I see that there is no such thing as survival of the fittest. Survivability rests solely in an organisms ability to cooperate with their environment. If an organism can't become part of a system, it doesn't survive. A community is one such system...
~Nancy Cathcart, Director of the Center for Service and Civic Engagement
Today was a good day, as training progresses I see our group really become closer with one another. We had one session run a little long today, so I asked and ensured Shelli and I could condense the rest of today's materials, and we ended up getting out on time. I gave an interesting skit on what not to do in presentations... I think everyone got a kick out of it. Thinking today about time management, I think I do really want to figure out more me time... more time for reflection... In the form of reading, drawing, or some maya work. I don't suspect the rest of the day to hold too much for me, but I still have high hopes of making it home soon.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A little thing may make a big difference... PA training day 2
Ok so I think I'm going to start each new post with my day's revelation or thought... I know this is kinda lame but I'm enjoying it...
Two years ago I was what was called a Peer Mentor, this meant that I helped mentor a group of freshman and even help teach one of their classes. During this time I had one student, who I'll call Al for the sake of the story. Al didn't seem too enthused about school work or life when he first arrived at Champlain. Although after a few weeks I could see that Al, when he did decide to contribute, he had something in him. I really felt he had the capacity to be a leader and someone to look up to. I can't really explained how it happened but Al and I became friends. We started hanging out some and really confiding in each other, and he shared some pretty intense stuff. Over the course of our friendship I saw a change in Al, he started to participate more, he got more involved on campus. This past year he was an Orientation Leader, was asked to be a Peer Advisor, RAed Governor's institute over the summer, and overall became a leader within our community. Needless to say I was so proud of the transformation that I saw, and really I thought of him as a peer. Although I sort of lost touch with Al this past year...
Today I had a conversation with Bob (obviously not his real name), Bob just finished his first year at Champlain. At one point in the conversation he mentioned something about hearing about me, and I asked him from who. Bob said he had become friends with Al when he first came to Champlain College, and he had many issues of his own that Al had helped him get through. Al told Bob about how I had helped him and that it really made an impact in his life, and so he wanted to do the same... Bob is in line to be a Peer Advisor, a leadership position at Champlain College. I was shocked and kind of moved by this... Even though I had lost touch with Al, it's almost as though a legacy that I had started moved on. Talk about a full circle, I helped on person, who in turn helped another, who in turn is in a position to possibly help someone in the incoming freshman class. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even as trivial as somethings may seem, small things can make a big difference. I never got out of that higher status in Al's mind I don't think, even though I thought of him as a peer...
Today was pretty good overall, we had a great session today with all of the Peer Advisers. This is a really great group. We had some really intense conversations that left us all feeling pretty good about everything. I won't share specifics because I've talked enough already but yea, it was a good day.
Two years ago I was what was called a Peer Mentor, this meant that I helped mentor a group of freshman and even help teach one of their classes. During this time I had one student, who I'll call Al for the sake of the story. Al didn't seem too enthused about school work or life when he first arrived at Champlain. Although after a few weeks I could see that Al, when he did decide to contribute, he had something in him. I really felt he had the capacity to be a leader and someone to look up to. I can't really explained how it happened but Al and I became friends. We started hanging out some and really confiding in each other, and he shared some pretty intense stuff. Over the course of our friendship I saw a change in Al, he started to participate more, he got more involved on campus. This past year he was an Orientation Leader, was asked to be a Peer Advisor, RAed Governor's institute over the summer, and overall became a leader within our community. Needless to say I was so proud of the transformation that I saw, and really I thought of him as a peer. Although I sort of lost touch with Al this past year...
Today I had a conversation with Bob (obviously not his real name), Bob just finished his first year at Champlain. At one point in the conversation he mentioned something about hearing about me, and I asked him from who. Bob said he had become friends with Al when he first came to Champlain College, and he had many issues of his own that Al had helped him get through. Al told Bob about how I had helped him and that it really made an impact in his life, and so he wanted to do the same... Bob is in line to be a Peer Advisor, a leadership position at Champlain College. I was shocked and kind of moved by this... Even though I had lost touch with Al, it's almost as though a legacy that I had started moved on. Talk about a full circle, I helped on person, who in turn helped another, who in turn is in a position to possibly help someone in the incoming freshman class. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even as trivial as somethings may seem, small things can make a big difference. I never got out of that higher status in Al's mind I don't think, even though I thought of him as a peer...
Today was pretty good overall, we had a great session today with all of the Peer Advisers. This is a really great group. We had some really intense conversations that left us all feeling pretty good about everything. I won't share specifics because I've talked enough already but yea, it was a good day.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Peer Advisor Training... Day 1
I keep having days of things, whether it be conferences or other things... haha Anyways decided that I'm pretty tired to staying up too late, waking up early, takin' a quick shower, and then running off to do whatever work I have to do for the day. Anyways today did go well, it ended up being longer then it was scheduled but went well for the most part. There is a good dynamic overall with the whole group I think, which makes facilitation easier fur sure. There's not too much to mention about today, although I wanted to start doing like a thing where I write something new every day. Whether it be a new insight, thought, or idea...
Oh, ok I have something.... When facilitating groups, sometimes it's best to be a little unprofessional. Today I had a good idea of what I was doing, but pretended to be a little bit more casual and unprepared. Although this probably only works for younger audiences, but this breaks down some bearers I think. Suddenly I'm more of one of them, rather than just the authoritative figure. In this same idea I made fun of Alisha a little about something (I forget), but I was like "God Damnit Alisha!" This may sound like just an outburst but it was a strategically planned "barrier break down," as I'll now call it.
