Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

Well today in class i learned about peace education . From what i remember peace education is when people teach you about peace and how it helps us . well i believe that peace and justice go hand in hand . you need one to make the other. Qithout justice you don't have peace . Justice is way of bringing fairness to people all over the world . It is used to justify the law or to correct moral standards . Peace is when you are in perfect harmony with everyone you interact with . When no one is violent and where everyone is happy. But pay close attention because when justice is disrupted or destroyed , peace is literally gone . no one agrees with anyone . Everyone is violent . So basically , peace is what brings this world together . Justice is another way to just make things equal , so that peace is never destroyed in one community. That's what i think peace and justice is and that's the way i believe they interact.

Posted by VVP Ronald at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well... today we began off with technical difficulties. But we did get a cool comic strip of how to customize an avatar... sadly enough... the places mentioned in that comic strip...I couldn’t find on Teen Second Life... but oh well ^^;;~ we met someone named Ming and he helped Joe and me get new clothes... ^^;;... Hmm.... what else.... well I found out that 80L$ = about ten US cents... keke ^^;;... or something like that. Basically it isn’t much ^^;;. What else, What else? Well today, we began our VVP program with a discussion about Peace and Justice. I didn’t really share my thoughts on that since....I think that those things vary depending on setting and circumstance.

I came across a very interesting question a couple of weeks ago: Can there be a price put on freedom? A lot of people would answer no, because it seems logical that freedom is something man must strive for, but then...if you think about it... in our system of government....it can be...right? Especially since there is a price to bail yourself out of jail if you do something wrong... and this type of use of money is probably used everywhere...especially places with corrupt governments and systems of law. But this brings up the question: Is it just for a guilty person to buy off his freedom, when an innocent one cannot because he does not have the money to do so?

Anyway, as for peace, is it true that there can be no peace without war? I understand that life needs a balance of some sort... but do those balances go to the extremes of war and peace? I forgot who it is that said it, but someone said that there needs to be justice in order for there to be peace. So that brings up, is man kind capable of judging what is just--especially when mankind is so very flawed? And if not, then that proves peace to be nothing more than an idea--or dream--or rather something that is unattainable.

It sounds...maybe blunt to say, but if you think about it, there is a reason this world cannot achieve this "Utopia". Society will never be perfect....because life would be too boring, which is what makes things like second life so interesting. Second life...you can make it out to be whatever you please for it to be like...I guess it gives people a sense of power...which makes it so desirable. Its interesting...you can either reinvent yourself, or remain exactly the same. Its weird, because after I began playing second life....as I walk around the real world and see people...I can see them in a completely different way... I can just imagine how they would look in a virtual world.

Anyway~ ^^;; I got off track~ well today...we were taught how to make billboards in Second Life ^^;;~ (for anyone who's read the Great Gatsby doesn’t that word always remind you of Dr. Eckleburg?) Anyway... my group had to work on Absence of Peace... and we had to make a Billboard on that...and it was an interesting assignment....but I don’t think we worked together as fast as we should have~ because we came across...some difficulties... ^^;; like Ting not having any money and her being the one creating the object....which made it hard for her to actually put in the picture we wanted...so Christina had to teleport herself from the Sandbox off GK island to give her money to post the picture up... ah~ the confusion that all created ^^;; but it worked out pretty well at the end... ^^;; even though we were kind of late in putting up our billboard. But it is through failure, mistakes, and obstacles in life that we learn...right? Anyway...we ended up making our Billboard's texture of a car bombing in Iraq....and that was what we thought the absence of peace was equivalent to: war.

So over all, even though we started the day off with some net difficulties, the day was pretty good ^^ and we learned a lot of things~ ^^~ and I guess I will end the blog right here since I've already written a page and I don't think anyone really wants to read all this.

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey it's me brandon again. Today in machinima we talked about peace and justice. It was very interesting because we learned how peace and justice are like brothers and sisters.
We learned that peace education is an integral part of thw work of the United Nations. They strive to counteract the dehumanization of poverty, prejudice, discrimination, rape, violence, and war.
We also had quotes on justice. "Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and...when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structered dams that block the flow of social progress." This is by Martin Luther King, Jr. and this means that without law and order it becomes a blockage to different speeches.

