STM meeting
Originally uploaded by FransBadger
Today will be spent in Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, where I will be presenting views of digital culture and game studies in a working seminar on children, youth and wellbeing/malaise in contemporary society. Pictured is Minister Paula Risikko.
IMG_2171.JPG
Originally uploaded by FransBadger
I ordered from the US a new invention: a SD memory card which has Wi-Fi integrated within its miniature shape. It arrived yesterday, and I was a bit surprised that the system actually seems to work: the couple of test photos I shot were automatically copied to my laptop and also directly into Flickr over the air. This is very handy and removes the regular hassle with cables and upload programs. The only downside is that the automatic upload does not filter or edit the photos in any way, and that the SD card does not fit into my SLR camera (CF card is needed), so this is not solution for everything, but a nice step in any case! Link: http://www.eye.fi/
Blade Runner Baby
Originally uploaded by FransBadger
The long-waited-for 5-dvd-box of Blade Runner collector’s edition arrived today, just to be eaten by our baby. Oh, bummer.
Finnish digital culture, Finnish independence
Originally uploaded by FransBadger
Tomorrow is the 90th Anniversary for the Finnish republic, the Day of Independence. Today, somewhat appropriately, I visited one of the key coordinating institutions for the preservation of Finnish cultural heritage, Museovirasto (The National Board of Antiquities). Surprisingly lively and exiting discussion followed my brief presentation, looking deep into the possibilities for providing more shared opportunities for the “Museum 2.0” and gamelike, playful structures of collaborative construction of meaning around our national treasures – both material and immaterial treasures, like our memories that we can now attach with the digital versions of physical objects and places with much more flexibility than before.
[This letter has been today also posted to the DiGRA mailing list, Games Research Network]
Dear colleagues,
This is an open invitation to a collaborative effort into mapping digital play around the world. Currently only scattered information on the popularity and forms of engagement with digital games in global context exist. Often particularly in media statements are nevertheless made that concern “all gamers”, even if researchers emphasise how both games and playing takes multiple forms and claims about some particular game or group of players do not necessarily apply to another. In the spirit of the recent “Situated Play” conference (DiGRA 2007), we propose a collaborative effort of collecting together research, observation and data about forms of play around the world. See: www.gamescultures.org, an open beta of wiki resource about global games cultures. Continue reading “GamesCultures.org: an open invitation”
Here is something that I will be presenting in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health next week: a one page comment paper in Finnish from the game studies point of view to the ongoing discussion about children, youth and interactive media: Kannanotto 12.12.2007 STM:n työkokoukseen. My main points in English are:
In today’s news: the merger of Activision with Blizzard aims to create “the world’s largest, most profitable pure-play video game publisher” — whatever that “pure-play” part means. More competition towards Electronic Arts, no doubt, but at the same time another example of how games industry is under similar kind of merger development and concentration into bigger units that has faced media industry previously. See e.g.:
Winter morning
Originally uploaded by FransBadger
Winter comes — oh yes: and the snow show! (On the way to the car…)
frans goes blog 