After training I visited the girls, aka Niki and Steph, their room is looking pretty sweet. It's pretty much done, but the sad thing is that Niki's leavin tomorrow to go back to NJ for like a month and a half. It's a major bummer, and I think I'll probably be a little bored with everyone pretty much gone. I don't expect to see much of Steph either though, sometimes I feel like we just hang out more when Niki's here.... but we'll see.
I had never been to Al's French fries, so we just went there. It was really good! And cheap might I add. So that was fun... Later we plan on going to see "Baby Momma" or whatever that move is called. Should be a good time...
Another thing that happened today was that Tom Remsing called and wanted me to attend a conference this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Conn. Damn... I really want to go to this but I really can't. I have to work plus I have to move out on Saturday. Not to mention my boss isn't exactly being the nicest person and apparently I'm responsible for moving anyone still left in my dorm out on Saturday... Shoot me... This will all be over soon though, and hopefully I'll have sometime to head home.
Oh, ok I have something.... When facilitating groups, sometimes it's best to be a little unprofessional. Today I had a good idea of what I was doing, but pretended to be a little bit more casual and unprepared. Although this probably only works for younger audiences, but this breaks down some bearers I think. Suddenly I'm more of one of them, rather than just the authoritative figure. In this same idea I made fun of Alisha a little about something (I forget), but I was like "God Damnit Alisha!" This may sound like just an outburst but it was a strategically planned "barrier break down," as I'll now call it.
After training I visited the girls, aka Niki and Steph, their room is looking pretty sweet. It's pretty much done, but the sad thing is that Niki's leavin tomorrow to go back to NJ for like a month and a half. It's a major bummer, and I think I'll probably be a little bored with everyone pretty much gone. I don't expect to see much of Steph either though, sometimes I feel like we just hang out more when Niki's here.... but we'll see.
I had never been to Al's French fries, so we just went there. It was really good! And cheap might I add. So that was fun... Later we plan on going to see "Baby Momma" or whatever that move is called. Should be a good time...
Another thing that happened today was that Tom Remsing called and wanted me to attend a conference this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Conn. Damn... I really want to go to this but I really can't. I have to work plus I have to move out on Saturday. Not to mention my boss isn't exactly being the nicest person and apparently I'm responsible for moving anyone still left in my dorm out on Saturday... Shoot me... This will all be over soon though, and hopefully I'll have sometime to head home.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Back in Burlington
So I'm back in Burlington! I was excited to head back, only to find myself somewhat bored and wondering what I was excited about... Our flights went fine and all, the one real hiccup was that some of my shampoo exploded in my luggage, and yes it was in a plastic bag, but it seemed to seep through somehow... DAMN!
The one real thought on my mind is about moving out of my old room and into my new one. I just visited Niki and Steph's new room and they've really gone all out with painting walls and such. I'm pretty jelious and want to do the same, although I don't know what Alex's feelings are on it... or a lot of things for that matter. Yet I can't move out of here until Saterday, whenever they clean my room... lame.. I also want to try to get home as soon as I can, sitting here I've been thinking that I really should have ran home when I got back and did a flying trip. Maybe I'll be able to make it back there sometimes next weekend.
All in all though life is pretty grand, still super tired from flying and stuff but yea... great trip!
The one real thought on my mind is about moving out of my old room and into my new one. I just visited Niki and Steph's new room and they've really gone all out with painting walls and such. I'm pretty jelious and want to do the same, although I don't know what Alex's feelings are on it... or a lot of things for that matter. Yet I can't move out of here until Saterday, whenever they clean my room... lame.. I also want to try to get home as soon as I can, sitting here I've been thinking that I really should have ran home when I got back and did a flying trip. Maybe I'll be able to make it back there sometimes next weekend.
All in all though life is pretty grand, still super tired from flying and stuff but yea... great trip!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
I am rediciously lucky... Digital Now day 3 post mortem
Another long and wonderful day. I started today with hearing from our last key note speaker Dan Heath. He spoke of the idea of "sticky ideas..." This was a very interesting conversation about how ideas are precieved and concieved, and really was yet another topic that could transfer just as easily into gaming. To have a sticky idea Dan said...
1) It has to be Simple
2) Unexpected
3) Concrete
4) Credible
5) Emotional
6) and be a Story
So some of these don't directly apply to what we're doing but what he's talking about is the nature of ideas and impact. Like I've said before, if someone is engaged, they are personalizing the information... aka they are making their own stories in video games, sometimes even developing an emotional response, and therefor the game sticks with them. I forgot to mention a talk I had with one conference goer last night, I'll name him Chad (I don't remember his name). Chad asked Lauren and I if what we wanted to do in the future was "Halo 3." I said no... Halo 3 is already archaeic... The concept of "Next Gen. Gaming" is constantly changing and evolving. In the future we will no longer be worried about teaching strickly black and white ideas and concepts, our users will be learning things on a deeper level. i.e Morals, values, and actually teach you how to think more efficently. We are the Walt Disneys of this era... Just as his cartoons helped shape and form the child hoods of many, we will be able to reach out like never before. We will be responsible for teaching the next generation...
We left the conference this morning with an overall good feeling, this was a truely wonderful event. It's very interesting to think that I just attended a conference intended for CEOs of major industries... I can't help but think that I'll be able to take this knowledge far with me into the future. Reflecting back on this conference as well I've really began to realize how much this is the era of change. Through everything that I've attended this year, the major theme has been change... If things keep chaning, it's going to be a very exciting future.