Well thats all folks.
See you next time on my blogs hope you learned something.

Posted by VVP brandon at 9:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey what's good?

I want to say that this program is good, we are learning about machinima. So far I like it, I get time to learn in a fun way and also to get to know the people in the group. I am looking foward to continuing this program.

Well that's what I wanted to say soooooooooooo see you soon, take care.

Muahzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted by VVP-maria at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello everybody =) !! I usually read other people's blogs, but I'm not used to write my own blog, it feels really weird, it's like talking/writing into the air, especially because you never know who is reading it! =0 heheh.... Anyway, I think it was fun yesterday, I think the best part of Second Life is that we can fly in that world. In real life, I always imagine that I'm a witch who is able to fly. Unfortunately I can't, so I love to use my flying ability in Second Life..XD. The sad part about our meeting is that I always feel the time is so short. If my time in school is in walking pace then, my time in our meeting is in a running pace..so, if you ask me about my experience, i might not able to talk much about it. What I liked about the machinima that we saw yesterday was that it looks very good and it's funny. It shocks me that it took so much time to make it. I kind of start worrying about the machinima that I am going to make!

Posted by VVP Ting at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday in the meeting of Global Kids we went learned more about the program Second Life. We discussed some rules about Second Life and the precautions. We started a scavenger hunt which was pretty fun but was not long lived due to the limited time we had. That is all I really remembered since I had a long day of school and I'm pretty sleepy. I have many tests on Thursday so i know it's going to be a long day.

Posted by VVP Armando at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is my first blog on Global Kids. I'm very bored right now and I'd rather be playing Second Life but my computer doesnt have the right video card to play it. See everybody on Thursday =)

Posted by VVP Alex at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

-Hey I am excited to be in the Machinima program....... It is a lot of fun and I am learning a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.Thank you guys.....

Posted by VVP Rocio at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was pretty fun. I enjoyed being at Global Kids as I always do. It's miraculous that I actually found time once I got home to type in this blog but I'm actually doing it. I'm not going to stay on this too long because I'm actually going to take the time to download Second Life. Maybe I'll see you guys there, and I'll get a chance to learn things on my own, disruption free! So that wraps this up, and I can't wait until the next time I am able to post a blog!!!!
~Nicholas

Posted by VVP Nick at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

well im in a new site with other people too...this is my first blog...we are having lots of fun ...GOSH IM SUPER DUPER HUNGRYYYYYY

Posted by VVP genesis at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hmm... well today...I guess we began off with playing Common Ground....and I have to admit...this version of common ground was a lot different from the GK one I did in my school.... ^^ but I thought it was interesting. But... when I tried to name 4 South American countries in my head I got confused, lol....Panama is North American right?.... Isnt it the last country on Northern America? or is that Central America?... >< I'm not too great with geography~ lol. Anyway... after that we all went into GK Island and met one and another and went on a scavenger hunt! ^^ there I met some GK VVP members and Sam~ lol... hmmm what else? well... Ting went before me on the Hunt... and when it came to switching users the lappie kind of froze a little ><~ so I barely got to do anything on the hunt~ but oh well ><;;~ I've been on the Island before and looked around... ^^;; so I didnt really miss out on a lot... hmm... except I didnt find the Darfur wristband or whatever ><~ Hmm...what else? well we got introduced to this Blog too ^^~.... and when I first read the title it kind of seemed weird~ lol... but I guess its a nice place.. ^^ although I did have some trouble actually getting my account all together~ but now its all fixed~ so YAY~ ^^
Anyway~ ^^;; I guess thats about it~ ^^;;

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi my name is Brandon, its about 8:30 so I'm going to talk fast. Today at Second Life we learned how to talk to other people. We also did a scavenger hunt and saw the animals and objects like pizza in Second Life. This is what we did itoday.

See you later.

Posted by VVP brandon at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ever wonder what it takes to do some of the presentations and events held within Teen Second Life? We put together a pdf of some of the methods and techniques used by Global Kids within this virtual space.

Includes discussion of the following various approaches:

• The Live Video Stream
• The Live Radio Show
• The Virtual Lecture
• The Virtual Performance
• The Interactive Experience
• Physics-free Presentations

Read the full pdf here.

