very demanding, and has so far defeated my feeble brain. Hopefully, I can learn from these past puzzles and be able to help in later ones. If your a fan of Alternate Reality Games, whether or not you are a fan of lonelygirl15, you need to give MessyNessy89 a look.

One of the puzzle videos is below. As with any ARG, videos only tell part of the story, so jump in and help out with those puzzles when their given! We need all the help we can get. That Cassie is nothing if not a master puzzle creator. The MessyNessy89 channel can be found here.

Men nu har hon satt en sån där rubrik som gör en rent folkilsk av oro igen. Ska hon - så här flera år för sent - hoppa i Fredriks lilla farkost. Nu när till och med Göran Skytte haft vett att hoppa ur. (Och det vet jag från säkra källor. Om Badlands hyena och Witchbitch rapporterar samma sak - då måste det vara sant!!)

Men lilla Överjag. Stilla sig ett tag nu - även om det inte ligger för henne

Alltså när jag satt här och pillade navelludd slogs jag av att dessa två ord är varandras spegelbilder. (Har funderat lite över spegelbilder sedan jag mitt i natten lyssnade på vetenskapsradion om spegelneuroner, fast egentligen har det här ju inte alls med det att göra - bara att associationerna flyger och far i en DAMP-tants huvud)

Välfärd är ett så trist ord, tyckte Barbro Hedvall i DN för några dagar sedan. Och det har sen den utmärkta (och förhoppningsvis utvilade) Johanna Graf funderat vidare på. (Vem av damerna som är mest bersärk har jag inte riktigt avdömt ännu, det kan bli nödvändigt med målfoto)

I alla fall. Jag tycker att välfärd är ett vackert ord. "Att fara väl". Jag tänker att det inte är en händelse att ordet och företeelsen skapades av den mest utpräglade "Inte bli som vi"-generationen i vår historia. Dvs föräldrar som tänkte att deras barn skulle ha fler livsval än de själva haft.

Ska man sätta sin unge i kanoten och sedan tryggt kunna vinka farväl - då är det viktigt att det finns välfärd. Om ungskrottet inte ska ta jobb på bruket, eller var man nu tog jobb på orten, utan studera eller flytta eller på annat sätt följa "sina bästa stämningars längtan". Då är det viktigt för det oroliga mamma- eller pappahjärtat att det finns välfärd. Att det finns någon sorts skyddsnät.

Det ironiska är att högern helt ostört fått måla upp en annan bild - hur tryggheten söver. Det är ju inte sant. Trygga människor orkar vara nyfikna. Stressade, ängsliga människor vill bara sova. Det är rent fysikaliskt sant.

Visst kan enstaka adrenalinvågor göra en stark och pigg. Den som alltid vet att det finns fast mark att landa på kan våga de mest våghalsiga toksprång. Så har överklassen alltid haft det. Man ändå landar mjukt i pappas checkbok och kontaktnät. Det finns fonder undanställda sen den dag man föddes.

Människor som alltid haft det så, som haft ett eget välfärdsbygge hela sitt liv, förstår naturligtvis inte vad den allmänna välfärden ska vara bra för. På dem kanske det har negativa effekter till och med - vad vet jag.

Säkert innebär det minskad intern kontroll. För enstaka ungar i överklassen - med tillräckligt stark integritet och egenart - använder ju det allmänna som en flyktväg. Så länge man är under föräldrarnas vingars beskydd är man ju inte riktigt fri (Den som står i skuld är inte fri, ni vet). Så nog är allmän välfärd ett vardagsproblem för överklassen.

Men för den som inte har en av föräldrarna sparad slant att falla tillbaka på blir en obefintlig välfärd inte en sporre. Utan en hämsko.

Allt blir ängsligare. Och sömnigare. Och försiktigare.

Välfärd är ett vackert ord, nära släkt med farväl. Det ger alla möjlighet att ge sig av mot sina drömmar, veckla ut "sina bästa stämningars längtan" och med den som segel ta sikte på det okända.

Men signe sig lilla människa. Det där var ju riktigt klokt tänkt. Ja ja nu blir det ett schå. Nu måste vi sätta kanoterna i livets vatten, reda segel och damma av gamle Erik Gustav igen. Här har vi honom visst

(och lugna sig läsekretsen lilla - nog vet jag att hen skrev den då han blev liberal. Men det är en rasande skillnad på liberaler 1838 och 2008 kan jag säga. Se bara vad som hänt de senaste tio åren med folkpartiet så förstår läsekretsen säkert. Det fanns en tid - tro det eller ej ni som är små och kortlevda - då liberaler nästan ansågs vara bolsjeviker....