During the keynote though, my Mom gave me a curious call from my Grandmother's phone asking me if I was interesting in a Mercury Mariner... I still don't know what it looks like, but what she says, sounded like a great deal. I told her that if she thinks it's a great deal then let's go for it, I also had to get back to the conference. Sure enough though it seems as I have a new car!!!!!!! A 2007 Mariner, with 7,000 miles... with a pretty sweet deal I might add... I am grossly lucky, between this past year (just encompasing everything between conferences and stuff) and my very supportive Family... I don't know, things are just too good... Makes me nervious but happy =)
So we went to Epcot this afternoon! First of all I have to say that I had a really hard time with the giant sphere thing that they've got up there... Looking closer at it, you can see they've outlined all of the edges with a thin black line. I couldn't help but see a gross vector rendered model, and all triangles... EWW! Who decided that triangulating that beast was a good idea?! GAH, well I guess it doesn't need to be animated so it'll do but still rubed me the wrong way as a 3D artist.
Epcot was seriously beautiful though, they are having this flower fest at the moment and all around the park there were thousands (probably millions) of flower beds, which gave everything such unique and sweet smells. Everywhere we looked there were classic Disney characters done in floral arrangements, it was very interesting, and creepy at times. Our first stop in Epcot was Canada... Ironically... From there we went to the UK and then to France where we had a great lunch. From there we went to Morocco and let me tell you, that it was amaizing! The archetecture and just environment felt really awesome. Really Aladin-esk... From there we went to Japan and Japan ended up being one of my favorite parts of the park. I just know so little about that culture that I found myself incredebly intregued by everything that they had there. Between the archetecture, products, gardens, and magnificent drummers... it was all pretty awesome. After that we went to Germany, not too unlike the real thing, from there was a little bit of Africa and then China. China was a lot of fun too, with a lot of history showcased there it really engaged me... but Japan was still at the top of my list. From there we went to Norway, Viking and gnome central. After that we finally got to Mexico... I loved Mexico, really I'm a huge fan of the Mayan civilization and so the archetecture and much of what they presented really appealed to me. Yet it was dinner time so we had to run back to Japan where we were to have dinner and celebrate Lauren's birthday...
First of all I know nothing about Japanese cusiene, and so needless to say I felt a little out of place. I really wanted to dive in though and try something new, and so I had the grilled salmon with some kind of polka sauce I believe... I'm not sure really but this was my first meal I have eaten entirely with chop sticks! A bit frustraiting but I got it figured out. During our meal a light show started outside and really we had the perfect seats. This was one of the most amaizing things I've ever seen... It was a beautifully coreographed fireworks display to music, and finally this globe covered with LEDs (showing images from around the world) hovered out over the water and unfolded in this huge finally. I couldn't have been in more awe, and feeling so happy and incredebly lucky nearly brought a tear to my eye. Watching this though, this is what Lauren and I have to do though... Complete shock and awe our audience, and we'll undoubtedly change the world. That's right I said change the world, after everything we've done and continue to do, that isn't seeming so out of reach anymore.
Oh! For desert I tried this Green Tea pudding thing... that was pretty amaizing although I ate that with a spoon =) Oh! yea the food in general was spectacular... I think that's all I have to say for today. I think I'll leave you with some more information from Dan Heath's talk...
Did you know that the Navy follows this 70, 80, 90 principal.... This transelates to... 70% of the earth is convered in water, 80% of people live near the coasts, and 90% of all commerse travels over the water at somepoint. Their mission statement and goals have them having the largest fleet to protect our interests at sea. Did you know that we were the only country with the Navy facilities large enough to bring aid to Indonesia in their time of crisis? Indonesia has the largest Muslim population, and since we've become involved over there Muslims who think highly of the US have tripled. Or something like that... I have my notes here... Isn't that amaizing?!
Ok I'm off to bed, can't wait to get back tomorrow (yet not excited at the same time).
And Happy Birthday again Lauren!
1) It has to be Simple
2) Unexpected
3) Concrete
4) Credible
5) Emotional
6) and be a Story
So some of these don't directly apply to what we're doing but what he's talking about is the nature of ideas and impact. Like I've said before, if someone is engaged, they are personalizing the information... aka they are making their own stories in video games, sometimes even developing an emotional response, and therefor the game sticks with them. I forgot to mention a talk I had with one conference goer last night, I'll name him Chad (I don't remember his name). Chad asked Lauren and I if what we wanted to do in the future was "Halo 3." I said no... Halo 3 is already archaeic... The concept of "Next Gen. Gaming" is constantly changing and evolving. In the future we will no longer be worried about teaching strickly black and white ideas and concepts, our users will be learning things on a deeper level. i.e Morals, values, and actually teach you how to think more efficently. We are the Walt Disneys of this era... Just as his cartoons helped shape and form the child hoods of many, we will be able to reach out like never before. We will be responsible for teaching the next generation...
We left the conference this morning with an overall good feeling, this was a truely wonderful event. It's very interesting to think that I just attended a conference intended for CEOs of major industries... I can't help but think that I'll be able to take this knowledge far with me into the future. Reflecting back on this conference as well I've really began to realize how much this is the era of change. Through everything that I've attended this year, the major theme has been change... If things keep chaning, it's going to be a very exciting future.
During the keynote though, my Mom gave me a curious call from my Grandmother's phone asking me if I was interesting in a Mercury Mariner... I still don't know what it looks like, but what she says, sounded like a great deal. I told her that if she thinks it's a great deal then let's go for it, I also had to get back to the conference. Sure enough though it seems as I have a new car!!!!!!! A 2007 Mariner, with 7,000 miles... with a pretty sweet deal I might add... I am grossly lucky, between this past year (just encompasing everything between conferences and stuff) and my very supportive Family... I don't know, things are just too good... Makes me nervious but happy =)
So we went to Epcot this afternoon! First of all I have to say that I had a really hard time with the giant sphere thing that they've got up there... Looking closer at it, you can see they've outlined all of the edges with a thin black line. I couldn't help but see a gross vector rendered model, and all triangles... EWW! Who decided that triangulating that beast was a good idea?! GAH, well I guess it doesn't need to be animated so it'll do but still rubed me the wrong way as a 3D artist.
