Topic 3

Question 1: The battle for wesnoth.
I'm afraid at this point I don't have the time nor the bandwidth to get the battle for wesnoth running. But as a veteran of World of Warcraft (I've been clean for almost two years now though) I am VERY familiar with online gaming. As a matter of fact I did an assignment in 2007 on the nature of interpersonal communication and socialisation in online games. What I discovered was that it was quite a difficult discourse to break into oftentimes. Most participants too impatient to assist the newbies. You find helpful people though and I know I did my best to educate newbies in the ways of the world (of warcraft). I participated in several guilds (sometimes simultaneously with different characters) and as a part of that involvement I met some very interesting people and had a great deal of real conversations with people, some of which I am still friends with even after having ceased playing. So if the point of this question was to personally evaluate the merit behind social interaction in online games then I say this: Some of the experiences and memories I've had in online gaming are just as fond in my mind as those I've had out with friends physically. We can debate the scientific and psychological merits or flaws in this environment but there is overwhelming evidence that complex, meaningful social interactions are happening in these environments nowadays.

Question 2: Mobile computing research.
Wifi technology advantages for E-Learning.
This article documents many ways in which mobile phones can be used in a learning environment. Some of the applications of this technology that jumped out at me were:

Use of a mobile device in the classroom:
This one is right at the bottom of the article but it really jumped out at me. Use applications on our mobile phones to submit feedback to the lecturer at the front of the class. This can extend beyond submission of text answers to diagrams or whatever detailed response is needed. It also helps to reduce the stigma of chirping up with completely the wrong answer or input. One other side effect is that with the mobile phones occupied with class interaction they won't be a distraction. The program exemplified here was 'classtalk'.

Gaming & Simulation:
The premise here is that students use a program on a hand held device that they use to view a digital layer of the world around them. A simulated quantity of data overlain on the real world that they are able to access in relation to where they are physically (done with GPS technology). The value for low cost simulated real world training here is quite noteworthy.

There are many other opportunities already, mostly involving ease of communication through social networks and sms. Those two points I found the most intriguing though.



Getting there... On to topic 4.