Kids as Creators, Not Just Consumers

At the ReadWriteWeb2WAY Summit held in New York June 13-14, Andres Monroy-Hernandez, a PhD Candidate at MIT and creator of the online community around the programming language SCRATCH asks, "how can we empower kids to be builders and makers?"
READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

Watch ReadWriteWeb2WAY Summit

CHECK OUT SCRATCH HERE.

Games For Change June 20-22 2011, #G4C2011

NOTES
There are some inspiring people working to change the world with games that create social action.
The Games For Change festival site calls them the "most socially conscious and geekiest do-gooders in the gaming arena".
Watch the lovely geeks here on G4C2011 LIVESTREAM.
You can read The BLOG here.

A nice @STORIFY of Jesse Schells' keynote here by @devonsmith.
#socialMFA

CLOSING KEYNOTE: Prior to starting Schell Games in 2004, Jesse was the Creative Director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, where he worked and played for seven years as designer, programmer and manager on several projects for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest, as well as on Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer game for kids.
FOLLOW: @jesseschell

sets up a PEACE VS WAR opinion scorecard:
PEACE= catharsis, control, no more race/language barriers?, see others POV
WAR= violence comes easily, desensitation to violence, videogames train you to kill, humans inherently racist?
Talks about how Sesame Street allowed him access to diversity.
Books referenced: Grand Theft Childhood, A Theory Of Fun by Ralph Koster, The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman

He also played this video of Fred Rogers defending PBS to the US Senate. Very touching remarks about the importance of acknowledging chlidrens' feelings.



JUNE 22, 2011
LIVESTREAM BLOGGING:
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN FUSIONS by Diane Rees here.


JUNE 21, 2011
PANEL/Games and Cultural Spaces:
Live Blog Notes from Games for Change by Amy Sample Ward
The speakers for this panel were Tracy Fullerton-Electronics Arts Game Innovation Lab, Ruth Cohen-American Museum of Natural History, Elaine Charnov-The New York Public Library, Jason Eppink-Museum of Moving Image, and Syed Salahuddin-Babycastles
Read her BLOG notes here.
FOLLOW: @amyrsward moderates a #4change #commbuild chat each month
Next: July 21st, 2011
archived chats here.

Social Commerce

"According to the 2011 Social Commerce Study from Shop.org, purchase behavior fueled by social media is on the rise:

• "42% of US online adults follow a retailer via Facebook, Twitter or blog
• Average US adult follows 6 retailers; and does do primarily for special deals (58%) – other top reasons were for new product news (49%) and to participate in promotional contest and events (39%)
• 28% of Facebook users have purchased something online via a Facebook link"

It all makes sense, of course. We all should be able to purchase products and services in the same stream where we recommend them (or warn people off). Or put another way, if recommendations from family and friends are amongst the most trusted sources for purchase decision then putting those recommendations right on the store shelf makes sense." - John Bell, The Digital Influence Mapping Project
YOU CAN READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

"Inevitably, Facebook will play a significant role either by embedding storefronts in the social network or by connecting Facebook to every sell-point available." -John Bell

READ "The Key Trends in Social Commerce" by Lauren Fischer here.

EMOTIONAL BRANDING

I like this presentation from the folks at VisceralBusiness.com.
You can follow Anne McCrossan (@Annemcx) a founding partner and "tribal linchpin type and TEDster who lives in Wimbledon." 



I really dig the music too.

MAINE, June, 2011

#BEA PUBLISHING TRENDS 2011

NOTES:

http://mandyhubbard.livejournal.com/250104.html

http://greenhouseliterary.com/index.php/site/comments/the_buzz_of_summer/

SUMMER OF APPS.  ;  )

Digital Literacy & Collaborating: SKYPE 1 With The Awesome Class 62, Heidi Siwak & Ian Chia

Heidi Siwak (21 Century Classroom: The Amaryillis) and Class 62 are currently working on an Augmented Reality App for the iphone with Ian Chia (Felicity From Thin Air) from Australia. They are documenting the entire process so all can learn here.

Really cool right?
Well that's how Ian rolls. Ian is a friend I met on twitter. I met Heidi there too, and introduced her to Ian (This is why I love twitter-it's one giant loopy circle). When I saw that they were collaborating I offered my support as a visual storyteller.

So we will be skyping about the project tomorrow May 11, 2011 (now today). I'm a night owl of sorts. Okay, I'm definitely a night owl.

Having created many picture books, toys & games for kids I wanted to offer some inspiration and a rough outline about how I create images. This is the my process. (I'm actually doing it this evening as I write this! I'm at stage 5)

1. DEFINE THE PROJECT

What are you making. Who will be involved? If you are collaborating, which you are, define the roles each person will play, and I do mean PLAY.  ;  )  Bring a sense of FUN & WONDER into what you make. I find the best things are made from FUN, WONDER & LOVE. Maybe you LOVE color (like me) let the color take center stage. Don't be afraid to fail. EXPERIMENT.

