who ordered a newish world?

Cipher Cities have some wonderful friends helping us out from different corners of the Cipher Cities Globe… Come and meet them…
Caryl Shaw, Producer and Designer for SPORE (San Francisco),
Chad Chetterton, World Designer at Funcom (Oslo), and
Helen Stuckey, curator Games Lab ACMI (Melbourne)

will be joining the Cipher Cities Crew (Deb Polson, Yang Wong, Sherwin Huang, Colleen Morgan, Shu-Min Heng and Dave Wallace) for the Gamers Discussion Panel at the Cipher Cities Launch on Friday Dec 5

Check the Cipher Cities Blog for details… EVERYONE IS WELCOME

The launch is part of the Game On Nights program at the State Library of Queensland
$21.50 Includes entry to the Game On exhibition, demos, live bands, DJs and a cash bar.
Get Your QPIX Tickets Here!

Winner to be announced on October 13, 2008 in London.
Awarded for excellence in the use of emerging technologies for improved learning and teaching…
Project MiLK: The Mobile Learning Kit (scroll down the page for more info)… formerly known as the Mobile Informal Learning Kit… but that just seemed too formal!

Milk is an authoring tool that helps students create simple mobile game adventures (that are actually a disguise for sophisticated learning events). Teachers and researchers have used MiLk in multiple contexts (schools, parks, museums, homes etc) with various subjects informing the use (science, poetry, art, social sciences, history, physics etc).

Please vote before October 9… Txt MILK to : +447786203140

http://www.handheldlearning2008.com/awards

We have been invited to speak at the conference by Steve Moss, Strategic Director (ICT) for Partnerships for Schools (P4S) in the UK. This organisation does some fantastic projects, in particular the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. We will present on Extending Learning Relationships & Environments … highlighing the impacts of the projects SCOOT, MiLK, SCAPE and Farm It Right… see info on projects

http://www.handheldlearning2008.com/programme

“Worlds in Play. International Perspectives on Digital Games Research.”
Edited by Suzanne De Castell and Jennifer Jenson. Peter Lang. New York 2007

This book chapter was originally a presentation at the 2005 DIGRA conference in Vancouver. “Lesser-Know-Worlds: Bridging the Telematic Flows with Located Human Experience Through Game Design”
by Deb Polson

Review of the book:
“They increase our critical vocabulary for analyzing and designing digital games, and perhaps most importantly for the future of research in this field, they display an increased understanding of the experience of the gamer and of the depth and diversity of pleasures that attract us to this compelling new medium.” Janet H. Murray, Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Digital Media & Information Design and Technology Programs, School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, Georgia Tech From Amazon.com

After a nother successful invasion of the fabulous Federation Square in Melbourne and the Brisbane River Festival… SCOOT’s latest victim is the Victoria University. On Febuary 20 and 21 the Footscray Park and St Albans Campuses were invaded by Omega Carnegas Carnival of Chaos.

All commencing students of the Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development registered as SCOOT AGENTS to seek out evidence and compete in challenges… as usual, the Agents received and sent mission information via an Agency SMS frequency!!!

This year the SCOOT game underwent a transformation to cater to a new demographic, venue and expected social interactions.

Our Faculty collaborators asked SCOOT Game to give new students the opportunity to orient themselves to their new ‘digs’ in a new and fun way… but most importantly they wish for all students to meet and interact in an effort to welcome them here as long term members of a dynamic community of students, staff and services.

SCOOT AGENCY Players web site
Victoria University - Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development

BIG thanks to the SCOOT crew and our Vic Uni extended family of helpers