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Submitted by Josh on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 13:19.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis faucibus sagittis est. Aliquam faucibus libero in dui suscipit accumsan. Etiam id nunc id dolor aliquet luctus. Donec ultricies congue nulla. Nam tristique lectus. Donec ullamcorper. Duis vestibulum. Aenean gravida ligula eget dolor. Donec id neque. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nam enim nulla, vehicula ac, aliquam eget, sodales sed, augue. Vivamus tellus leo, congue at, lobortis ut, volutpat eget, justo.

 

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Deadline: Talking to Tony Kuttner

Submitted by Josh on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 14:48.
Deadline is a fun game. It's actually really fun, and at the same time, it's about the news. Well, it's not just about the news, it is the news. It's just delivered differently.

Deadline is a game played through facebook that tests the player's knowledge of the news. The first time I encountered it, I was knee deep in school work. Yet, this facebook app managed to steal over an hour of my time. It was a fair trade though as I found myself thoroughly caught up on recent events when I finally managed to quit.

At NewsTools2008 yesterday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Tony Kuttner of NewzWag.com. He's on the team that created Deadline and shared his thoughts on

Here are the highlights:

-Other news quiz applications have relied on the player knowing trivia (what was the general's name that...) rather than knowing about the story. Someone who just quotes trivia when talking makes for a dull conversationalist. Delivering more of the story and what's interesting about that story makes for better conversations and therefore a better game.

-Regular, new content is key. They aim to get 15-20 new stories up every weekday and 10 each day on weekends.

-Aesthetics were important to the team. It had to look good. It's hard to test exactly how much of an effect this has on whether people play, but it seems important. (Anecdotaly, I think the design makes me more prone to stick around.)

-Including interesting, sometimes offbeat, stories and making it easy to share with your friends is important to the community aspect.

-The application was created as part of a team that included 3 developers. None were game developers, but some members of the team were avid gamers. (Avid gaming seems important as they get a lot of little things right).

Disruptive Technologies: Social, Civic, News and Gaming Networks

Submitted by Josh on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 23:04.
I sat in on session at NewsTools2008 about gaming principles applied to news. Jim Moore co-facilitated and described how a massively multiplayer game designer he had talked to really seemed to understand engaging people in a way the news tends to miss. He said he was surprised how much social psychology was being applied in game communities, but not in political communities and even less in the news.

Moore outlined three gaming principles that could be applied to the news:
1. Games allow the player to take on a glamorous role.
2. Games dole out points for positive behaviors in their worlds.
3. Games are fun to play.

Gabriel Coan from KQED mentioned a story bringing together all of these that was done by WNYC in New York. The goal was to use the crowd to cover price gouging in the city. Listeners were asked to go to upload local shop prices for milk, lettuce and beer. The result was a map mashup of gougy businesses and a citizen force that felt like part of the WNYC team.

The session included other cool ideas like a real life game that gave points to students for getting involved in community coverage of local gentrification and geocache games to get people to explore parts of their community they wouldn't otherwise go.

Sidenote: Gabriel, someone found your name badge outside the room.

NewsTools2008 Video Stream

Submitted by Josh on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 17:53.
You can attend the conference with us at http://ustream.tv/channel/newstools2008

We're currently talking about emerging roles in the new news ecology, but the discussion is evolving as we go.

Audio Tools: Transom.org

Submitted by Josh on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 14:42.

Microtrak by Kino-EyeOne of the best tools I've found for audio storycrafting is transom.org. If your site involves podcasts, screencasts, live interviews or audio of any kind, this site is a very good reference.

Transom.org's mission is to bring newbies into the audio storytelling space and the site describes itself this way:
 

Transom.org is an experiment in channeling new work and voices to public radio through the Internet, and for discussing that work, and encouraging more. We've designed Transom.org as a performance space, an open editorial session, an audition stage, a library, and a hangout.

NPR listeners will immediately feel at home as public radio regulars show up to write articles and offer advice. As well, community members can submit their own pieces for feedback .

The tools section of the site hosts reviews on portable audio recorders and microphones. People wondering where to start with audio editing software can find well-crafted tutorials here as well.

 

 


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