2. GATHER INSPIRATION

This is a really fun stage, one of my favorites (besides mixing color). You can call it research, but I call it treasure hunting. Look around at what other people have created. If you are making comic book, collect images of a comic books. You are making an App so I imagine you have looked at many APPS and decided what you like. Think critically about what you have collected. Why does it appeal to you? What is working? How could they have made it more memorable? I collect things according to what I instantly like. Don't think too much while treasure hunting. Go with your gut. Then look and find out why you chose this particular image. You might be really surprised!

3. SKETCH, SKETCH, SKETCH

This is a time to PLAY! I DRAW A LOT! You are taking photos so photograph lots of things from different angles. HAVE FUN. Don't THINK too much here either. Enjoy the process of creating. LET GO. FEEL FREE, PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT. Often "mistakes" become what you like most.

4. MAKE A PROTOTYPE

Make your images the same size they will appear on your product. If you are making a book jacket that's 8" X 8", that will look very different than an image that is the size of a postage stamp. What has impact? Put everything up on a wall and stare at it. Go away, do something else. Come back with fresh eyes and see what you think about your creations. Has something shifted? Do you still like the same ones? Do you see new connections between images? Do certain things go together naturally? Do certain images create a visual narrative/story when placed next to each other?

5. DECIDE WHAT IS WORKING
TAKE WHAT WORKS AND MAKE A NEW IMAGE. Sometimes this can go through many stages with many revisions. Sometimes you get it just right the very first time (cool when this happens). One never knows with creativity. KEEP AT IT. Get opinions. Sometimes you stare at things so long you don't see THEM anymore. This is the great thing about collaboration. Everyone brings something to the table. Don't be afraid to share ideas. Ideas create more ideas. Something will click.

6. REVISE YOUR PROTOTYPE

Choose & combine the images you think work best. Why do they work? Look closely, refine your image in photoshop or another program. Get a consensus from the group (another great quality of collboration). It's PRODUCTION TIME! Decide who will work on what piece. If someone has strong text skills make them the type editor. maybe someone is great with photoshop or color. Work as a team.

7. HAVE FUN! 

Finish your project. WRAP IT UP! Nothing is ever finsihed perfectly. I have learned many things from failures. When I look at things I created years ago, I always find things I wish I would have changed. It will not be "perfect" but it will be yours! Enjoy the process more than the product. Creativity is a place you can return to time and time again. BE PROUD OF YOUR CREATION!

YOU GUYS ROCK! You have to have a certain amount of BRAVERY to be creative. You are putting ideas out into the world. That can be scary but it is really SATISFYING TOO! Very cool.
It looks like you guys have the BRAVERY PART down.

BRAVO & Kudos to Ian & Heidi. Thanks for the opportunity to share.

I'm happy to respond to any questions & comments from y'all. Send an email, tweet me, facebook me. Connect.
That's what CREATIVITY IS ALL ABOUT.  Can't wait to see what you come up with.
:  )

LINKS:
SKYPE IN THE CLASSROOM
WIKI FOR CLASS 62

Best Practices for Cross-Platform Success by Andrea Sheffer

Andra Sheffer is the Executive Director of three private Funds supporting the Canadian new media, television and film industries: the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund which invests in Canadian television programs and their associated interactive digital projects; the Independent Production Fund which invests in dramatic series created for any platform; and, the COGECO Program Development Fund for the development of dramatic series. In this talk she talks about "Lessons Learned – Best Practices in Collaboration, Quality and Business" transmediavictoria.net.au/​


Andra Sheffer @ Transmedia Victoria from Transmedia Victoria on Vimeo.

Andra Sheffer @ Transmedia Victoria

View more presentations from Christy Dena

DIGITAL STORYTELLING FOR CHILDREN: TOC BOLOGNA & THE BOLOGNA BOOK FAIR 2011

This is an exciting new time for the children's book world. There are so many new digital forms for delivering storytelling to children. I was pleased to see O'Reilly create the first TOC Bologna, bringing together digital pioneers from around the globe. Kudos go to Kat Meyer from O'Reilly and co-curator Neal Hoskins publisher, Winged Chariot, for making this happen.

I've started collecting a list of articles about TOC BOLOGNA & THE BOLOGNA BOOK FAIR 2011 for interested digital book builders who didn't attend.

Here are the official quotes defining the conferences via PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES.

"O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing events have helped define the agenda for publishers seeking to understand the impact of digital and mobile technology on reading and the business of publishing. The mobile web is driving fundamental changes in modes of reading and sharing, and few audiences will adopt those new modes more quickly than digital natives coming of age immersed in that mobile web. We’re thrilled to be working with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair to bring the TOC message to the children’s book industry." - Andrew Savikas, VP Digital Initiatives at O'Reilly Media

"The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is the top meeting place for the children’s book industry. We are delighted to be working with O’Reilly Media on this new conference. We aim to offer a lively and profitable debate on the issues that the industry is facing. It is fantastic to start 2011 with a conference about the digital book world so that we can explore the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead." 

