Danah Boyd on Attention Philanthropy, The Power of Youth & How Invisible Children Orchestrated Kony 2012

Now, check out this network graph of the tweets:

The initial tweets that came out came from seemingly disconnected youth living in Midwestern and Southern towns who frequently refer to Christian values in their bios. In other words, these tweets appear to be coming from communities that Invisible Children had already activated prior to launching Kony 2012. Not only did they then each turn on, but they spread the messages to their friends. This allowed the conversation to "pop" and then spread. The one profile that does have a lot of cluster is the Invisible Children profile, highlighting how their audience was indeed ready to respond to them. But you also see tight clusters that were geographically disparate, which bridged from the organization and then spread in their local community with a level of intense density. With this kind of graph structure, it's not surprising that it quickly became a trending topic on Twitter. And then, it could easily spread. Attention begets attention.

Read Danah Boyd's analysis of how Invisible Children strategized their online campaign here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danah-boyd/post_3126_b_1345782.html

Cool! 'Face Your Farmer' has an IndieGoGo Campaign!

From the site:

"Our Story

We are creating the story together with you.

'Face Your Farmer' connects people in cities to those in rural areas who are our Farmers. We strive to build communities without borders and remove the veil of mystery that separates people from farms.

In this age we face seemingly insurmountable problems with food security, food freedom and awareness around how food gets from farm to table. With a dwindling oil supply, local economies are becoming a necessity. We explore this new economic reality.

'Face Your Farmer' chronicles the journey of an organic farmer and a farm shy tech enthusiast across 5 Canadian provinces and countless rural and urban communities. We will bridge this gap through education, advocacy and fun! If we can get it funded, the tour can be expanded!

Share our adventures with us and get involved as we prepare to 'Face Your Farmers'..."

more deets on IndieGoGo

http://www.indiegogo.com/Face-Your-Farmer

faceyourfarmer: New online story project connects you with organic farmers

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From the site:

WE CONNECT PEOPLE WITH THEIR FARMERS
February 11, 2012, 5:17 pm
Filed under: Home
Do you know where your food and farm products come from?

We are creating the story together with you.

‘Face Your Farmer’ connects people in cities to those in rural areas who are our Farmers. We strive to build communities without borders and remove the veil of mystery that separates people from farms.

In this age we face seemingly insurmountable problems with food security, food freedom and awareness around how food gets from farm to table. With a dwindling oil supply, local economies are becoming a necessity. We explore this new economic reality.

‘Face Your Farmer’ chronicles the journey of an organic farmer and a farm shy tech enthusiast across 5 Canadian provinces and countless rural and urban communities. We will bridge this gap through education, advocacy and fun!

Share our adventures with us and get involved as we prepare to ‘Face Your Farmers’.

Have you got time to play?? Superbetter | Games for Change

Trailer:

Superbetter
Release Date: March, 2012

Developer: Superbetter Labs

"An online, social game designed to help you build up personal resilience.

SuperBetter helps you achieve your health goals — or recover from an illness or injury — by increasing your personal resilience. Resilience means staying curious, optimistic and motivated even in the face of the toughest challenges.

The creators of the game, SuperBetter Labs, applies technology and design to empower individuals and communities to lead “epic lives.” The lab focuses on creating games that are powered by strong social relationships, positive emotion, and a real sense of purpose. By bringing together science and wisdom with innovative technology and design, SuperBetter Labs explores how we can flourish best and achieve our full human potential — individually, and collectively...."

I'm Totally In: The Walking Dead Facebook Game Preview | Scott Johson on ComicBook.com

The Walking Dead Facebook Game Preview
"During last night’s episode of The Walking Dead, there were a couple advertisements for a new Walking Dead social game that is coming to Facebook. The Walking Dead Social Game was recently announced by AMC and RockYou. Eyes Wide Games is the studio that developed the game in conjunction with AMC and RockYou.

In the game, players will be able to have their own adventures. The main object of The Walking Dead Social Game is for players to keep themselves and their fellow survivors alive by fighting off walkers (zombies). Players will also need to scavenge for resources and establish camps (which will be based on settings from the actual show). Each player will be able to control his own unique party of survivors, which can include his friends but there are also opportunities for the player to interact with the TV characters...."