Epcot was seriously beautiful though, they are having this flower fest at the moment and all around the park there were thousands (probably millions) of flower beds, which gave everything such unique and sweet smells. Everywhere we looked there were classic Disney characters done in floral arrangements, it was very interesting, and creepy at times. Our first stop in Epcot was Canada... Ironically... From there we went to the UK and then to France where we had a great lunch. From there we went to Morocco and let me tell you, that it was amaizing! The archetecture and just environment felt really awesome. Really Aladin-esk... From there we went to Japan and Japan ended up being one of my favorite parts of the park. I just know so little about that culture that I found myself incredebly intregued by everything that they had there. Between the archetecture, products, gardens, and magnificent drummers... it was all pretty awesome. After that we went to Germany, not too unlike the real thing, from there was a little bit of Africa and then China. China was a lot of fun too, with a lot of history showcased there it really engaged me... but Japan was still at the top of my list. From there we went to Norway, Viking and gnome central. After that we finally got to Mexico... I loved Mexico, really I'm a huge fan of the Mayan civilization and so the archetecture and much of what they presented really appealed to me. Yet it was dinner time so we had to run back to Japan where we were to have dinner and celebrate Lauren's birthday...
First of all I know nothing about Japanese cusiene, and so needless to say I felt a little out of place. I really wanted to dive in though and try something new, and so I had the grilled salmon with some kind of polka sauce I believe... I'm not sure really but this was my first meal I have eaten entirely with chop sticks! A bit frustraiting but I got it figured out. During our meal a light show started outside and really we had the perfect seats. This was one of the most amaizing things I've ever seen... It was a beautifully coreographed fireworks display to music, and finally this globe covered with LEDs (showing images from around the world) hovered out over the water and unfolded in this huge finally. I couldn't have been in more awe, and feeling so happy and incredebly lucky nearly brought a tear to my eye. Watching this though, this is what Lauren and I have to do though... Complete shock and awe our audience, and we'll undoubtedly change the world. That's right I said change the world, after everything we've done and continue to do, that isn't seeming so out of reach anymore.
Oh! For desert I tried this Green Tea pudding thing... that was pretty amaizing although I ate that with a spoon =) Oh! yea the food in general was spectacular... I think that's all I have to say for today. I think I'll leave you with some more information from Dan Heath's talk...
Did you know that the Navy follows this 70, 80, 90 principal.... This transelates to... 70% of the earth is convered in water, 80% of people live near the coasts, and 90% of all commerse travels over the water at somepoint. Their mission statement and goals have them having the largest fleet to protect our interests at sea. Did you know that we were the only country with the Navy facilities large enough to bring aid to Indonesia in their time of crisis? Indonesia has the largest Muslim population, and since we've become involved over there Muslims who think highly of the US have tripled. Or something like that... I have my notes here... Isn't that amaizing?!
Ok I'm off to bed, can't wait to get back tomorrow (yet not excited at the same time).
And Happy Birthday again Lauren!
Friday, April 25, 2008
A Magical Evening...
I know I've written so much today, and it is so very late that I should be hitting the hay but I feel the urge to write one last tid bit about the rest of my night.
After I talked last I had to quickly change and catch a bus to Disney's Boardwalk. With my special VIP pass they ushered us in, past normal guests to an exclusive club with fake paparazzi trying to take pictures of us. Even though it was fake, i still loved it... This party was pretty awesome with some really great food, but I came across one realization... I've become way too comfortable dancing with Ann and others at least 20 years older then me (Sarah is the exception to the rule). Near the end of the party Lauren, Sarah, and I went out on the second floor balcony to overlook some fireworks and sort of reflect a little bit on this experience. Ann couldn't be with us, as she was far too busy dancing it up still.
The party ended at 9 though so we bid farewell to some folks (and leave intense intellectual conversations about cyber sex...) and decided to walk around a little, first we stopped off at a very interesting Disney store. I found these neat Disney plates, that would be great for my new room... I just feel like I need more plates... Ann had separated from us a little when we weren't paying attention, and low and behold she had bought us all gifts, and sure enough I now have four plates. Thanks Ann =)
We continued our walk around this little lake, and here I think we had some great intellectual conversation on everything from our degree and what we're doing, to ancient culture, and the future. This is one thing that I've found through working with the EMC and people like Ann and Lauren, I feel so much more like an intellectual. We aren't just game designers, we're sociologists, phychiatrists, and historians too.
While walking around the beach we came across an odd little stand, there they were selling pearl jewelry but there was this option of buying a clam, and there would be a chance that a pearl would be on the inside. We gave it a try, and in pure Hawaiian tradition we all taped the pearl once and said "Aloha," and then one more time all together for good luck and thanking the clam. We were lucky! The clam held a pearl, a fairly large pearl at that... Gabriel (the pearl guy) told us that our pearl would be worth 55-60 dollars... Not bad at all! We've kept the pearl as sort of a symbol of the EMC... Like many granules of sand went into creating the Pearl, so will so many minds further the EMC.
It was all just pretty neat.... Oh Happy Birthday Lauren!
After I talked last I had to quickly change and catch a bus to Disney's Boardwalk. With my special VIP pass they ushered us in, past normal guests to an exclusive club with fake paparazzi trying to take pictures of us. Even though it was fake, i still loved it... This party was pretty awesome with some really great food, but I came across one realization... I've become way too comfortable dancing with Ann and others at least 20 years older then me (Sarah is the exception to the rule). Near the end of the party Lauren, Sarah, and I went out on the second floor balcony to overlook some fireworks and sort of reflect a little bit on this experience. Ann couldn't be with us, as she was far too busy dancing it up still.
