"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
there are problems, and then there are real problems.
Ethan Zuckerman advises, "Don't fight culture. (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make them a better stove instead.)" This secret of social innovation is incredibly important. Sometimes well-intentioned people try to help another group of people solve a problem that the group doesn't really have. Social innovators are able to distinguish between their own problems, and real problems being faced by the people they want to help.
Even when a real problem is perceived, helpful people sometimes try to apply culturally inappropriate solutions. The stew/stove example is a good one because it illustrates the point that what you may be used to is not necessarily the best solution for everyone. Another secret of social innovation that's closely linked to this one is that you have to live in a place before you understand the local issues there.
I think the way for me personally to take this to heart is to remember that the same idea applies to other kinds of help, like software development or educational materials. If I'm designing learning materials, games, and other curricular aids for students, I should really understand where the students are in terms of the kinds of games they already like to play, the kinds of learning that is easy or hard for them, and the equipment they do or don't have access to.
It's an easy concept to grasp but it can be difficult to remember to apply it in the excitement of developing something new, especially something that you're passionate about and that you deeply believe could make a difference.
Even when a real problem is perceived, helpful people sometimes try to apply culturally inappropriate solutions. The stew/stove example is a good one because it illustrates the point that what you may be used to is not necessarily the best solution for everyone. Another secret of social innovation that's closely linked to this one is that you have to live in a place before you understand the local issues there.
I think the way for me personally to take this to heart is to remember that the same idea applies to other kinds of help, like software development or educational materials. If I'm designing learning materials, games, and other curricular aids for students, I should really understand where the students are in terms of the kinds of games they already like to play, the kinds of learning that is easy or hard for them, and the equipment they do or don't have access to.
It's an easy concept to grasp but it can be difficult to remember to apply it in the excitement of developing something new, especially something that you're passionate about and that you deeply believe could make a difference.
Views: 15
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Comment by Chelsea Howe on March 4, 2010 at 12:46am
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I'd love to hear more about the games you use to teach your kids! We should chat/collaborate sometime :)
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Comment by ninmah on March 4, 2010 at 12:51am
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I would love to, Chelsea! At the moment, I'm envisioning a possible future for myself -- I'm not a game designer at the moment, except with the limited audience of my son. I used to do interface and interaction design, though. I'd love to hear about what you are doing!
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Comment by eric boquet on March 4, 2010 at 1:02am
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very well said, and simply put! I love the imagery of stew/oven.. but like you said, easy to grasp but not that easy to apply, and we can see that everyday in the news, or just looking around us. That's why teaming up with people is so important: this is how one learns to see things from different angles.
thanks for the insight :)
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Comment by Richard Smyth on March 6, 2010 at 4:21pm
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Yes--the use of games is very interesting to me too. I'm teaching a college course right now on "interactive media," much of which is focused on game development. Is there a way to start groups in this social network?
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Hi Richard. I haven't found a way to start a group within the network itself. The discussion forum is a kind of clumsy way to do it, but I'm not sure what else to do to pull people together...
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Comment by Deborah Cazden on March 8, 2010 at 5:30pm
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Well, on the "discuss" link, it looks like EVOKE has started grouping topics....perhaps if a topic is started there, it could serve as a "group" like function similar to Yahoo Groups? Also, Ninmah, have you posted a comment on the suggestions topic?
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Hi Deborah -- there's a "calling all teachers" discussion that I started on Friday to try to gather up all the teachers. It's now under "Agent Resources and Utilities" in the discussion forum. It links to a google doc and wiki page where the teachers are beginning to get organized. If you're interested, take a look, and put your name down on the wiki page if you've got an idea for a project or if you'd like to be involved in someone else's project!
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Comment by Sarah Shaw Tatoun on March 30, 2010 at 7:26pm
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Ninmah-- I'm really fascinated with the idea of using role-playing games to teach. I really need a calculus review and I'll probably never be able to discipline myself to do it-- but if I had a Sims-type game that would give me learning points tied to my completing tests on a well-designed review I'd probably do it day and night and barely pause to eat or sleep! What can you tell me? Is there some kind of work like this going on?
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Comment by LunarLight on March 30, 2010 at 7:29pm
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Very well written! Maybe I should update my blogs. :)
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Hi Sarah! Thanks for commenting. The short answer is, yes, there is work just like that going on. There are all kinds of games in development and also already available, especially for math, since it's so easy to get computers to do math ;-) I think the exact game you are looking for is not yet out there, or at least I have not seen it, but there are more and more really bright people (like Jane McGonigal) who are interested in making that happen. I'll see if I can dig up something like what you're after and send you a message about it.
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