- Robertta Chinni, Project Manager for the Bologna Book Fair

Find the TOC Bologna Speakers & program here. 

Article from PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES here. 

Storytime Goes Digital: Assessing the Children's E-Book and App Market at TOC Bologna

"When Donnini made that statement, the makers of the Nursery Rhymes with StoryTime app chirpily tweeted to say “we sell that in a day.”  Great –- this is heartening to hear -– but the Nursery Rhymes app was created by developers sitting wholly outside of the publishing industry (not to mention the fact that their app is in English, a market with a vast head start over the Italian one — which doesn’t yet have the Kindle — and where Mondadori operates). Still, somewhere along the line publishers need to work out what these developers without any prior publishing experience are doing right. "

" - Publishing Perspectives

Article from Publishers Weekely here:

Bologna 2011: Back To Business at a Buoyant Fair

As far as discussions of e-book rights during meetings, Disney rights director Molly Kong reported, "No one brought up digital and I didn't ask about it. It inserts itself at the contract stage." E-rights are currently "a legal minefield," said Allen & Unwin rights director Angela Namoi. "E-books have been made corporate. U.S. publishers are assuming they have e-book rights, which puts the onus back on us, and it's taking a long time to do contracts." - Publishers Weekly

 Article from FUTUREeBOOK here. 

'Do Not Spend Too Much Money'- App Talk at Bologna TOC

Delegates from 27 countries were present, and yesterday's event (Sunday 27 March) also had an international following via Twitter. The straightest talking of the day came from Mondadori m.d. Laura Donnini, who said the publisher had sold just 2,000 copies of its most successful app. She warned: "You cannot break even if you spend €20,000 or €40,000 on your app with developers. Do not spend too much money." - FUTUREeBOOK

Article from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY about TOC here: 

Bologna 2011: Surveying the Digital Landscape fro 'Generation Angry Birds'

In an afternoon keynote, illustrator and Cambridge School of Art professor Martin Salisbury said that with emerging technology such as e-books and apps, “The people who embrace it first are seduced by the technology rather than what you can do with it. But eventually the artists figure out a way to make the technology work for them. We’re in that phase where everyone’s floundering around talking about the medium and not the content.” - Publishers Weekly

Article from Kate at NOSY CROW here.

"The opportunities for digital selling and marketing are already huge. One in four books – and one in five children’s books – in the UK is sold via an internet-only retailer (and Amazon is much the largest of these) so digital selling is a real and growing fact of life. Websites, electronic marketing and social media have opened up a way for publishers, who have traditionally “handed off” relationships with readers and book-buyers to retailers, to communicate directly with their consumers in a two-way conversation, and we have seen the development of the “consumer critic” – blog and rate-and-review website-enabled people whose opinion is trusted by other consumers, perhaps more than they trust the voice of the professional critic." - Kate Wilson, NOSY CROW

Article from Publishers Weekly here.

Nosy Crow Inks German, French App Publishing Pacts

"U.K-based Nosy Crow has closed deals to publish its apps in France and Germany. Through the deal, with German house Carlsen and French house Gallimard, a number of the company's story book apps will be released in the European countries. The first app to be released by both Carlsen and Gallimard will be the Three Little Pigs app." -Publishers Weekly

Article from David Maybury about TOC Bologna 2011 here.
TOC Bologna 2011
"Josh Koppel from Scrollmotion highlighted what encompasses my own take from the conference: publishers should invest in content and not in technology. (Not sure that I agree entirely but while the technology is still as unsettled as it is, anyone investing should make it as universal as possible – avoid proprietary platforms and focus on HTML5 based products). " -David Maybury


An interview from THE LITERARY PLATFORM with Jacob Lewis, TOC Bologna 2011 Speaker here.
A Figment of Their Imagination
"TLP: When did Figment launch?
JL: Figment launched on December 6, 2010. We had run a prototype for the preceding five months, which had about 500 users. Since we’ve launched, the site has more than 28,000 registered users and over 55,000 pieces of writing, from poetry to multi-chaptered novels." -Miranda West, THE LITERARY PLATFORM

If you know of any other relevant articles, please leave them in the comments or tweet me @cynthiajabar and I'll add them to the list. Thanks & enjoy the read!

PAUL RAND & THE LANGUAGE OF FORM

"Don't try to be original, just try to be good." - Paul Rand

I LOVE this trailer created by Imaginary Forces for Paul Rand's posthumous induction into The One Club's Hall of Fame in 2007.


Paul Rand Retrospective from Jeremy Cox on Vimeo.

 BRAVO! Did you like it?

MAPPING THE TRANSMEDIA EXPERIENCE

If you are a visual learner like me, and enjoy mapping information, Robert Pratten/ZEN FILMS  has some great diagrams explaining THE TRANSMEDIA EXPERIENCE on his flickr site here.