Posted by joyce at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is my first blog to Holy Meatballs, and wow, is it fun. Just think: Lots of people around the world are going to be able to read about me talking about how they're reading about me talking about them!!! How cool is that?

Posted by smejias at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

At the end of the Camp GK all campers filled out a lengthy online survey which asked about such things as what they liked about the program and what they learned. As these surveys were completed with the expectations of anonymity, they will be referred to below in the aggregate. However, we can share some of the wonderful names taken by these TSL residents, such as Keleus Ferguson, Lucky Figtree, TheCoolLeader Boyer, Tin Bling, and Itokuzu Shimada.

The most common issue raised was that they had learned about world issues, often a sense of discovery. One camper wrote, "I came into camp thinking yea the world is big but after I realized its not just big its HUGE!" A second wrote, "I learned how many things I don't know or weren't aware of." A third wrote, "I learned more about the world and issues I never even knew
existed." As a result, a number reported being better prepared for the new school year, as this one camper reported: "You all prepared my brain for my first year in High School, and I will make you all proud one day!"

The second most common issue mentioned was the sense of personal and collective agency they developed. Five examples are: "I learned that in a short amount of days ANYTHING can be done," "I learned that if you put your heads together, anything is possible," "I learned that people can do things you never expect of them," "Before camp I never thought about issues in the world. Well I did but I never thought there was anything I could do to fix them. But I've found out thatŠ I can help to make a difference," and "I am going to make a difference in the world, and I will have all of you to thank for giving me that big push!"

One of recurring items in the surveys that surprised us was how often they comment on the programs "fun-factor." Three examples are: "I didn't think I'd have that much fun when learning," "I learned sooo much there is not enough paper in the world to write it on and the best part about it I learned it having fun," and "It was so fun I wanted it to go through the weekend."

Less surprising was their delight in the maze and what they learned from building and promoting it. Three examples are: "I think the final project was awesome. I loved building and helping out and I feel like we have reached a lot of people," "I was surprised by how dedicated these teens are; we all worked hard and we completed our goal," and "The final activism was great! It was fun, educational, and we got to help out kids at the end!"

Finally, a number of campers appreciated their opportunities to express their opinion and learn new things from their peers. Two examples are: "Discussions with other teens can happen with them being very mature," and "I liked how all our ideas were heard."

Posted by joyce at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Something great about Second Life is that you can interact with Second Life members from around the world.

Posted by p4kvladimyr at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

2 day was fun talking 2 people while playing the Global Kids workshop in Second Life "avatar scavenger hunt." If you don't know about Second Life you should try learning about it.
Lithelson

Posted by p4klithelson at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harper Poultry, a resident in Teen Second Life, experienced Global Kids' representation of the Darfur photo exhibit from the U.S. Holocaust museum and left the following comment:
"This isn't gonna happen again, the holocaust will never happen again, because I wont let it."

First, the event in the real world.

Our Walls Bear Witness
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will project wall-sized images of the genocide in Darfur onto its facade every night during Thanksgiving week, marking the first time the national memorial's exterior will be used to highlight contemporary genocide. The photographs are drawn from the work of some of the world's premier photojournalists, including VoGP guest, Ron Haviv.

A version of the museum, and of the photos, have been created in the main grid. Those folks were kind enough to give us a copy, with the help of Claudia Linden, and they are now on display on Global Kids Island. Come check them out and leave your comments below. You can also read a post created by Joe, a GK youth leader in the machinima program, about his response to the photos.

Floating above the museum:

Linden made the welcome message to the teen grid over Thanksgiving weekend a promotion for the event. It read: "Ever ask yourself, What Genocide in Darfur? Find out now through Nov. 26th by viewing a special video and photos, developed in partnership with the U.S. Holocaust Museum. TP to Global Kids Island event stage."

A number of teens built objects to support the event. nik385 Doesburg helped out a lot, amongst other things building a rotating globe with an arrow pointing to the Darfur region of the Sudan.

Along with a video from the opening ceremonies at the U.S. Holocaust museum, we ran a second screen with a student project about Darfur from TSL resident Aesop Thatch, created for a school project:

Posted by Barry at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eliane Alhadeff, who has been covering our work since we began blogging last summer, has just added a section on her blog just to cover our work. She explains:

Even though I have already dedicated 8 posts to Global Kids' achievements, I feel a compelling need to publish a new post each time GK manages another breakthrough. It is a sort of personal celebration -- Global Kids challenging us to play a better future!