The party ended at 9 though so we bid farewell to some folks (and leave intense intellectual conversations about cyber sex...) and decided to walk around a little, first we stopped off at a very interesting Disney store. I found these neat Disney plates, that would be great for my new room... I just feel like I need more plates... Ann had separated from us a little when we weren't paying attention, and low and behold she had bought us all gifts, and sure enough I now have four plates. Thanks Ann =)
We continued our walk around this little lake, and here I think we had some great intellectual conversation on everything from our degree and what we're doing, to ancient culture, and the future. This is one thing that I've found through working with the EMC and people like Ann and Lauren, I feel so much more like an intellectual. We aren't just game designers, we're sociologists, phychiatrists, and historians too.
While walking around the beach we came across an odd little stand, there they were selling pearl jewelry but there was this option of buying a clam, and there would be a chance that a pearl would be on the inside. We gave it a try, and in pure Hawaiian tradition we all taped the pearl once and said "Aloha," and then one more time all together for good luck and thanking the clam. We were lucky! The clam held a pearl, a fairly large pearl at that... Gabriel (the pearl guy) told us that our pearl would be worth 55-60 dollars... Not bad at all! We've kept the pearl as sort of a symbol of the EMC... Like many granules of sand went into creating the Pearl, so will so many minds further the EMC.
It was all just pretty neat.... Oh Happy Birthday Lauren!
Digital Now Day 2... Post Mortem
Ok, so I have a lot to say about today. First off we started the day from hearing straight from Disney. George Ag... something I forget his name gave a presentation about Disney and to be honest I had never thought about just how large Disney actually is. They seem to have their hands in everything, did you know they have connections with ABC or ESPN? Or even Lost for that matter?! Holy crap! It was an amazing presentation, but I left feeling a little intimidated by the Disney Empire and their expansion. Although they did give us a brief peek at what they're planning for the future.... Two new yachts, new niche theme parks around the globe, and Toy Story 3 haha.
"If you can dream it, you can do it..." -Walt Disney... Indeed true sir!
The next key note speaker was Jeremy Gutsche from Trendhuner.com, an expert at "Hunting Cool." To be honest I lost my notes about this event, and I think I had a lot to say, but yea he was really great and gave some great insight about a lot of things. This idea of "Culture eats Strategy" was fairly interesting. He also showed some great youtube videos, one including a bunch of Korean Prisoners performing Thriller, definitely planning on showing the girls later.
"Win like your used to it, lose like you love it." ~ Jeremy Gutsche
Lauren and I then went and attended "Tomorrow's members: Listening to the voices of our Future." This was an extremely interesting talk, yet again talking about the "Net Generation," or "Generation Y" which apparently I fall into. It was really kind of funny listening to a speaker talk about my generation in such general terms but the speaker and panel made some great connections about how we do learn differently. That has been a great theme thus far at this conference is the recognition that things need to change... now whether or not they do is really up to them. Thus far though it seems as though business leaders have solely focused on social networking and putting things online, rather then true engagement. I was somewhat nervous and concerned when one panel member showed a video his son made, taking clips from WoW, Counter Strike, and the Matrix... all very flashy and cool but I think strays heavily on what exactly eLearning is.... duh...
After lunch we had another large keynote from Jeneanne Rae (Co-founder and President of Peer Insight). She focused solely on a design thinking philosophy. Although one of her quotes were that "People want to collaborate and connect." I couldn't help but feel like this was another DUH moment.
Our next session was with our friend Andrew Hinton (Chief information Architect, Vanguard) who we had met our first night here. Paul Rand from Zocala spoke first on business marketing and being real to your consumers. I can't help it, I was distracted to heavily about the game concept Lauren and I have started. I spent most of my time during his lecture drawing concept art on building concepts and mineral ideas. Then Andrew's talk started, the whole session was titled "Social Networking: Friend or Foe," but Andrew labeled his talk "Conversations, Milkshakes, and Gnomes." I was completely intrigued... First off he mentioned a book I thought I should mention here called "The Cathedral and the Bazaar," this book is about open source stuff and the contrast and development of the web. The start of this conversation had a lot to do with philosophy, history, and sociology. The basis of the talk was about the nature of conversation, and how the Internet has sped up conversation. He gave a great description of how slow things used to be and how things have sped up so much and so we're all rushing to react to this rapid development and change. "Engagement depends on cost," a great point we can all take back to game development. If it costs too much to play, it may not be played at all.... Also he mentioned Flickr, which is a collaboration tool that I think I'll look into later. Next came the peak of the conversation, he began talking about Will Wright (Noted video game developer, creator of the Sims) and started incorporating Wright's "Possibility Space" theory to the way businesses could work and develop... kinda... Then he started talking about WoW, personally I'm surprised by how much WoW is mentioned during this conference. People seem to be so inspired by WoW as a communication model... sure... He even got some interesting reactions when he began talking about how you can actually be "Undead and eat other people's corpses and stuff... it makes great noises... moving on!" Needless to say this one of the most interesting talks I've attended since we've come here. Andrew really showed his brilliance at this lecture and is one who I really believe "gets it."
I then attended "Understanding and Engaging the NET Generation: A model for change," a lecture gave by Susan Gibbons (Vice Provost and Dean, River Libraries, University of Rochester). Now this talk felt very weird because it was most definitely a talk about... "Us," and I'll not let my opinion in, but I thought I should post what makes up us "Net Gen." folk.
1) We're Sheltered, and assume a safety net to save us.
2) Casual with privacy
3) Close to Parents
4) We feel like we're special
5) We have High Self-esteem
6) We're pressured
7) We have a decrease in free time
8) And are more structured with our time
9) We constantly ask what the rules are, i.e "How can I get an A on this paper?"