Men sen dess har mycket grumligt vatten runnit ut från tankesmedjorna må man säga...)

Ensam i bräcklig farkost vågar
seglaren sig på det vida hav;
stjärnvalvet över honom lågar,
nedanför brusar hemskt hans grav.
Framåt! — så är hans ödes bud;
och i djupet bor, som uti himlen, Gud.

Erik Gustav Geijer

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om välfärd, farväl, överklass, adrenalin, mod, checkhäfte, fonder, kontaktnät, skyddsnät, längtan, drömmar, vetenskapsradion, Göran Skytte, Barbro Hedvall, Johanna Graf, Witchbitch, Badlands hyena, Erik Gustav Geijer

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer
Group has selected the finalists for the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards
for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media.

This year, the awards recognize creative achievement in two areas of
interactive media endeavor: Nonfiction and Fiction.

The finalists for the 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding
Creative Achievement in Interactive Media (Nonfiction) are:

• America's Player Interactive (CBS/Big Brother)
  
• Project Runway (Bravo Media)
  
• Top Chef (Bravo Media)
  
• Dancing With The Stars Multi-Platform Experience (ABC)
  
• Disney Channel Games Digital Media Event
  
  

The finalists for the 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding
Creative Achievement in Interactive Media (Fiction) are:

• HBO Voyeur
  
• Kyle XY: The Collective Experience (ABC Family)
  
• The Heroes Digital Experience (NBC)
  
• Lost "Find 815" (ABC)
  
• The L Word Interactive (Showtime Networks, Ourcharts.com, Fanlib.com)
  
  

The finalists were determined by members of the Interactive Media
Peer Group in an initial round of judging that took place between June
23rd and July 14th. The winners will be determined by a Blue Ribbon
panel in a second round of judging that will take place in Los Angeles
on Thursday, August 21st; they will be announced in September.

Blue Ribbon panelists include:

--Don Ahrens, Comcast/TVWorks

--Jesse Alexander, Heroes/The Global Couch

--Nizar Allibhoy, MediaEnable

--Kevin Bachus, Virrata Games

--Shari Barnett, Microsoft Mediaroom

--Miles Beckett, EQAL

--Damon Berger, Revision3

--Brian Black, Black Light Design

--Eric Breitbard, Schematic

--James Brennan, Mandalan Media

--Sean Bunner, HSN

--Alexis D'Amecourt, 19 Entertainment

--Ed Davis, ESPN.com

--Joe DiNunzio, Fido Entertainment

--Allison Dollar, Interactive Television Alliance

--Joanna Drake Earl, Current TV

--David Feldstein, DirecTV

--David Fleischman, Warner Bros.

--Erin Flood, Next New Networks

--Kevin Furuichi, OpenTV

--Nely Galan, television programming executive

--Liz Gannes, NewTeeVee.com

--Michael Gaylord, TV Land

--Stefanie Gelinas, Talpa Media Group

--John Gilles, Method

--Rob Hayes, Showtime Networks

--Dale Herigstad, Schematic

--Courtney Holt, MTV

--Will Kreth, Time Warner Cable

--Todd Krieger, Denuo/Publicis

--Gerard Kunkel, Comcast/GuideWorks

--Karen Lennon, Beyond Z (former Interactive Media Primetime Emmy Award winner)

--Rebecca Lim, Starz Entertainment

--Allan McClennan, Padem Group

--Curt Marvis, Lionsgate

--Angela Morgenstern, PBS

--Margeigh Novotny, Moto.com

--Steve Perlman, Rearden

--Mike Petrusis, Tandberg Television (former two-time Interactive Media Primetime Emmy Award winner)

--Kevin Plunkett, ABC

--Alexis Rapo, ABC (former Interactive Media Primetime Emmy Award winner)

--George Ruiz, ICM

--Jaime Levy Russell, Huge Inc.

