Playpower to the power of world's emerging middle class

I've recently acknowledged the existence of the project Playpower "We support affordable, effective, fun learning games. We're starting with an existing $10 TV-computer as a platform for learning games in the developing world." From a future economist's point of view, I find this project really interesting as it will probably widen largely the number of people that will have access to knowledge through gaming and contribute to help the development of the world's emerging middle class. I hope I can be part of this revolution.

Below, I quote my conversation with Derek Lomas, Playpower's director.

Recentemente, tomei conhecimento da existência do projecto Playpower "Nós apoiamos jogos acessíveis, eficazes, de aprendizagem divertida. Estamos a começar com um computador-TV existente de 10$ como uma plataforma para jogos de aprendizagem no mundo em desenvolvimento. Do ponto de vista de um futuro economista, acho este projecto realmente interessante, uma vez que ele provavelmente ampliará largamente o número de pessoas que terão acesso ao conhecimento através de jogos e contribuirá para ajudar o desenvolvimento da classe média emergente do mundo. Espero poder fazer parte desta revolução.

Abaixo, cito a minha conversa com Derek Lomas, o director da Playpower.

--

Hello João,

Thanks for contacting me again.

The first thing that comes to mind is that Playpower is hosting a game design
workshop in Brazil, to help transfer knowledge to local communities
there. We know that video games are an important cultural factor in
Brazil, and we believe that many students will be interested in
developing new games for this low-cost computer. Our workshop will help
them get started creating these new games. We are particularly
interested in understanding how video games can be interpreted as a
cultural medium in different regions of the world. For, if video games
are a medium like books, music or cinema, we would like to see how
different cultures would participate in this medium.

We have a truly excellent playpower volunteer from Portugal, named Paulo Silva, nitrofurano@gmail.com.
He might be able to provide additional information about how you might
be able to help in Portugal. He is very enthusiastic, and I encourage
you to say hello.

You might also consider how your economics knowledge could contribute. I don't know what you study, exactly, or what your skills
are, but considering that we are developing software for a $10 computer,
perhaps there is something interesting to explore. Maybe you have some
ideas? Might we consider ways of measuring the economic impact of such
devices? Could we understand more about the target market, based upon
the price of the computer?

Are you familiar with the Poverty Action Lab at MIT? They have some fantastic economists there who have done really inspiring work. I have
attached a paper that you may find interesting. This supports our
claim that televisions are more common than tap water in low-income
communities.

The last thing that comes to mind is that you might want to write a blog post about Playpower, from your perspective as an economist. This
might be the most straightforward way to help. Could could write this in
either English or Portuguese, such that we could link to it during our
Brazilian workshop.

Let me know what you think~

Cheers,
Derek Lomas

Director, Playpower.org


2010/3/22 João Carrapa a href="mailto:j.carrapa@gmail.com" target="_blank">j.carrapa@gmail.com>
Hi João,

Thanks! Let me know how I can help.

Where are you from? By any chance from Brazil? We are having a workshop there this May.

You should consider joining at volunteers.playpower.org.



Also, here is our 5 minute video.
http://poptech.org/popcasts/derek_lomas_open_source_games

Cheers,
Derek


2010/3/18 João Carrapa a href="mailto:j.carrapa@gmail.com" target="_blank">j.carrapa@gmail.com>


Dear Derek Lomas,

I am a member of EVOKE and I've chosen you as a social innovation role model. I am following your
project Playpower by having subscribed your newsletter.




RSVP

Cordially,

João Carrapa