The Future of This Blog

I love to write, to crystalize my thoughts, to share my research and observations, and hopefully to provide value to you, my audience. My interests are diverse and wide-ranging, though they generally all fall at the intersection of learning, innovation and social justice. In the past decade I've had fairly extensive experience with traveling, teaching, entrepreneurship, design, politics and leadership, and when I write, I draw from all of these domains.

That said, I truly want to provide value in the work that I do, and that extends to this blog. For that reason, over the next 2 months I am going to be deeply reflecting on the role this blog plays in my contribution to the wider world, and how I might change or improve it along those lines. In light of this process, in the coming months I may not post any new content. However, I will definitely post updates if I have any major news or exciting announcements that deserve broadcasting.

I welcome any suggestions for this blog or where to focus my attention generally--you can post here or message me through any number of services where I am easily found (Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin most prominently).

Thanks for visiting!

Games for Change: One Week Later

I had the privilege of attending the Games for Change Festival last week and working for the Festival's social media team. I attended and live tweeted many of the talks and panels, and was struck with two common threads found across the most of the discourse: games as art, and games as business.

Games as Art
This idea was probably most clearly articulated in one of the last keynotes delivered by Eric Zimmerman. In this talk, he spoke on flaws in "serious games" of design literalism. He argues that games do not need to literally depict subject matter to do justice to the subject, and that we need to trust the art of the game to produce positive results. He goes so far as to encourage thinking about games as "aesthetic objects," which would lead to a higher quality of game, and a higher quality of impact. This approach goes against the trend of trying too hard to make a "game for change." We don't make "books for change," we make "books." The good ones change the world. Games as art work the same way, though they offer unique and exciting opportunities for engagement, teaching and connecting people.

Games as Business
Several developers at the conference, perhaps the majority, are commercial game developers. To make games for change sustainable and scalable, questions more appropriate for the board room than the sandbox were evident across the festival. One of the most interesting examples of the business interest in the games for change arena was the widespread visibility of Amplify, News Corps' new education business. Amplify has 30 education games in the pipeline, had their VP of Games, Justin Leites, on one of the keynote panels, and had a prominent booth for the whole three days. Of course, "educational games" only represent one segment of the "games for change" space, but Amplify has plans to dominate this segment. Debates over whether educational games should be required by teachers or not, purchased by districts or parents, or include quizzes or "stealth assessment" dominated the debates and thinking of the Festival participants. One of the questions that remains unanswered is whether the education games marketplace can support truly good games, or if the procurement process ends up corrupting the whole idea. After all, principals and parents buy games because the games "teach"; they don't buy games for what games do best: create FUN.

What do you think? Are games art? Can games be games if they're not fun? Is there an enormous business opportunity in educational games? If so, can artistic, fun games seize this opportunity? 

Why Do We Read?

I read this article last week in the New Yorker, and I've already forgot some of the key details. It deals with the idea that when we read, we frequently forget not just those details, but before too long, even the main idea. It brings up questions about the value of reading, as well as the culture around reading.

Here's the article, it's called The Curse of Reading and Forgetting:

http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/05/the-curse-of-reading-and-forgetting.html

My two take aways:

1. The experience of reading is just as important as the concrete take aways. Usually when one reads thoughtfully, the richness of the experience involves emotional and intellectual growth, which is valid preparation for the world. 
2. Rereading is just as important as reading for the first time. A second or third read yields new insights, and also solidifies specific information, ideas and understandings. At the same time, reading widely leads to valuable overlaps of ideas and information. If I read multiple different articles on the Iraq War, much of the same information will appear but in different forms, and that will enhance the understanding of the broader concept. 

I love reading, and if you're here, I suppose you do too! What are your thoughts on reading and forgetting? Does it bother you? Is that part of what you love about reading? How do you remember the things that you read that you don't want to forget? 

Obsession

Working past midnight isn't uncommon when you're obsessed. When your thoughts are consumed with a pressing challenge, sleep doesn't come easy, and the pressure mounts each day the problem goes unsolved.

When you realize that you've stumbled on a huge pain point, with a corresponding huge opportunity, you evaluate. Do I have the skills to do something about this? Do I have the resources? Do I have the GUTS?

You realize it doesn’t matter what you have, because others didn’t have any choice. So you go for it. You also imagine  fantasies of wild success, which makes the plunge easier.

You start building a solution. You quit your job, you pour every ounce of energy into the mission. You become a risk-taker, an entrepreneur. You rewrite your personal biography. You kick your own ass.

And then you hit your first roadblock, and your second. You face the dilemma of what to focus on. You debate whether to aim for impact at scale or depth. You ask, why not both?

You doubt, and if you're smart, you analyze. You learn to measure, and then you measure to learn. You solicit feedback and you test your assumptions. You iterate as you look at the data, and over time, you know you’re getting closer to delivering the results: both the social change and the profit.

But you’re not there yet. And it's a long way off. 

Finally, you persevere. This is not a hobby. This is not a job. This is a calling. This is a mission.  There is no quitting. Only pausing. As long as kids are bored, uninspired, and stunted by their education, the game never ends.

Games for Change

If you're in NYC on June 17th-19th, you should try to come out to the annual Games for Change Festival. It's a really cool event where you can connect with tons of creative people and projects.

http://www.gamesforchange.org