--Jeff Sellinger, CBS Mobile

--Adrian Sexton, Participant Productions

--Seth Shapiro, ARC-Artists and Repertory Channel/New Amsterdam Media

--Fran Shea, HBO Lab

--Bill Sheppard, Sun Microsystems

--Arnie Gullov-Singh, Fox Audience Network

--Tyler Slocum, DirecTV

--Evan Spiridellis, JibJab

--Gregg Spiridellis, JibJab

--Howard Stein, FremantleMedia North America

--Sarah Szalavitz, 7 Robot

--Hardie Tankersley, Fox

--Daniel Tibbets, GoTV

--Zane Vella, RCDB

--Allee Willis, songwriter

--Matt Wolf, Double 20 Productions (former Interactive Media Primetime Emmy Award winner)

--Marcia Zellers, Vendaloo.net

Members of the 2008 Interactive Media Peer Group Awards Committee
include: Jesse Albert (ICM), Mugs Buckley (BlackArrow), Richard
Cardran (former two-time Interactive Media Primetime Emmy Award
winner), John Couch (Digital Kitchen), Miles Crakow (Fox), Sanjit Das
(ABC), Brian Havens (CBS), Geoff Katz (Code and Theory), Danila
Koverman (HBO Lab), Alex Liston (TiVo), David Preisman
(Showtime Networks), Guy Ram (NBC Universal), Suzanne Stefanac
(American Film Institute), Ty Ahmad-Taylor (MTV), and Marcia
Zellers (Vendaloo.net). The Interactive Media Peer Group's co-
governors are David Jensen (IBM) and Marcelino Ford-Livene (Intel);
and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' SVP of awards is John
Levence.

URL: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Emmys)

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I'm here at ARGFestoCon in Boston, mingling with the faithful and visionary members of the Alternate Reality Game tribe, and the central theme seems to be the future of this genre. Quo vadis?

I wouldn't go so far as to offer a consensus view or even suggest that there is one, but I think these views hold a good deal of currency:

• The future is bright for interactive experiences of the ARG type. (Wikipedia)
• ARGlike experiences are the most affective media experiences out there, period.
• The ARG idea is growing fast and people are cognitively exploring its frontiers. As a result, the actual term "alternate reality game" has hit its cognitive limit, and new terms are about to emerge to describe these experiences.

To date, ARGs have basically fallen into two camps: (1) commercially funded endeavors that tell a story for (ultimately) a marketing reason – often to augment a movie or game story; (2) homegrown endeavors where ARG players use the ARG form to tell their own story (or extend a movie or game story in a fanfic way). As a non-entertainment, storymaking (as opposed to storytelling) experience, the World Without Oil game is on the fringe of the conversations.

I moderated a panel that discussed Serious ARGS (ARGs used for serious purposes such as education and training) and also Independent ARGs (non-commercial ones). Panelist Alice Leung, of BBN, described how DARPA is funding research about the effectiveness of ARGs to grow long-term collaborative behavior in organizations. Panelist Brian Clark of GMD Studios gave us an insight into further possibilities in this area: he described an inquiry he had received from a university interested in establishing a 4-year collaborative experience that an entire class of students would play together during their time at the university. Such an augmented reality is a fascinating idea that opens up a treasure trove of possible projects and clients.

In my view, however, all these approaches are missing one of the fundamental strengths of ARGlike experiences: the immersive power of storymaking. All of the above are storytelling projects, where people who like to tell stories use the ARG form to people who like to experience them, and there is a level of abstraction or detachment that's inherently present. In World Without Oil, the players pretty much wrote the story collaboratively. As a result, in WWO there is no abstraction, no external reward, no comfort zone of "oh good, I found what the gamemasters wanted me to find." There is only the person directly inside the "what if?" reality, and the journey is inward.

It's been fun hobnobbing with my fellow wizards in the wonderful land of ARGz, but some of my best conversations have been with the players. One introduced herself as "just a player," but the game designers present quickly corrected her: in the ARG world, the player is "the player," we are "just the game designers."

During last season's season finale a fake commercial was put on for Octagon Global Recruiting, saying that they would be accepting applicants for various projects at this summer's Comic-con in San Diego, California. Those who visited the website (octagonglobalrecruiting.com) that was given on the commercial could enter their e-mail address and receive messages that would be part of the game.

Today the first of these messages arrived and the contents can be found here. It gave a website at www.dharmawantsyou.com/ which is set up for later developments in the game. The email also contained a hidden message in the source code of the web page version of the e-mail. The contents of the message can be found below.

"Lost" has had in the past the tendency to attract die-hard fans, and these games offer them a new level of entertainment offered from the show. The intricacy of these games is undeniably tantalizing and for fans of "Lost" or fans of sci-fi and conspiracy stories in general it's a new way to enter an already fascinating fictional world. So bear in mind that Comic-con is only six days away; and the game is about to begin.

