Grounds of future play

Two weekends ago I went to an education resources expo at the Brisbane Convention Centre – mainly as a bid to get freebs. I arrived a little late but still managed to catch some of a seminar, a few free posters, petted a snake and a lizard, and entered in as many lucky draws as possible (and possibly signing my boss up for swades of spam – sorry…).

Two things caught my eye in particular. And I’ll share one now – The SmartUs Digital Playground (their Finnish website).

The whole set up is very futuristic. Kids are issued with RFID smart cards that can be recognised by readers scattered throughout the playground. They login at the main portal and are assigned a task (run from point A to B via C three times, or something more complex) and the computer records their time. This time is recorded on an international online network where kids from different schools, or even different countries, can compare each others times and records.

Additional tasks and learning can also be integrated by assigning different nodes answers to a multi-choice quiz. This also comes into play by the presence of a dancepad hooked up to the main video monitor of the playground as well. This can be used for quizzes, fitness, dancing or simon-type games.

In Finland, it even became the basis of a family/children’s gameshow which involved celebrities and national atheletes, called FunTzu. Again, these TV scores were uploaded online, so schoolkids could challenge their idols. Unfortunately I can’t find any videos of the TV show – but after some searching I have found a news item of Asia’s first SmartUs playground in Hong Kong which shows how it works.

Tapping into children’s natural competitive behaviour, and then combining it with social media and massively multiplayer gaming Lappset have really hit the mark (or market). The only real downsides to it I can see are the initial outlay costs (which you can guess would be quite high) and also the pitfall of having ‘standardised cookie cutter playgrounds’ that don’t have their own individual community flavour. There also might be other hudles here in Australia given EQ’s stance on students and social networks.

Date with Grace: Reverse facestalking

I wonder if Grace knows about this?

Sydney facebookers can try to woo blondeshell Grace Carter by petitioning the event page. If she likes your “vibe” and your offer on the RSVP, she’ll go out with you. Could be more authentic than Kate’s Party.

I stumbled across this through a sponsored ad, so I don’t know if this venture is actually cheaper than more conventional internet hook up websites (unless it was free trial advertising).

Would be suitors, might be wise to check Grace Carter’s personal profile, she has a tattoo (not that there’s anything wrong with that*), has a gambling problem (likes “Winning at Life”), and perhaps has a thing for 2 girls: 1 cup^ (likes “Heaps of Shit” & “Authentic Shit”). If that appeals and you’re African (likes “Kenya” and “Oxfam”) who likes taking your gurl “to da movies” and random yet public internet hookups, go for it tiger!

*plus, at least it’s not a tramp stamp

^if you don’t know, you don’t want to know

Future blast from the past

via Here’s Why

Take in some futurology from the past in these videos – A combination of industry propaganda and promotions from the early 20th Century.

“Frontiers of the Future” (A Screen Editorial With Lowell Thomas) (1937) Archive.org

“To New Horizons” (1940) Archive.org

“Century 21 Calling” (1964) Archive.org

“Connected Earth” (1969) Youtube

Can you see some modern day inventions, perhaps in a slightly different form? And how about those inventions that never eventuated – was it because they were impractical, or an industry related reason, or perhaps they still might-someday-be?

What things did these futurologists never take into account? Perhaps the inverse growth relationship between the size of a TV screen and the size of a mobile handset…

If you are having trouble understanding the election

Hat tip: Dave the Happy Singer

You can learn much from this video which offers a brief overview of recent politics and issues in Australia.

Yes. It is true. In Australia we choose our leader by dangling rancid meat and political portraits before a crocodile pit and hurl beer cans at those crocodiles.

Reality Boats

I sort of wish Get up would spend their funds putting non-partisan and worthy public education advertisements like this one on TV rather than random Abbott quotes.

(That said, this one was pretty good too)

Can they pull off the election?

Real ad. Real political party.

It is voting time again

That’s right, I am crawling back to blog about important happenings this week in Australia.

It’s National Science Week.

It seems I’ve missed out on alerting you to vote for your favourite Aussie scientist for the Eureka prize (I would have been supporting Evans and Smith for proving the intellectual and communicative exploits of chickens).