Global Kids have now a dedicated category, as I anticipate a series of breakthroughs in a near future.

Thank you Eliane. We like having the bar held high.

Posted by joyce at 3:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Once again, Eliane Alhadeff, on her excellent blog, has focused her attention on Global Kids' programs. This time around, she reviews Ayiti, both the game the program that produced it, and incorporates and responds to some recent crtiques of the game,

Educational serious games are on the rise. Recent years have seen the development of games in which the player tries to dispense food in a war zone, tries to make peace between Israel and Palestine, tries to escape warlords in Darfur, and much more. But even in this pack of progressive educational tools, Ayiti stands out.

read more here.

Posted by joyce at 3:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Newsletter YouthLearn cites the Global Kids gaming program as one of the top 100 big things in regards to Youth, Education & Technology!

YouthLearn Newsletter, Issue 100 - November 21, 2006
Special Issue: YouthLearn's 100 Big Things in Youth, Education & Technology

As we record this milestone of our 100th newsletter on the eve of our fifth year here at EDC, we thought it might be fun to try to identify 100 "Big Things" (innovations, opportunities, challenges, heroes, etc.) that have had an impact on youth, education, and technology in the past 5 years. As a disclaimer, this list is by no means intended to be definitive or remotely scientific, but perhaps a chance to think about what truly drives our work and how to influence it moving forward for another 5 years and beyond.

Posted by joyce at 3:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by joyce at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry Jenkin's recently posted on his notable blog about his experience with Global Kids Island, both appearing in a live video stream during the recent MacArthur Foundation announcement and through viewing images of the avatar we created for him.

From his blog entry entitled, "The New and Improved Henry Jenkins":

I was so impressed by the experience of participating in the MacArthur Foundation's press event, which was partially held in the New York Museum of Natural History and partially held in Second Life, that I sought out Barry Joseph from Global Kids, an organization which regularly runs events through Teen Second Life, to see if there might be a way I could engage with their youth participants. My one concern, as a media scholar, had been that when we spoke in Second Life at the press event, we appeared as cinematic images and not as avatars.

So, in speaking with Joseph, we decided that I should get an avatar if I was going to relate to the Second Life youth on their own terms. Joseph was nice enough to volunteer to get some members of his group to create an avatar for me. Apparently, some of the youth had expressed a particular fascination with my beard and therefore wanted to be able to reproduce it and share it with their friends. (I wasn't sure which Henry beard they wanted since mine comes in various lengths from trim to shaggy depending on what point it is in the term and how hectic my life has been.)

This past weekend, Barry wrote to introduce me to the second Henry Jenkins. I have to say that I bonded instantly with this frisky fellow.

Read more, and view the photos here.

Posted by joyce at 3:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ayiti: The Cost of Life was recently featured at the Margaret Mead Film Festival. Alongside a number of other games including Darfur is Dying and A Force More Powerful, Ayiti helped to flush out the panel on video games with an activist bent. The panel was organized by Games for Change, the organization that leads the field of social change through digital gaming.

One might be wondering, "Why are there games at a documentary film festival?" This is a valid question. Games are undeniably not films. However, some video games (and the number grows each day) are in fact documentaries. Video games with real world content, like Ayiti and others like it, reflect a natural outgrowth of the medium that reflects what is actually happening in the world. A similar thing happened to film in the 1970's, when documentary film changed the way that people looked at the medium of film and its potentials. As opposed to being a fluke, it's likely that this isn't the last time you'll hear about games at film festivals. In fact, we know it's not. : )

Posted by Rafi at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

GK is proud to host the "OUR WALLS BEAR WITNESS - DARFUR: WHO WILL SURVIVE TODAY?" is a mixed media event, taking place during Thanksgiving week, 2006 at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, as well as concurrently in the virtual 3-D reality on-line community, Second Life. Wall-sized images depicting the escalating genocide in Darfur will be projected onto the facade of the Museum as well as in SL. This represents not only the first time the national memorial's exterior is being used to highlight contemporary genocide, but also in Second Life on GK Island.