-Beans

…If you're reading this, wanna hear something cool?
I've got intel about his little "recruitment drive."
They're doing some kind've personality/IQ testing or something down in SD for ComicCon.
Buddy of mine works down there and has the approvals for their "booth," he says once you go in no one knows what happens inside and you need an appointment to get in. He also said to make sure you've got your Bluetooth on and visible – he's rigged up a little something.
The whole thing sounds like elitist B.S., doesn't it?
Well, I'm getting in that booth and taking the test.
As many times as I have to before I "pass" (whatever that means?)
And then…
If I can?
I'm gonna tape it so EVERYONE can see what these idiots are up to.
Should be fun, right?
See ya in SD. RuckusGuy OUT.

Fast idag då jag hörde "Ring P1" blev jag riktigt glad. En urförbaskad gymnaseilärare hade ringt in en "insändare" som helt briljant beskrev hur skolminister Björklund å ena sidan förkastar all pedagogisk forskning, och å andra sidan beskriver en skola baserad på forsknig och vetenskapliga rön som "flum". (Jag missade namnet och hinner inte kolla nu - ber om ursäkt för det!!)

Den skola Börklund själv förespråkar har inget som helst stöd i erfarenhet eller forskning som bättre eller ens fungerande. Den skola han romantiserar var faktiskt betydligt mindre funktionell än dagens. Om det man vill med skolan är att barn ska lära sig och ha en bra vardag medan de lär sig.

Dagen skola är absolut inte perfekt, den har tvärt om stora brister. Men den "gammaldags skolan" hade inte större andel barn som lärde sig baskunskaper än dagens. Inte färre mobbade. Och dessutom sorterades ca 80% av barnen i en årskull bort mellan första klass och gymnasiets slut.

Men visst är det en bra poäng: Börklund förkastar all faktisk kunskap i frågan och för fram sina egna åsikter - utan någon som helst faktaunderbyggnad. Och så kallar han motståndarna flummiga!

Den som sa´t han va´t - som 11åringarna sa - och säger - på skolgården

Phew! Tired but happy.

A couple of months ago I was asked to run a day activity for a group of 15-year olds from Barnsley, as part of the university's widening participation scheme.

How to teach fifty 15-year olds about university life in 5 hours and keep them entertained enough to avoid them interfering with the degree ceremonies going on elsewhere on campus? I borrowed a few approaches from alternate reality games, principally live events (example here) and a broad mix of media. Over a good day's brainstorming with Kate (Litherland, a research associate from my last arg-influenced project) fuelled by coffee, cake and (for the really tricky parts) beer, we came up with PuzzleX: The Quest for Truth.

Essentially, we planned to teach the schoolkids what most undergraduates fail to grasp before their third year: a healthy academic cynicism for the published word/image, and an ability to peel back the covers and delve deeper. This was to be no lecture series, though: the schoolkids would become Puzzle Teams, working against the clock to solve a variety of different challenges, then producing their evidence in a dossier in a final frenetic showdown.

And, well, it worked rather... erm... well.  At 10:00 sharp a Mission Impossible-meets-Jack Bauer opening sequence drew the Puzzle Teams in, and set them off on their first challenge of the day (the first mission dossiers were hidden under six random seats in the 200-seat theatre). Aided by black-clad Puzzle Agents (a fabulous team of postgrads) and under pressure from constant countdown timers above their heads in each mission room, seven Puzzle Teams were to be found (at various times) measuring themselves up against the tallest building on campus, furtively listening to recorded messages and shortly after wiring up the sound of flushing toilets or crowded cafés, making 3D camels, and trying to catch out fictitious online MySpace fraudsters. All in the Quest for Truth.

Most impressive of all was the work the teams put in at the end to record all their evidence in a Wiki: in less that 45 minutes, some groups produced 6-page illustrated guides which would put much undergraduate work to shame. Boring subject? Not when it involves problem solving, collaboration, a good story and a healthy splash of fun.

I've questioned the motivation and understanding of undergraduates twice in the above post. But are we teaching them these skills in the right way? Barnsley's 15-year olds might have an answer. 

I'll be using this blog as an emitter for some of the innovative projects I'm involved with, but primarily as a place to explore my thoughts about this rapidly emerging area of gaming and problem solving in education.