10) We're Team Oriented, and have a desire to collaborate
11) We network socially
12) Multi-taskers
13) Visually literate
14) Very Open
15) We do things differently when gathering information, if it doesn't exist online, it doesn't exist...
16) Mix/Rip/Burn culture, and we have a blurred sense of ownership in the digital world.
17) We communicate differently, we think that e-mail is for old people
18) We Blog
19) We're gamers
Some interesting insights, I did speak up at one point to point out that some of these were making some serious sweeping generalizations, in which point most of the audience took notice and I think enjoyed the fact that we were there. She did talk about online gaming and the rise of Education Gaming, which is yet another great thing for us! She brought up MMOs and most specifically Second Life, another medium people seem to be pretty fascinated with.
A lot of very interesting stuff today, and a lot of insights. This has really become one of the most interesting conferences that I've attended. After looking at some of the great innovations that are being created and developed today, it truly is an interesting time to live. More and more I'm beginning to think the future is a little closer to today than it may seem...
Anyways I'm off to another gala dinner event thingy... Let's see how it stacks up to Houston!
"If you can dream it, you can do it..." -Walt Disney... Indeed true sir!
The next key note speaker was Jeremy Gutsche from Trendhuner.com, an expert at "Hunting Cool." To be honest I lost my notes about this event, and I think I had a lot to say, but yea he was really great and gave some great insight about a lot of things. This idea of "Culture eats Strategy" was fairly interesting. He also showed some great youtube videos, one including a bunch of Korean Prisoners performing Thriller, definitely planning on showing the girls later.
"Win like your used to it, lose like you love it." ~ Jeremy Gutsche
Lauren and I then went and attended "Tomorrow's members: Listening to the voices of our Future." This was an extremely interesting talk, yet again talking about the "Net Generation," or "Generation Y" which apparently I fall into. It was really kind of funny listening to a speaker talk about my generation in such general terms but the speaker and panel made some great connections about how we do learn differently. That has been a great theme thus far at this conference is the recognition that things need to change... now whether or not they do is really up to them. Thus far though it seems as though business leaders have solely focused on social networking and putting things online, rather then true engagement. I was somewhat nervous and concerned when one panel member showed a video his son made, taking clips from WoW, Counter Strike, and the Matrix... all very flashy and cool but I think strays heavily on what exactly eLearning is.... duh...
After lunch we had another large keynote from Jeneanne Rae (Co-founder and President of Peer Insight). She focused solely on a design thinking philosophy. Although one of her quotes were that "People want to collaborate and connect." I couldn't help but feel like this was another DUH moment.
Our next session was with our friend Andrew Hinton (Chief information Architect, Vanguard) who we had met our first night here. Paul Rand from Zocala spoke first on business marketing and being real to your consumers. I can't help it, I was distracted to heavily about the game concept Lauren and I have started. I spent most of my time during his lecture drawing concept art on building concepts and mineral ideas. Then Andrew's talk started, the whole session was titled "Social Networking: Friend or Foe," but Andrew labeled his talk "Conversations, Milkshakes, and Gnomes." I was completely intrigued... First off he mentioned a book I thought I should mention here called "The Cathedral and the Bazaar," this book is about open source stuff and the contrast and development of the web. The start of this conversation had a lot to do with philosophy, history, and sociology. The basis of the talk was about the nature of conversation, and how the Internet has sped up conversation. He gave a great description of how slow things used to be and how things have sped up so much and so we're all rushing to react to this rapid development and change. "Engagement depends on cost," a great point we can all take back to game development. If it costs too much to play, it may not be played at all.... Also he mentioned Flickr, which is a collaboration tool that I think I'll look into later. Next came the peak of the conversation, he began talking about Will Wright (Noted video game developer, creator of the Sims) and started incorporating Wright's "Possibility Space" theory to the way businesses could work and develop... kinda... Then he started talking about WoW, personally I'm surprised by how much WoW is mentioned during this conference. People seem to be so inspired by WoW as a communication model... sure... He even got some interesting reactions when he began talking about how you can actually be "Undead and eat other people's corpses and stuff... it makes great noises... moving on!" Needless to say this one of the most interesting talks I've attended since we've come here. Andrew really showed his brilliance at this lecture and is one who I really believe "gets it."
I then attended "Understanding and Engaging the NET Generation: A model for change," a lecture gave by Susan Gibbons (Vice Provost and Dean, River Libraries, University of Rochester). Now this talk felt very weird because it was most definitely a talk about... "Us," and I'll not let my opinion in, but I thought I should post what makes up us "Net Gen." folk.
1) We're Sheltered, and assume a safety net to save us.
2) Casual with privacy
3) Close to Parents
4) We feel like we're special
5) We have High Self-esteem
6) We're pressured
7) We have a decrease in free time
8) And are more structured with our time
9) We constantly ask what the rules are, i.e "How can I get an A on this paper?"
10) We're Team Oriented, and have a desire to collaborate
11) We network socially
12) Multi-taskers
13) Visually literate
14) Very Open
15) We do things differently when gathering information, if it doesn't exist online, it doesn't exist...
16) Mix/Rip/Burn culture, and we have a blurred sense of ownership in the digital world.
17) We communicate differently, we think that e-mail is for old people
18) We Blog
19) We're gamers
Some interesting insights, I did speak up at one point to point out that some of these were making some serious sweeping generalizations, in which point most of the audience took notice and I think enjoyed the fact that we were there. She did talk about online gaming and the rise of Education Gaming, which is yet another great thing for us! She brought up MMOs and most specifically Second Life, another medium people seem to be pretty fascinated with.
A lot of very interesting stuff today, and a lot of insights. This has really become one of the most interesting conferences that I've attended. After looking at some of the great innovations that are being created and developed today, it truly is an interesting time to live. More and more I'm beginning to think the future is a little closer to today than it may seem...
