Why America is so horribly, horribly messed up

(Picture courtesy What They Play)
Yes, that’s right. Little Timmy’s mom and dad would rather him see someone’s head get severed or blown off that to <gasp> see a little hetero boot-knockin’ or <horror! unspeakable horror!> two men engaged in a passionate kiss.
What the fuck is wrong with this country? I for one would MUCH rather [...]

Cat Herding and Taking PS 545 Students on a Second Life Field Trip

My PS 545 American Political Thought class is doing a major Digital Ethnography project in Second Life this semester. To get everyone on the same page, we went on a “digital field trip” in the lab the other week,

and had some fun deconstructing the meth lab simulation on UK Island. That’s me in the all-black [...]

Merry Christmas (and a Nerdy New Year)

And a quick coda to all my nerd peeps out there:

h/t: BoingBoing

Play and Digital Space

Attention Conservation Notice: I’m putting this PowerPoint up for future reference. As some of you know, I’m considering a Second Life component of American Political Thought next semester, so this is just going into the research/prep stream for that. Note to self: Read The Play Ethic now that it’s out in US paperback.

Teaching the Web 2.0 Student

I ran across this presentation a few months ago on Slideshare:

It really got me thinking about how we educate college students, and what kind of a world we are preparing them for. Clearly our “Charlie’s”  are going to increasingly find themselves working in these types of “virtual companies,” so what are we doing at the [...]