In the meantime, take a peek at ARGology.org for an overview of the genre; or better still, pull out that dusty box of Cluedo, and give it a whirl.

No site porquetaoserio.com.br você pode ver as imagens 'coringadas' das outras pessoas e também inserir a sua propria foto e inserir os rabiscos e escolher um tipo de risada do Coringa.

O site porquetaoserio.com.br faz parte da continuidade da ação de ARG (Alternative Reality Games) que está sendo realizada mundialmente, incluindo o Brasil.
No Brainstorm#9 o Merigo relacionou e comentou as ações do ARG do Batman realizadas no Brasil.

E aí, vai 'coringar' ou não? HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH!

Bob is no expert in ARG's and was informed about The Lost Ring by a colleague (thanks Liz), so decided to do some research. According to Liz:

"The internet is aflutter with rumours about a new alternate reality game...The Lost Ring began last week [Bob has a feeling this may be a little out of date], when certain gamers received a package in the post with a web address hidden in a ball of string."

Intriguing...

Upon visiting the site - www.TheLostRing.com - you are shown a fantastic fantasy video (think Lord of the Rings meets ancient Greece) that sets a dramatic scene but gives few answers...

...so on a mission to find out more Bob found a post on Global voices which lead to the Virtual China blog, which happens to have an excellent introduction to the Game courtesy of Lyn Jeffery.

The Game is centred around eight main characters from China, Japan, Germany, Spain, US, UK, Brazil and France and the big idea is collaboration. These characters have super powers and mysterious pasts and are 'played' in real time online so that other players can interact with them - see their profile pages here.

So far there are apparently 15,000 people playing in China alone. According to Lyn:

"The game is designed to be impossible to make serious progress in unless you can figure out how to be part of a collective... It is fascinating to watch how this kind of highly emergent, non-rules-based, collaborative game is diffusing into China. In China, where this kind of gaming doesn’t exist, it’s hasn’t been so easy to engage a distributed community and link it up to a global community of players who mostly don’t speak Chinese."

A number of issues face Chinese players, including language (much of the content is user generated, and so not necessarily provided in Chinese) cultural (Chinese gamers aren't used to this kind of collaboration) and political (the Great Firewall prevents access to some resources that the players use, including The Lost Ring's very own wiki). However Lyn observes:

"What seems to be happening, however, is that the translation problem is becoming a feature of the game, not a bug, which is perfect.  The community is self-organizing to deal with the communication problems, which appear to be most acute with the Chinese language materials."

So it looks as if this by-product of the Olympics is building bridges of communication between the people of all countries, and particularly between them and Chinese people. That can only be a good thing.

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O Coringa, com o nome de haahhahaa criou um perfil no Youtube e escrotizou uns trailers de filmes da Warner por lá. Um deles foi o Eu sou a Lenda.

Além disso tudo, nos vídeos é mostrado um telefone, o (11) 3323-6205. Quando você liga, a secretária eletrônica diz:

Você ligou para o gabinete do promotor Harvey Dent. Se você também é um de seus eleitores, deixe seu telefone com DDD e seu email para que ele possa entrar em conatato com você.

Bom, vale repetir que faltam 4 dias pra estréia do filme, ou seja essa campanha nacional vai ter que correr pra fazer alguma coisa legal, no mínimo fotos jokerizadas eu já tenho, então, tô no lucro!

Fonte: Cegos, Surdos e Loucos

Hmpf.. Ta er i kragen puckon och ge mig den lön jag förtjänar!

Idag är jag irriterad som få!

Och jag vill bara skrika och slå, fattar dom inte, fattar dom INTE?

Jag vill så mycket, men i slutändan blir det bara fel. men jag har ju inget val, antingen vilja för mycket än inget alls...

So... The 360's gonna get a new dashboard in the Autumn / Fall; To be honest I don't like the look of it but hopefully it will work ok. On the up side, it will have 8 person private chat w00t! Fortunately, they clearly realised that people don't like change -- the xbox guide (accessible by pressing the guide button!) will take the form of the blade-like dashboard we currently have and you will be able to use it in game and in the dash.

Gears of War 2 looks awesome and will be released on November 7th.

Fallout 3 looked cool but the demo didn't show enough for me to decide whether it will be worth buying -- this is combined with the fact that I haven't read anything about them in the past so I can't tell!

A few more announcements... including that Final Fantasy XIII will be on the 360 and it was the end of the conference leaving Halo / Bungie fans severely disappointed.