Anyways I'm off to another gala dinner event thingy... Let's see how it stacks up to Houston!
The Start of Digital Now Day 2...
Morning... I woke this morning to look out of my balcony to see a fantastic red sky reaching across the harbor in front of me. Although beautiful, red skies in the morning make me nervious. I didn't think we were supposed to have bad weather this weekend, but I guess I really shouldn't care. The only time I made it outside yesterday is when we all went down to the pool before dinner. It was pretty neat, they were playing "Meet the Robinson's" on a projector near the pool. We hung out at first just in the hot tub, for we'd heard someone had just finished throwing up in the main pool.
We got hot pretty quickly and went to this other pool that was near by, it was in this large target shape and for some reason had attracted some ducks. Ann thought they were pretty cool and tried her best to catch one... she was unsuccessful.
Later that evening we had a nice dinner at this Steakhouse in the convention center. We ate with Jim Bower (Ph. D, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Whyville) a pretty interesting fellow to say the least, Tamara Adlin (Principal, Adin Inc. and former Senior Customer Experience Specialist with Amazon.com), Peter Censky (Executive Director of the Water Quality Association), and a friend of Tamara who's name I seem to have forgotten. Even though we were at a steakhouse I ended up only having french onion soup as it was already 10 pm. We had some great discussions about some interesting cultural aspects, and some very interesting conversations about topics I don't think I wish to share... It got to a point where the table became too adult for me and I had become tired, so I retired early to my lonely abode.
Lauren and I though have made some great leaps thus far though in concepts for our Senior Production class... While not revealing too much, we've been developing a concept based around a civilization we are conceptualizing... So far it's pretty neat, we'll see how much more we can conceptualize throughout today and in between sessions.
Alright, I'm going to get some breakfast... Let's see what today has in store for me.
OH! One last thought http://www.champlain.edu/centers/emc/projects/index.php Check it out... it's funny how much has gone on that I've forgotten about too haha including the super holiday card Vanessa, Mike, and I made.
We got hot pretty quickly and went to this other pool that was near by, it was in this large target shape and for some reason had attracted some ducks. Ann thought they were pretty cool and tried her best to catch one... she was unsuccessful.
Later that evening we had a nice dinner at this Steakhouse in the convention center. We ate with Jim Bower (Ph. D, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Whyville) a pretty interesting fellow to say the least, Tamara Adlin (Principal, Adin Inc. and former Senior Customer Experience Specialist with Amazon.com), Peter Censky (Executive Director of the Water Quality Association), and a friend of Tamara who's name I seem to have forgotten. Even though we were at a steakhouse I ended up only having french onion soup as it was already 10 pm. We had some great discussions about some interesting cultural aspects, and some very interesting conversations about topics I don't think I wish to share... It got to a point where the table became too adult for me and I had become tired, so I retired early to my lonely abode.
Lauren and I though have made some great leaps thus far though in concepts for our Senior Production class... While not revealing too much, we've been developing a concept based around a civilization we are conceptualizing... So far it's pretty neat, we'll see how much more we can conceptualize throughout today and in between sessions.
Alright, I'm going to get some breakfast... Let's see what today has in store for me.
OH! One last thought http://www.champlain.edu/centers/emc/projects/index.php Check it out... it's funny how much has gone on that I've forgotten about too haha including the super holiday card Vanessa, Mike, and I made.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Digital Now 2008... Day 1
My experience here started off to an interesting start last night. In a search for food our team, Sarah, Lauren, Ann, and I, were forced to eat at this appetiser bar place at the Disney Contemporary resort. While scarfing down as much food as we could, Andrew Hinton (Chief Information Architect of Vanguard) noticed we were holding our Digital Now fliers and decided to come over and chat with us. This spurred a great conversation about games and many of the concepts Lauren, Ann, and I have been preaching all year long. This was a great talk, for me at least because I think it really helped me get my mind back to the subject matter and ready for the following day. I retired to my suite on the fifth floor, while the girls left me to theirs on the eleventh. I felt lonely at first and then was soon comforted by my awesome suite, with complimentary computer with Internet access and balcony. =)
We all woke up early today to be here at 7 AM for breakfast. Afterwards we heard from a general sessions from Hugh Lee (who we met at MPI) and Don Dea, the President and Co-founder of Fusion Productions. Then Chris Anderson, Editor-in-chief of Wired, gave a great key note about the power of Niches... still trying to wrap my head around it.
Afterward I attended a really great session called "The three Cs of Value: Content, Context, and Connections," by Ellen Wagner (Senior Director of Worldwide eLearning Solutions with Adobe Systems. She was fantastic! She illustrated some of the points we've been speaking out about for years. She discussed how powerpoint was no longer acceptable and that these new learning technologies really were changing everyone's expectations. She even gave a brief talk about serious games and how fundamental they are. Needless to say Lauren and I were pretty excited. We then heard from discussion of panelists, who all supposedly were integrating eLearning solutions in their own businesses. Gah! That was frustrating unfortunately... It seems as though many business leaders are getting extremely close to grasping the concept but aren't quite there. They seem to recognize that the next generation of workers just flat out learn differently, but I don't think they've found out how to respond to that. From the sounds, they are attempting to reach out, by putting their teaching basis on the web but that just isn't enough.... You aren't reaching out to us just by putting information on the computer.... You aren't engaging us and therefor we aren't personalizing the information and not just not learning! Well that's my rant...
Another thought that I found was pretty funny was that there are so many people here that are completely amazed by facebook, myspace, and other social networking tools that most people my age take for granted. I attended another session entitled "Social Networking," and apparently business professionals really want a social networking tool for their organizations as a networking tool. There's a big talk about how if companies should work with facebook and other pre-made tools or develop their own...
