Impressive: United States loses video game jobs to Quebec || Reuters

"...Quebec has become the preferred place for some of the biggest names in video games to set up shop.

According to the economic development agency Invest Quebec, 86 companies and 8,236 jobs have migrated to Quebec as a result of a government program under which 37.5 percent of a video game company's payroll is subsidized by the majority French-speaking province in the form of a refundable tax credit.

Put another way, for every dollar a video game company spends on paying its development staff, it receives 37.5 cents from the Quebec government.

The incentives, which include extra credits for companies that make French versions of their games, have enticed heavyweights such as Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard to open major operations in Quebec.

"There's a buzz right now, just like how Hollywood was the place to make movies in the 1920s," said Charles Jolicoeur, a coordinator at Invest Quebec.

Last year, Quebec spent $100 million on the program, up from $83 million in 2009 and significantly more than some U.S. states with similar programs such as Texas and Louisiana.

The province first set aside money for video games in 1996 after starting a program to jumpstart the film industry a year earlier. According to Jolicoeur, the aim was to move Quebec from a manufacturing economy to a "new economy" by creating artistic jobs for young people...."   Continued...

LOVE: City designed in a giant river-spanning tube (Wired UK)

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Excerpt from an inspiring article:

By Katie Scott. 02 September 11

"Set with the task of tackling problems of migration, lacks of shelter, lack of jobs, pollution, lack of affordable transport and the energy crisis, an Indian architectural student has designed a vast, enclosed city that spans 21km over the River Yamuna in Delhi.

Tube City was designed by Abhinay Sharma and is a multi-level, horizontal skyscraper. Sharma explained to Wired.co.uk that it saves land as it is built above the river; but also will clean the river as it uses and then recycles its waters.

The design is based around both vertical and horizontal zones enclosed by a shell. This is made up of translucent photovoltaic panels held in place by a framework of steel pylons, which also carry water from the river to reservoir of the structure.

Inside the tube, each vertical zone has a different function moving from housing at the "edge" of the city to offices. At the heart of the city is the "ITO" complex, which houses offices and commercial ventures.

Then there are the horizontal layers. On the top level, the city hosts agriculture, which uses water brought up from the river below. This layer can also host parks towards the centre of Delhi. ..."

This Invisible Chair Only Appears When You Do | Bit Rebels

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"This chair is like a bundle of geeky magic. It makes every chair in my house look completely boring. Not only is it invisible, but it also creates a black hole and it thumps like it has a heartbeat. It’s like a fantasy piece of furniture that doesn’t take up any space at all, or at least that’s the illusion it creates.

The designer, Ben Alun-Jones, made this Affinity Chair from acrylic, mirror film (like the tinting on car windows), LED lights, ultrasonic sensors and some custom electronics. When this chair sits alone in a room, it’s like a chameleon, and it blends into the environment to seem invisible...."

Is the 90-9-1 Rule for Online Community Engagement Dead? [Data] | CustomerThink

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Excerpt from Post by Paul Schneider on August 31, 2011

"Is the 90-9-1 Rule Still Valid?

Why Did I Conduct This Research?

If the rule did not hold up, many companies and associations may be damaging their business and marketing strategies by basing decisions and benchmarking results using a general rule created in 2006. So that the readers of this blog have a point of reference for when this rule for online communities was created, keep in mind that Facebook ended 2006 with only 12 million users (Facebook now has over 650 million users).

Study of Online Community Customers

I compiled statistical data from a random sample of our customers so that I could crunch real numbers to determine if the Rule of Participation Inequality was true for private online communities. To begin, I had to assign actions to measure at each level. So here are the actions I assigned:

Lurkers: Have logged in and viewed information.
Commenters: Have commented on or edited a blog, wiki or file or have answered a forum post that was already initially asked.
Creators: Have initiated a blog, file, wiki or forum post.
The thing about the rule is that it infers that all users are doing something since the 90-9-1 all add up to 100%. The problem is that many organizations have profiles of users that are deactivated, past members, or guests. Also, not all members of an online community have access to the same tools, content, and functionality. So, to make a fair correlation, I ran two sets of numbers - one set accounting for all profiles in the system and one set with only the participating users making up the 100%. These numbers are above:..."

Beautiful - MIT's Place Pulse: A “Hot Or Not” For Cities, To Fix Broken Blocks | Co. Design

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Excerpt from original post by Suzanne Labarre, fastcodesign.com:

"The potential applications of this so-called aesthetic capital are vast. The data could aid cities in deciding which urban-design features to invest in. It could be matched with other data sets to show the relationship between aesthetics and, say, crime. It could even be used to create a website that helps us choose where to live based on the ratings of like-minded people.

Think of the site as “hot or not” for cities, says designer and Media Lab grad student Anthony DeVincenzi. Users glance at a pair of photographs side by side, then click which one’s hotter or, in the official terms of the site, which one’s safer or more unique, or more upper-class. As each image is compared, a ranking of safety (or uniqueness or affluence) emerges. The Macro Connections group can then analyze and visualize those rankings to ask all sorts of fascinating questions: Are certain cities seen as wealthier than others and if so, why? What are the ramifications of segregated public housing? Does graffiti actually impact our perception of safety? Or are cities wasting their cash scrubbing buildings, when they could be investing in truly valuable public amenities, like trees?

The site went live a couple weeks ago, so Hidalgo and his team don’t have the answers at their fingertips yet. The goal is to generate a million responses to roughly 3,000 photos of five cities: Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Boston, and New York. They’re already about a third of the way there (that's the beauty of crowdsourcing)...."

Professors launch “Transmedia Indiana” project - Emerging Media Initiative

From emergingmediainitiative.com:

"...Journalism professors Brad King and Jennifer George-Palilonis are currently recruiting students for “Transmedia Indiana”, a year-long, interdisciplinary project in which students will create an interactive story using actual historical elements from the Indiana State Museum. Funded by a Provost Immersive Learning grant, King and Palilonis will lead a 2-semester, 50-student project team to produce two distinct products:

An interactive book, distributed on touch screen devices such as the iPad. The book will include not only traditional text narratives, but also the websites of the main characters, video blogs, and audio recordings meant to create a richer experience by bringing the characters and the fictionalized world to life.
A journalistic website that explores the truth behind the story, highlighting specific elements from the Indiana State Museum and the city of New Harmony, Indiana, the central location for the story.
In preparation for teaching the course, professors King and George-Palilonis are creating an interactive textbook that includes an introduction to transmedia storytelling and interactive fiction, as well as a step-by-step guide for building the various elements required of a story of this scope.

To learn more about transmedia storytelling, watch King’s presentation at TEDx Cincy or visit his teaching website...."

Hey Torontonians! Nice Post on GOOD.com: Transforming a City Through Neon Bikes - Design - GOOD

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"Any city dweller is well acquainted with the sight of abandoned bicycles that stay locked to poles for months, rusting away and slowly being stripped of all of their parts. In Toronto, Caroline Macfarlane and Vanessa Nicholas decided to do something about it. The artists paint bikes in cheerful neon colors, often adding planters to their baskets, and place them around the city.

At first, the pair ran up against city bureaucracy, Macfarlane says—their initial piece of bike art received a ticket for being stored on public property. But since then, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has endorsed what is now called "The Good Bike Project," which has grown to include 36 reclaimed bikes, and the city government has begun donating abandoned bikes to the artists. "Each bike marks a site that embodies the spirit of regeneration and community that inspired us in the first place," Macfarlane says...."