Not even a mention of Halo Wars and this after the Bungie guys on the Podcast severely suggesting that something was going to happen on the 14th.

AND SOMETHING DID HAPPEN!

GOTO BUNGIE.NET!

THE SUPERINTENDANT HAS TAKEN OVER AND A COUNTDOWN IS SHOWN COUNTING DOWN TO 2:07:07PM ON THE 16TH!

To be honest; no-one really knows what is going on with the Superintendant but it is driving all the Halo / Bungie fans crazy and it definitely shows that Bungie can capture the attention of people without using the Microsoft conference like others do.

If this is the beginning of an ARG like ilovebees.com, it's certainly trying to get the attention of a lot more people; and I think it'll succeed.

So, yet another post where I leave you waiting for an announcement or something else from the brilliant company that is Bungie.

/

Edit: just been linked to this page http://www.bungie.net/Inside/soffish/Soffish.html links in with that fish on the Bungie Day 2008 theme....

Someone explain it all!!!

Update - click here

Hopefully these pics will work, otherwise we'll have to do the googles for "crack rack."

Phew! So a lot of people are interested in building one of these in one of the ARGs, because who doesn't have a few crack fantasies? Money is perpetually tight at climbing gyms, of course, and cheap help comes slow (read: Seven Years in the NARG campus board). But certainly if someone fronted cash and/or the labor for a crack rack, Troy would let us have one. Right?

Apparently crack is really fun if you've blown out your tendons on crimps. Also, if we got a crack rack, all those cool people who don't come to ARG in favor of that glorified pizza palace on 183 will come back to the real gym.

And speaking of that place that we're not naming or linking today, they have the domain austinrockclimbing.com, and boast a "seperate entrance" for climbing. Not helpful.

Äntligen tar jag mig samman, bråkar ett bra tag med larmet och lyckas till slut stänga av det.

Nån gång här ringer äldsta vildänglan från kompisen där hon ska sova. Och jag är ingen rolig mamma.

Rutten fisksoppa i kylen! Trasig dammsugare!! och Paj tvättmaskin !!!! bara trillar ur mig

Jag borde faktiskt ha smörj. En normal 16-åring ska bli minst sagt trumpen av sånt när man faktiskt hör av sig en fredagkväll och faktiskt HAR fixat disken och hållit någorlunda städat... Jo jag inser det. Och min gullhöna ÄR en vildängel. Inget undertrykt litet under av väluppfostran.

Men hon bara tar det. Berättar utan omsvep att "Jo, dammsugaren gick i golvet." Frågar om jag inte har garanti. Får veta vad garanti täcker. Vi diskuterar epoxilim. Jag berättar att jag fått tag på en tvättmaskin. MEN - gråtfärdig

"Vi måste städa erat badrum i en halv dag innan vi kan ta in utomstående där. Du skulle bara sett hur det såg ut när jag drog ut tvättmaskinen för att kolla om den gick att laga"

Nu står ju oxå fyra gångermer tvätt där än nästan någonsin (med undantag från tidigare ggr vi varit borta länge...)

Då säger den underbaraste 16:åringen som världen skådat:

"Men mamma - jag hade ju inte skött kylskåpet o det. Jag kan städa badrummet. Du kan ju sitta i badkaret och hålla mig sällskap när jag skrubbar...."

Då tänker jag att det blev en riktigt bra hemresedag trots allt... Ska man kraschlanda ska man göra det med min familj, mina grannar - och Coop i Kungsängen....

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om sur mamma, kärring, tonåring, gullhöna, gullebarn, vildängel, ängel, disk, epoxilim, dammsugare, tvättmaskin, rutten fisksoppa, städa, skrubba

Och appropå det, i sommar får jag ingen vård alls från den psykiatriska avdelningen då alla är på semester. "Min" kontakt kommer tillbaka i september. Och när jag och Han blev upprörda över det menade hon, min kontakt, att det inte fanns något att göra åt saken. Så, i princip, skulle man kunna säga åt en cancersjuk patient att, "Nej tyvärr, du får inga cellgifter i sommar, alla läkare ska ha semester".?! Nej, så skulle man nog inte säga. Men skillnaden är att mina sjukdom inte syns på några röntgenbilder, eller rent fysiskt. Så då kan man låtsas att den inte finns. Det är förjävligt! Och med tanke på det där mordet på Norba, hon som höggs till döds av en psyksjuk man i Sthlm nyss, så inser man att psykvården B E H Ö V E R mer resurser! den svenska psykvården är ett skämt, så som det ser ut idag!