But it is not too late to start voting for your favourite new Aussie species discovered this past year. Given that this year’s theme is biodiversity it’s a pretty appropriate poll.

Place your vote here.

Nominees are:

• Opera House Barnacle (Calantica darwinii)
• Kimberly Froglet (Crinia fimbriata)
• Sea Spider (Paranymphon bifilarium)
• Steve Irwin’s Tree Snail (Crikey stevirwini – I kid not!)
• Spinifex Ant (Camponotus triodiae)
• Pink Handfish (Brachiopsilus dianthus)
• Cape York Amber Fly (fossilized) (Chaetogonopteron bethnorrisae)
• Bacchus Marsh Wattle (Acacia rostriformis)
• The Bandalup Buttercup (Hibbertia abyssa)
• Truffle-like Mushroom (Cribbea turbinispora)

More new species and biodiversity stuff at the bushblitz website including a free teacher booklet (just in case your school somehow missed out, or your from another country).

Some of the world’s finest teachers

Part of our requirements to achieve successful teacher registration and qualification is to complete a professional learning profile, which must include a log of professional development activities.

This might include current or previous jobs, research, volunteer work, PD sessions, or even trawling through youtube and teachers.tv

So for those of you who might need something to add to those personal development logs, or just gain a clue in the classroom watch these global experts at work.

Embedded videos below the fold.

Taking the buzz out of life

Nature has an interesting article exploring the ramifications of a world without mosquitoes.

Overall the benefits appear to outweigh the negatives – but they are still given their credence. Mosquitoes, and their larvae, may be physicaly miniscule, but they are big players in the scheme of things. Their removal would have effects on food chains containing birds and fish, plus wider ecological effects – such as plants losing pollinators and changes to deer migration, and also possibly cause over-population in already stretched human communities.

Image: mosquito by tanakawho (CC by A from Flickr)

Starts with Sue, ends with She

Answer to my children’s question, “What’s for afternoon tea?”

Little do they know what it actually means.

Tatts amazing

Given they also sell tinned unicorn meat, I’m not sure how seriously to take Think Geek’s changeable body modification tool, moodINQ, but it does look pretty cool.

Okay it’s clearly hypothetical at the moment – an implant under the skin looks like a tattoo, but wifi signals would allow it to be reprogrammed to change design at your whim. Useful for looking neat at a pool party with your uptight boss, or at the beach with your girlfriend’s parents, or grocery shopping reminders.

It may seem like a total joke now, but could it be real in the near future?

Tattoo aficionados may also like to check out last week’s Spicks and Specks (ep 25). It turns out the latest Wiggle, Sam Moran, has a couple of tatts – one of them involves an angel that is only visible under a black light.

Adulthood Take 3

Not a good news week for me.

I think I’ll spend it on the internet instead.

And cleaning … maybe cleaning.

It lives on in you

Ewwww…

see more hipster robot webcomics and pixel t-shirts

It’s good to be in charge

Less so to not be in charge. Mitchell & Webb:

Teenage attention span too short for Facebook

An online gaming site has done a survey which reports that the main reason for teens leaving Facebook and other social networking sites is that it is not interesting enough for them. Obviously they need more ways to poke, bite, stab, tag, chat, and farm their friends.

While “It’s boring” ranked first amongst ‘lapsed facebook users’ (45%), not far behind was unsurprisingly “too many notifications” (27%), too hard to keep up with activity (21%), and too many ads (20%). Also coming up was the presence of parents and *shudder* other adults on Facebook. They do realise that it is meant for older people, right? (But not parents though, that is weird).

The gaming site obviously asked about social network gaming, and the economics related to it. I’m pretty happy that about two thirds of kids realise spending cash on virtual currency, clothes and power ups is a waste of money – but perhaps disheartened at the number of parents who have given children a special allowance to waste on virtual pitchforks and carrot seed. These parents should be really encouraging children to be online for at least tangible, if no less frivolous objects, such as crap on eBay, retail games (such as Steam or an MMORPG), or digital downlaodable content off iTunes. That would be the responsible thing, for sure.