We also had a great talk about the Semantic Web and Twine (look it up online). This is a new form of web browsing for Web 3.0. He talked about how at first we tagged websites with keywords(yahoo), then we developed algorithms biased on the links on the website search engines found(google), and now they are developing the next development in search engines the semantic web. The next step after this people are saying is that Web 4.0 will actually have an AI and be intelligent... weird I know...
I just finished my last keynote for the day... I believe... On Whyville, an extremely interesting concept! Yet a somewhat annoying presenter though... I believe all we have left of today is more meet and greet stuff... but I really need to go for now because Ann just told us something extremely exciting but also something I can't share here =)
Will post when I can...
We all woke up early today to be here at 7 AM for breakfast. Afterwards we heard from a general sessions from Hugh Lee (who we met at MPI) and Don Dea, the President and Co-founder of Fusion Productions. Then Chris Anderson, Editor-in-chief of Wired, gave a great key note about the power of Niches... still trying to wrap my head around it.
Afterward I attended a really great session called "The three Cs of Value: Content, Context, and Connections," by Ellen Wagner (Senior Director of Worldwide eLearning Solutions with Adobe Systems. She was fantastic! She illustrated some of the points we've been speaking out about for years. She discussed how powerpoint was no longer acceptable and that these new learning technologies really were changing everyone's expectations. She even gave a brief talk about serious games and how fundamental they are. Needless to say Lauren and I were pretty excited. We then heard from discussion of panelists, who all supposedly were integrating eLearning solutions in their own businesses. Gah! That was frustrating unfortunately... It seems as though many business leaders are getting extremely close to grasping the concept but aren't quite there. They seem to recognize that the next generation of workers just flat out learn differently, but I don't think they've found out how to respond to that. From the sounds, they are attempting to reach out, by putting their teaching basis on the web but that just isn't enough.... You aren't reaching out to us just by putting information on the computer.... You aren't engaging us and therefor we aren't personalizing the information and not just not learning! Well that's my rant...
Another thought that I found was pretty funny was that there are so many people here that are completely amazed by facebook, myspace, and other social networking tools that most people my age take for granted. I attended another session entitled "Social Networking," and apparently business professionals really want a social networking tool for their organizations as a networking tool. There's a big talk about how if companies should work with facebook and other pre-made tools or develop their own...
We also had a great talk about the Semantic Web and Twine (look it up online). This is a new form of web browsing for Web 3.0. He talked about how at first we tagged websites with keywords(yahoo), then we developed algorithms biased on the links on the website search engines found(google), and now they are developing the next development in search engines the semantic web. The next step after this people are saying is that Web 4.0 will actually have an AI and be intelligent... weird I know...
I just finished my last keynote for the day... I believe... On Whyville, an extremely interesting concept! Yet a somewhat annoying presenter though... I believe all we have left of today is more meet and greet stuff... but I really need to go for now because Ann just told us something extremely exciting but also something I can't share here =)
Will post when I can...
A year's end and reflection...
Starting this post I'm going to assume anyone who reads this will already know who I am, and so I'm just going to jump right into some major thoughts I've been having...
While on a plane ride from Burlington to JFK, and JFK to Orlando I start reading a book that I haven't read since possibly elementary school. Which is silly because this book was really my first favorite book. The book is called "Myst: The Book of Atrus," a must read, which originates from the Myst video games. Starting to read this book I started remembering a lot of my childhood and how this book really influenced my sense of adventure and awe in the world. Which could have very well translated into my passion for creating video games and 3D content today. Anyways this spurred a thought about just how things have changed for me since leaving home and into the person I am today. I've grown a lot... which completely sucks in some respects. I grew up saying how I'd never grown up, in true Pan-esk fashion, and sure enough I've gone and done just that.
It's funny to think that in this past year alone I've been to Orlando, Boston, Washington DC, Houston, Arizona, New York, Connecticut, and now back again to Orlando in this crazy thrill ride Ann DeMarle (of the Emergent Media Center) seems to have me on. I've help create four rapid developed gamelets, I've stood onstage in front of 2,000 business leaders, been polygraphed, and have had a whole lot of new experiences this past year that just blows my mind! I had a whole section that I wanted to write about in regards to change and this past year but have been completely distracted by a day of sessions here at Digital Now... long end of the story short, I have a great and stressful last year, with many great experiences, and have made a few new great friends along the way.
For now though I feel as though I should write about my experiences here at the moment and should write this in a new post =)
While on a plane ride from Burlington to JFK, and JFK to Orlando I start reading a book that I haven't read since possibly elementary school. Which is silly because this book was really my first favorite book. The book is called "Myst: The Book of Atrus," a must read, which originates from the Myst video games. Starting to read this book I started remembering a lot of my childhood and how this book really influenced my sense of adventure and awe in the world. Which could have very well translated into my passion for creating video games and 3D content today. Anyways this spurred a thought about just how things have changed for me since leaving home and into the person I am today. I've grown a lot... which completely sucks in some respects. I grew up saying how I'd never grown up, in true Pan-esk fashion, and sure enough I've gone and done just that.
It's funny to think that in this past year alone I've been to Orlando, Boston, Washington DC, Houston, Arizona, New York, Connecticut, and now back again to Orlando in this crazy thrill ride Ann DeMarle (of the Emergent Media Center) seems to have me on. I've help create four rapid developed gamelets, I've stood onstage in front of 2,000 business leaders, been polygraphed, and have had a whole lot of new experiences this past year that just blows my mind! I had a whole section that I wanted to write about in regards to change and this past year but have been completely distracted by a day of sessions here at Digital Now... long end of the story short, I have a great and stressful last year, with many great experiences, and have made a few new great friends along the way.
For now though I feel as though I should write about my experiences here at the moment and should write this in a new post =)
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