Men nog om det, snart är det helg! :D

All us comic book nerds go through periods of wishing we lived in our heroes' worlds.

But now people will actually feel like they are, thanks to "The Dark Knight" and a few ingenious marketing people.

On the trail of a year-and-a-half long marketing campaign, fans of Nolan's upcoming movie got a chance to get down and dirty around City Hall in New York City and by the Sears Tower in Chicago on Tuesday July 8, unlocking a puzzle on behalf of "Citizens For Batman" (CFB). The website, among various devised by 42 Entertainment--The Dark Knight's marketing company--is a snippet of this intricate web of puzzles, scavenger hunts and just downright silliness.

Fans become involved in an Alternative Reality Game where they get contacted through these various websites, working for main characters such as Commissioner Gordon, The Joker, and others involved in the movie. Famous events for this ARG include people getting Joker cell phones out of cakes after figuring out one scavenger hunt, unlocking the latest TDK trailers, physical copies of The Gotham Times, free pizzas (courtesy of Domino's Pizza) and swag.

However, for a novice such as me, there is little to do when there is so much already at stake. Following this ARG has not been easy but there are some websites keeping on the lowdown, such as batman.wikibruce.com. As a functioning wikipedia website, the organization of the site keeps novices and integral characters involved with the entire storyline. I've seen news filter out quickly once active participants have unlocked something.

The whole thing seems sketchy at first, seeing all these intricate and highly detailed websites dedicated to keeping you involved. But once things start rolling, it's hard to keep your mind off of what's going to happen next. Unlocking things like passwords to people's voicemail connects you to a web of mobmen and as a vigilante for the Gotham Police Department. Not to mention, all the messages from the Joker just make things seem downright creepy, getting mutilated copies of Joker cards and newspapers like The Ha Ha Ha Times.

But that simple sense of mystery is what lured me to head out to New York City for CFB. A group of over 100 teens and 20somethings (or so it seemed) met up at Thomas Paine Park.

 Once 10 o'clock struck, everyone went running, in search of a lockbox by City Hall after eating pizza pies and getting free t-shirts and stickers.

People scattered as the lockbox led them to the City Hall park, where we were encouraged to find a two-way radio that would lead us to an optimal spot to see something. What that something turned out to be... well, see for yourself.

[wp_caption id="attachment_18" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Faithful blogger with Batman Sign"][/wp_caption]

It was pretty awesome to see the batman sign on a building in my city, much like Gotham City. It was also the ultimate goal of this little hunt and it felt pretty satisfying to see it. Although many of us expected more, that was the end. An hour-long scurry around New York City to see it turn into Gotham City (minus the overt corruption and Joker running around).

Although, to be honest, there's still a week left, and at least a few more things to unlock and unravel. The Joker's website, has a bomb waiting to detonate Thursday July 10 (tonight). Who knows what'll come of it?

And the culmination?

The premiere of TDK and with it, an awesome ending to an intense and involving campaign which has made a few lives a wee bit more exciting.

And, to be nerdy, here's a picture of me with the girl Jess and her friends, who got the two-way radio.

- Karen out

Because I can't stop reading about this stupid alternate reality game.

Last weekend, I watched "Artificial Intelligence: AI" for the first time. It was okay. A little creepy in parts. I totally understand why people say it should've ended 20 minutes sooner; but at the same time, I understand why it ended the way it did. Overall, I liked it.

But while reading the IMDB entry, I noticed one bit in the trivia:

"The elaborate series of promotional websites included information about the characters' lives after their last appearances in the film. For instance, one website revealed that Martin Swinton grew up to be an architect who, after being traumatized by David's disappearance, spent his career building sentient AI houses."

That intrigued me. After all, the movie mainly focuses on David, the boy-robot who can love. I was pretty bummed that the movie didn't follow up on David's family after he 'disappeared'. Such an event would have emotional consequences for them. (And yes, I know I'm including a spoiler for the movie while at the same time being vague. If you haven't watched the movie, then watch the movie. It's interesting.) So I figured if I go to this so-called Cloudmakers website, it should include some information on what happened to David's family in the movie. I thought it would be a webpage or two, at least.

Webpage? Turns out to be a lot more than that.