Visitors to GK Island will be able to view the exhibition with its powerful, thought-provoking images, as well as a 1 hour video of the actual installation at the GK theatre.

Teens on TSL are encouraged to drop by between Nov 22-26, 2006 to check out the event, leave their feedback, take a snapshot, and GK will reimburse $20L per snapshot submitted. For more information on the event by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, please go to www.ushmm.org

Posted by tabitha at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It amazes me that I can still be amazed by Second Life. After eleven months in this space you would think we would have experienced it all by now. But no...

Yesterday we took the Playing 4 Keeps students into Second Life for the first time. You can read what Lithelson had to say about it, even though his TSL account was not available until this morning. Then this afternoon we took the machinima students in to Second Life for the first time.

Okay, that's it. End of day. Time to go home.

At home, I needed to go into TSL to work on the Darfur Photo exhibit. However, I was not in for ten seconds when I received one, two, then a third IM, from that number of GK Leaders. They were all teens from the Machinima program, that I had just left a few hours earlier. One by one they were logging in, I presume from home.

I found where most were gathering, where I last left them, at the entrance to the maze. And there was another GK Leader, Lithelson, the one from Playing 4 Keeps. There he was standing in front of me, surrounded by other "Gkids", none knowing who the others were.

I explained that all Gkids, who are not staff, are other Global Kids Leaders. Then they met each other.

Then a number of teen residents who have been involved with GK's programs, but are not Gkids, came by. More introductions.

I am not sure how to say this, but my mind was blown. For readers of this blog, we are used to people connecting online all the time. But please keep in mind - most of Global Kids is an in-person program.

Watching our GK Leaders meeting each other, on their own terms, outside our programs, for the first time, in a virtual space, amazed me.

Watching GK Leaders continue our programs on their own, watching them learn to build, or buy, or ride a motorcycle, amazed me.

Watching them look to each other for advice, such as when the residents took the Gkids on a tour of the main grid and taught them how to buy things, amazed me.

What will it mean that these three separate programs have found one another, on their own terms, after only being in the space for less than 24 hours? How will this impact how we structure the programs? What possibilities will emerge for peer education and collective intelligence across and between the programs? Will some teens in one program get to know youth in another program better than they know the youth in their own and, if so, what does this mean? Will teens with greater home access diverge in knowledge and practice from their peers who lack such access and how with that divide play out within the program?

These questions amaze me. I look forward to experiencing it unfold over the next few months.

Until then, here are some photos:

P4K, Machinima, and teen residents find each other:

Posted by Barry at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This afternoon the Global Kids Leaders at the Museum of the Moving Image, learning about global issues and machinima through TSL, embodied their avatars for the first time. They learned how to "talk and walk". Below are some photos of their first few minutes, as they learned to change their avatar.

I look forward to returning to these photos with these GK Leaders in a month or two once they not only created their own particular look for their personal avatars but come to identify with it so closely that the images above will appear alien to them.

Posted by Barry at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

P4K Leader DeWayne travelled to Phildalelphia to present along with Barry Joseph at Microsoft's Wide World Summit. More information to come. But, in the meantime, here is a photo of DeWayne arriving at the hotel to learn his was the official Guest of the Day! As a result, they upgraded him to one of the largest rooms in the hotel.

Posted by Barry at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today in Playing 4 Keeps we went into Second Iife. I learned how to do some basic things with an avatar such as: walking, chatting, flying, trading friendship cards, using a map, teleporting to where ever I want and dressing up my avatar. Even though I haven't play it yet from what I have seen so far, in my point of view, I could say that's a fun inner world to be in. Do me a favor - to who ever is reading this- just check it out. Trust me, you'll like it!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by p4klithelson at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week's BusinessWeek Magazine has a series of articles about real-world organizations taking their brands into Second Life. A neat graphic lists the picks for examples in each category. For non-profit? Global Kids! (Of course, we view other non-profits in SL as members in a growing community, not as our "rivals," but I guess this is how the business world sees what we do.)

NONPROFITS

Global Kids
January 2006

WHY Education, teen ourtreach, fund-raising. WHAT Runs after school programs and held a summer camp where students built an educational game about child sex trafficking and raised funds for victims. RIVALS U.N., American Cancer Society, Dartmouth, Harvard, NYU. FACTS Located on Teen Second Life grid, for users age 13 to 17.

