Remember Pokemon cards? My kids were crazy about them when they were little, and I didn't mind supporting that passion because the cards were part of what seemed like a whole field of child anthropology. At a very young age, kids were learning about the traits, customs, physical abilities, relations, culture, etc. of an imaginary species – and sharing that knowledge in collaboratively designed … [Read more...] about Virtual, tangible, interactive & mobile ‘toys’
apps
Great contest for teen activist/app developers
Spread the word to young app developers and code writers at your house or school: ReachOut.com has just announced its national "Don't Just Stand By" Facebook App Developer Competition. Launched at the SxSW conference, the competition "calls on teens 13-17 to create a Facebook app that will help inform and empower potential bystanders of cyberbullying to take action," says Reach Out's press … [Read more...] about Great contest for teen activist/app developers
The downside of social media convenience
Some people think of it as the dark side of using social media: potential oversharing. Things can indeed get dark, if we get so fixated on the darkness that we can't see or learn about the alternatives. Better to get informed and act on that information! Mashable does a great job of showing how oversharing can happen using different kinds of applications in Facebook – e.g., what songs you're … [Read more...] about The downside of social media convenience
Readers want video too
Just another sign of how our world and use of media are changing, and how "video-fied" we're all getting: Ad Age's subhead for its review of last year's top "print" apps was "App Revenue Suggests Readers Want 'Bells and Whistles' Like Video and Interactivity." To make articles more "accessible" to readers, magazine designers used to call for lots of "entry points" for readers – and not just "eye … [Read more...] about Readers want video too
A student’s view of informal learning’s value
"My passion lies where I can be creative and have fun and be around people that can support me," says Dallas high school student Blake Copeland in a video interview at eSchoolNews.com. And Blake has definitely found people's support – or the supporters found him. In his spare time, he learned the programming language for iPhones, Objective-C, and developed an iPhone app called DateFinder that … [Read more...] about A student’s view of informal learning’s value