In 2001, a bunch of Microsoft folk got together and created an interactive online game using puzzles buried fake webpages, journal entries, emails, faxes, voice mails and the promotional posters of AI. Through all of these, they told an elaborate story of love, hate, betrayal, murder, insanity and hacking--not bodily hacking, but website hacking. All this set in the world of AI, where robots are gaining personalities and consciousness for themselves. The game ran from April to July 2001, but there is a well-documented guide that details the entire story from start to finish. And better yet, the website hosts nearly all the webpages used in the game. So basically, you can still 'play the game' for yourself.

So that's how I wasted a whole weekend. And Monday. And Tuesday...and, today, I guess.

Part of the thing is that I've never seen anything so elaborate used to tell a story. Well, yes, I heard about such websites games before, mostly lame, obvious commercial tie-ins to movies or products that are featured prominently in the story. This game is different in that it is telling an actual story. A massive complex story (so much that the game has been nicknamed "The Beast").

And the story's good. Real good. It starts off with the boating accident of a man named Evan Chan, whose personal homepage you can visit here. From all accounts, it looks like an actual webpage of a man who lived, had a family, loved, life, enjoyed boating. You get pictures of his family and everything, including links to his company and to family friends, Jeanine and Laia Salla, who may be connected with Evan more than you think. Jeanine is mentioned in the AI movie credits as a 'Sentient Machine Therapist'. Following the webpages, you learn that Laia suspects that Evan's death wasn't accidental and that foul play was somehow involved. And we get our first puzzle that will take you to an interesting letter...

I'm not going to go into much detail--if you want to see for yourself, read the guide. But the websites and the clues and the puzzles work to pull you in, where you act as both sleuth and observer. And you start to forget that this is a game promoting a movie--the movie itself is more of a foundation, a surrounding environment for the game and its characters, both human and artificial. When the movie characters do show up in the story, even they are characters in their own right rather than supporting characters from the movie. It's like...it's like a fanfic.

Take that, Enter the Matrix video game that wouldn't load on my computer.

What really impressed me about the whole thing was the writing. Obviously, the story used different formats to tell the story from puzzles to emails to players calling phone numbers to listen to voice mails. But the writing! Take, for instance, one of the ways you got into the game. On one of the billboards and a few trailers, there are notches in the words that correspond to a phone number (don't ask me how). If you call the number, you will get a message that directs you to a website that spawns an email message for you to send. Then on a certain date, you get an email back:

"Once upon a time there was a young man who dreamed of the sea. The waves, he thought . . . the waves beat like the world’s heart, crashing and hissing against the shore.

Crash and hiss.
Crash and hiss.

He loved the sound of the swell as it slapped and gasped against the hull of his boat.

Slap and gasp.
Slap and gasp.

And he was thinking about the rocking ocean, gentle as a mother’s arms, at the very moment he was murdered.

A mother’s arms.
A mother’s arms. "

"Slap and gasp"...Man! That's good!

You get pages written in hacker-speak. Transcript style interviews. Rambling diatribes. Alice-in-Wonderland nursery rhymes riddle taunts. A written analysis on a woman slowly sinking into insanity. Letters written before someone's death (and by the way, to the person who wrote the last Svetlana letter--I'm so not worthy to be a writer. <much bowing and scraping> So not worthy, so not worthy...and I'm never going to take a bath again...) So much good writing here that doesn't translate well in book form. This game shows that not only webfiction can be done, it can be done well. (It certainly helps that the head writer, Sean Stewart, is a science fiction/fantasy writer.)

Well. I certainly didn't expect this to turn into a review of a now defunct webgame. I was going to bemoan the fact that I wasted a good part of the week reading and absorbing this thing. That means no writing. No reading of Willow. No looking for markets for "She's All Light". And no cleaning. No laundry. No emptying of the dishwasher.

Oy.

But you know, I just need to process this. This whole game was a wonderful way to get a story across. And just think--this was all done in 2001. Before YouTube. Before Twitter. Before broadband. Imagine what would happen if they released that game now? It boggles the mind. Of course, there are now ARGs all over the place, as well as their cousins MMORPGs. None as complex as "The Beast", but who knows? Course, I got dishes threatening to top over onto the floor, so I think this will do for now. Maybe I'll use an ARG as a treat once I kick myself into writing again.

Ah, so glad I got that out of my system. Now I can get to work again. At least, until the next new fad hits me.

I don't think I'll watch any movies for the rest of the week.