Posted by joyce at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We can't say when. And we can't say how. But soon. Really soon.... Henry Jenkins will be coming to Global Kids Island in Second Life...

Here are some sneak peeks...

www.flickr.com Holy Meatballs' Henry Jenkins photoset

Posted by Barry at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi there! Let me introduce myself, my name is Alpha Zaius on the teen grid. I am currently helping Global Kids along with with the the "World Fit for Children Building Contest." This contest is the biggest one ever seen on the grid and I am extremely happy to be a part of it. So, here is the low-down on what is going on.

(click to read on)

Teams of at least 3 members will assemble on the grid and attend a fully interactive workshop. The two hour workshop will showcase several different global issues that UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) strive to correct in the world such as hunger, education, discrimination, etc. The teams will then build an exhibit in Second Life to demonstrate one or more of these issues and what we all can do to help out. The exhibits will be judged by a "Voices of Youth" (A group of teens that represent UNICEF) member. Here is the exciting part! The prizes are as follows (all in United States Dollars:)

1st place: team shares $200
2nd place: team shares $100
3rd place: team shares $50

The workshops consist of a snapshot contest, scavenger hunt, and other interactive fun things to get yourself situated about what UNICEF is doing without the boring lecture. The following is a list of avaliable time slots that Global Kids have devoted to the timeslots. Keep an eye on this blog in the very, very near future for information on how to sign up.

December 4
8am - 10am
11am - 1pm
2pm - 4pm

December 5
8am - 10am

December 11
11am - 1pm
2pm - 4pm

December 12
8am - 10am
4:30pm - 6:30pm

December 13
7am - 9am
5pm - 7pm

December 14
8am - 10am
4:30pm - 6:30pm

December 15
11am - 1pm
2pm - 4pm

I am not alone on this venture. I would like to say thanks to Aesop Thatch, Katharine Berry, and Global Kids with their hard work to keep me moving along with this project. Aesop is our builder who created the awesome workshop area! Katharine is our web girl / scripter / all-a-round-handy person to have.. She has been working on the whole web application entirely by herself!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or Tabitha GKid inworld. Thanks :)

Posted by tabitha at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were delighted recently to be featured on the podcast MediaSnackers, a wonderful series that focuses on innovative new media producers for a free-form ten minutes or so interview. They describe themselves as "a site/weblog/project/call to action for people interested in how young people consume and create media across the globe." This is a lovely piece that allowed us not just to give an overview of our programs but explore some of the larger implications of our work.

Listen to it here.

Posted by joyce at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

eSchool.com published a piece describing the use of Second Life for educators, a story we've seen quite often since this past summer. This piece, however, includes the teen grid for the first time, as
well as the role of Global Kids. Connie Yowell and I did a great phone interview with the reporter who then informed us the next day to have lost all notes from the call. So please forgive some of the lameness of the quotes attributed to me that I had to recreate.

Read the article here.

Posted by joyce at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For Immediate Release:

Media Contacts: Jonah Kokodyniak, Global Kids, Inc.: 646-354-3657 jonah@globalkids.org

New York, NY, November 15, 2006 - Global Kids, Inc., the foremost nonprofit in New York City dedicated to educating urban youth about international affairs, and Gamelab, New York City's largest game development company, announce the release of the exciting online game, Ayiti: The Cost of Life (theCostofLife.org), which uses the location of Haiti to educate players about the obstacles to education faced by children in developing countries. When distributed and used within either a classroom or after school setting, the game will be a strong tool for building students' global awareness and civic literacy.

Youth from the program and Global Kids Executive Director Carole Artigiani and Online Leadership Program Director Barry Joseph will be present at Microsoft's World Wide School of the Future Summit happening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, November 15th. Mr. Joseph will be featured in a panel at 10:45 AM and the Ayiti: The Cost of Life game will also be distributed to Summit participants. The school is located at 4021 Parkside Avenue (corner of Parkside & Girard).

The concept of the game was developed by youth in Global Kids' Playing 4 Keeps (P4K) program and professionals from the award-winning game design studio Gamelab.

