Methods of engaging communities in urban planning decisions have remained relatively stagnant. Groups of people are assembled into community centers, school cafeterias, and libraries and are asked to provide input on the professional discourse of architects and planners. They are shown drawings, computer generated renderings, even 3D models and are then “listened to” as a […]

Categories: placeofmedia · games · hub2 · civic_engagement · mediated urbanism · cities · geography

We’ve made some good progress on the Participatory Chinatown (PC) project.   Building off of the first iteration of Hub2, PC will continue with the focus on creating platforms for “augmented deliberation,” but it will do so by more thoroughly exploring the power of role play in people’s ability to understand urban issues.  In the past […]

Categories: boston · games · hub2 · civic_engagement · net-locality · mediated urbanism · cities

I’m editing a special issue of the journal Space and Culture on the “Geography of Virtual Worlds.” Here’s a draft of the introduction. It’s still in process, but it might give some sense of what I think will be a very interesting issue.
This evening I am home in front of the fireplace, chatting […]

Categories: placeofmedia · SecondLife · games · hub2 · article ideas · second life · geography

I just finished reading Thomas Malaby’s essay, “Beyond Play: a New Approach to Games” from Games and Culture  (vol. 2, no. 2, April 2007).  It’s a very insightful essay about the relationship between game, play and everyday life. He makes the following claim:
“A game is a semibounded and socially legitimate domain of contrived […]

Categories: placeofmedia · play · games

Leave it to the Germans…
Link: jay is: The Asylum.

Categories: games

The democrats have managed to force the makers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to change the rating from mature to adults only.  This is not because of its extreme violence.  That’s fine for kids.  It’s because some modders found a way to access some hidden data that shows the characters engaged in sex acts […]

Categories: games