Read Scott Johnson's full post here:

http://comicbook.com/blog/2012/03/12/the-walking-dead-facebook-game-preview/

9 things Lady Gaga can teach us about community management | Econsultancy

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Excerpt from a long fascinating piece by Vikki Chowney & well worth reading the whole post here:

http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/9262-9-things-lady-gaga-can-teach-us-about-co...

"This week, Lady Gaga became the first person to exceed 20m followers on Twitter.

These are huge numbers, but volume rarely means anything on its own. The interesting point here is that this community really are her 'followers' - in namesake and in the way they respond to her.

They are more loyal than a brand could ever dream of, but there are some lessons that we can all take on board and implement when trying to build a community either online or off.

1. Look at existing behaviour and run with it

One of the biggest mistakes brands make when entering into the world of social media is a lack of response. Whether we’re talking about social customer service, or just engaging with people who love your brand, it’s very hard to do either well without there being some kind of interaction.

One of the things Gaga’s fans do regularly is to send her artwork, which she took note of, and responded by encouraging them to do so – with regular messages continuing this effort – and herself highlighting the best work.

All this leads to a stronger, more loyal relationship with her fans, since their efforts aren’t falling on deaf ears..."

Transmedia Storytelling around the World: Christy Dena | Transmedia Storytelling Berlin

29.02.2012

Gepostet von in Interviews | 0 Kommentare und 4 Reaktionen

Transmedia Storytelling around the World: Christy Dena

Transmedia Storytelling around the World: Christy Dena

In this week transmedia designer Christy Dena had to answer our questions about “Why Transmedia?”

In 2009 Christy Dena submitted her PhD titled “Transmedia Practice: Theorising the Practice of Expressing a Fictional World across Distinct Media and Environments”. You can find it online here for further research. Now she is running her own company called Universe Creation 101, where she develops creative projects and entertainment services, as well as consulting on cross/transmedia projects. On the blog You Suck at Transmedia she is sharing the real war stories, fun and sincere reflections, and the frustrating and downright bad stuff. You can also follow her on twitter, but don’t forget to read her answer to our questions here ;-)

As a researcher and creator of meaningful playful stories – why transmedia?

To be honest, I think in the beginning it was psychological. I was working on a short story for print, and decided to expand it so it continued on the web, with the chatbots. I had/have a love of both illuminated books and interactivity (especially character-based interactions), and this was a way to bring together my two loves. After years of keeping all my different interests so very separate, I felt I was becoming whole. I also love working on things that involve the writing of the map – carving out a path through things that haven’t been done before. And so I’ll always find new ways to create that challenge for myself (like my latest project, AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS).

Dena's full interview with Patrick Moller can be read here:

http://www.transmedia-storytelling-berlin.de/2012/02/transmedia-storytelling-...

Gaming is driving social change but we need more players | by Georgina Stevens | Excerpt via Guardian Sustainable Business | guardian.co.uk

Young people play computer games
Games can be used to engage people with important social and environmental issues. Photograph: Waltraud Grubitzsch/EPA

Every day 11 million people plough virtual fields and 30 million people catapult angry birds at smug pigs; in all we spend three billion hours each week playing games. Many companies and NGOs have spotted this and have started to 'gamify' their employee and customer engagement programmes.

Barack Obama has also cottoned on; he has a games adviser at the White House and convened a meeting late last year with some of his key agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the department of energy, Nasa and the army, to discuss the potential for games to address national problems.

The idea that games can help to engage and even solve important issues is not new. Last year Foldit gamers successfully worked out the structure of a protein that helps viruses like HIV multiply. And there are plenty of organisations dedicated to supporting development of "games with purpose", "social impact games" or "serious" games, such as not for profit Games for Change. And plenty of studios too, including the feisty Molleindustria which makes simple flash games about a range of issues, including Phone Story, about the dark side of phone production (very quickly banned on the app store) and a game about Macdonald's where you are in charge of the whole supply chain, from farming and abattoirs to managing the restaurant. Enlightening and uncomfortable.

full article on the GuardianUK:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/computer-games-drive-soci...