Supported by Microsoft's U.S. Partners in Learning Mid-Tier Grants Initiative, which seeks to find and support 'pockets of innovation' for increasing digital literacy and career readiness, the game will be free and also be published with lesson plans for educators through a UNICEF website Child Alert: Haiti (unicef.org/childalert/haiti/) and the educational network TakingITGlobal (takingitglobal.org).

"It can be difficult to teach critical global issues to youth who can sometimes feel that their everyday lives are far removed from things going on in remote places around the world," said Mary Cullinane, Director of Microsoft U.S. Partners in Learning. "Global Kids' Playing 4 Keeps has found a way to use technology to bring these global issues to life in a truly engaging way. We are proud to support this innovative use of technology to make these issues more real for these young citizens."

Playing 4 Keeps engages a cohort of twenty-four students from South Shore High School, a largely minority school of approximately 2,300 students located in Canarsie, Brooklyn, in working with professional game developers in the design, development and dissemination of professionally-produced online games about important social issues. During the school year, program participants conducted research about global issues and gained digital literacy, leadership, and career skills. Students participated in workshops on such global issues as Defining Human Rights, Racism, Health, Education, and Children's Rights, and then selected an issue on which to focus the game.

With professionals from Gamelab, they learned about a range of issues related to game design as a form of critical media literacy as well as the game industry and the game development process. The students also took numerous field trips and spoke about their work at prestigious conferences, including the Game Design Conference in San Jose, the Games 4 Change Conference in New York City, and the Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington.

This year, participants chose to focus their game on the general topic of poverty as an obstacle to education, based on their learning about the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and about obstacles to receiving an adequate education that youth face around the world. They then decided to use Haiti as a case study and setting for the game. The youth have documented the process of creating the game in a blog at (holymeatballs.org/playing_4_keeps) and are publicizing it through (myspace.com/thecostoflife).

In Ayiti: The Cost of Life, each player assumes the roles of family members living in rural Haiti. Over the course of the game, the player must choose among and balance various goals, such as achieving education, making money, staying healthy, and maintaining happiness while encountering unexpected events like disease and hurricanes. The player must make many decisions that contribute to or detract from achieving his or her chosen goals.

The game is designed as a serious learning tool that educators and youth workers can use in their classrooms. With its lesson plans, Ayiti: The Cost of Life, can educate players about poverty and its effects on education in general around the world, as well as about the effects of poverty on education in Haiti.

The educational effectiveness of the game is being evaluated by the Educational Development Corporation's Center for Children and Technology.

About Global Kids, Inc. (www.globalkids.org)

Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Over 85% of the high school seniors who participate in GK's leadership program graduate and attend college.

About the Global Kids Online Leadership Program (OLP)

Global Kids, Inc. is a nationally recognized leader in using digital media to promote global awareness and youth civic engagement. Global Kids' Online Leadership Program (OLP) integrates a youth development approach and international and public policy issues into youth media programs that build digital literacy, foster substantive online dialogues, develop resources for educators, and promote civic participation. Currently, the OLP is accomplishing its goals through initiatives within three broader areas: the development of socially -conscious online games; youth-led online dialogues; and the Digital Media Initiative.

About Gamelab

Gamelab invents new ways for people to play. Founded in 2000 by Peter Lee and Eric Zimmerman, Gamelab is New York City's largest and longest-running game development
company. Gamelab creates innovative games for broad audiences on and off the computer, from multiplayer online games to card and board games to museum installations and social games played by thousands in the real world. Our work has won many awards and has been exhibited internationally. Recently, Gamelab received a first-of-its-kind MacArthur grant with the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a 3-year research project on game design and media literacy.

Posted by joyce at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Researcher is a weekly non-partisan journal that provides in-depth coverage on critical issues of current affairs. First published in 1923, it is associated with the daily Congressional Quarterly, whose readership includes 95 percent of the members of Congress.

The most recent issue of CQ Quarterly focuses on the question: "Video Games: Do They Have Educational Value?" This twenty-four page report offers an excellent overview of the issue. Global Kids is all over the report, so you'll have to download the lovely pdf and read it all for yourself. In general, the report cites our work in our Playing 4 Keeps program, in our Summer Camp in Second Life, and our leadership programs in that virtual world.

Posted by joyce at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I would like to create a game that expresses myself. P4k is a great program. I like being part of it.
Vladimyr

Posted by p4kvladimyr at 5:23 PM | Permalink