(my boys)

Play is about preparing yourself to make a difference with social media by discovering and learning. It’s about exploring words and pictures, so that you can have fun communicating. Play is about informal learning, about books, places and the people that find creative inspiration everyday. And it makes its way online through our words, our photographs, videos, puppetry, drawings, dance and animation.

What do you think? Would you like to explore some creative ideas with me next year?

Up next…..Create.

]]> http://blog.wonderwebby.com/2009/12/10/live-play-create-2/feed/ 3 wonderwebby Swing http://blog.wonderwebby.com/2009/04/16/wish/ http://blog.wonderwebby.com/2009/04/16/wish/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:34:32 +0000 wonderwebby http://blog.wonderwebby.com/?p=932 ]]>

Looking through the eyes of imagination. What do you see?  Where does your picture start and end?

An image can be a moment, or a hint of moments to come. Things unseen can be just as important as the most obvious expression.

Obviously my focus will be a little different, but I will continue to share some of the common threads between marketing and learning here on Wonderwebby, sharing random ramblings about interesting we can communicate, create and connect! I look forward to some great conversations with you.

connect the dots 1by Dutchtl

connecting the dots 2

connect the dots 3 by

Connect the dots 4 by SlipStream

This one ..

(also known as a Matryoshka doll.) Please don’t ask me to explain what Russian dolls have to do with microfinance in the Philippines.  I can only suggest it is a symbol of women, community impact and the perpetual nature of Trust Bank loans.  Apparently Matroyshka dolls are also known to symbolise motherhood and fertility.

I thought the slides might be silly, I rushed it and I wasn’t happy with the font – but it made it to the Slideshare feature page – nice! And the best thing is people can learn something about Trust Banks and microfinance (well I can only hope!)

Do you like to think of new ways to tell a story? Do you share your ‘silly’ ideas?  What holds you back?

My Animation Masters Project Report 2003:

My Age of Conversation Manifesto 2008:

What a great way to create a quick visual concept for a short or long document (or CV, or ad campaign, or book or…)

“I feel that with ten million girls shopping for Barbie in 3D and two million Webkins in 3D worlds, the next generation sees 3D worlds the way teens now see Text Message and YouTube. It will be expected that everything will be virtual world from shopping to researching. Art therapy has a great opportunity to be of help to a generation in the media they are accustomed to, we just have to figure out how it works and how kids are relating to it. It’s time to start researching what works and what doesn’t’ work now.”

Ginger studied fine arts and worked in graphic design for ten years before moving into web development. “It was an exciting time to be involved with technology and I put down my personal art.” Five years later, during a personal crisis, she picked up her camera and started to take photos of children and discovered other forms of art could give her the same therapeutic benefits. So she made the decision to study art therapy, “I decided I wanted to help others find that comfort and healing too.”

” Group virtual world art therapy (InWorld Art Therapy) is entirely new. I have found only one person working in this medium so I would love to hear from anybody who might be interested or already trying this out. I will be doing the first research in September..”

” My target audience is high school students that refuse to come to a group therapy session or are more open to electronic means of communication than verbal.

Ginger expects students to:

• be more willing to reveal more when “hidden” behind an avatar
• practice social skills like assertiveness, honesty, empathy as practice for face to face encounters
• feel a sense of community and relationship (compared to being online alone)
• express themselves through 3D art which may more familiar to them

Although not intended to be a substitute for in-person art therapy, it provides an alternative for youth who don’t like the idea of participating in traditional art therapy. “Also, safety is of utmost concern. InWorld Art Therapy can only be conducted if you know the person’s real name, location and cell phone number and of course if the person is a minor, with parental consent.”

If you know of anybody else working in this field, please leave a comment. What do you think about using virtual worlds for therapy?

For instance, what if you were paralysed?

” A paralysed man using only his brain waves has been able to manipulate a virtual Internet character, Japanese researchers said Monday, calling it a world first. The 41-year-old patient used his imagination to make his character take a walk and chat to another virtual person on the popular Second Life website. “… “In the experiment, he wore headgear with three electrodes monitoring brain waves related to his hands and legs. Even though he cannot move his legs, he imagined that his character was walking. He was then able to have a conversation with the other character using an attached microphone, said the researchers at Japan’s Keio University. It is the first time a paralysis patient has succeeded in meeting a person and having a conversation in an Internet virtual world, they added.”

(hat tip Kim Flintoff)

Or what if you had autism?

It’s a great opportunity for connection.

For instance (from my Age of Conversation II chapter submission)

“It’s easy for people to talk and connect – when the boss is not around. Establishing a culture of trust is essential before ideas can naturally flourish in the Enterprise.”

You can read The Authentic Enterprise by the Arthur W Page society – really worthwhile. So is this podcast of For Immediate Release by Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz with Jon Iwata, who heads up IBM’s Marketing and Communications. Another hat tip to George Faulkner.

Are you expressing the importance of trust and authenticity in your social computing education and communication?

And of course it has to be said – when it comes to Trust...the expert is really Hal Hartley

RIP Adrienne Shelly

ANDREW DENTON: … you made a very interesting comment once where, just almost in brackets, you said, ‘fame the enemy’. What does having a huge hit like that do to your work, do to your career?

MEL BROOKS: First of all two things. One, unconsciously you get lazy, you feel, well, it’s like you’ve climbed somewhere and you’ve hit a plateau. So you say well, I’ll sit down, I’m famous so I don’t have to worry about it, which is very bad for creative people. Creative people should always be striving, they should always be hungry, they should be looking for the next place to go. And secondly, the terrible thing is that the audience, it stops you from experimenting because the audience gets jaded, they want a hit, they want a big success, and so you don’t want to experiment because you say, well, I’ll disappoint the audience, they may not like it, I better do something that I think is more commercial. And nobody knows, no creative writer knows what is commercial and what isn’t. You just write from your heart, you write from the deepest, creative urges in you, and you write from your soul, and you just either get lucky or not.

When we use social media and engage in social networks we are more aware of our potential “audience” than ever before. Do you stick with a formula, based on what you suppose people might like to read? I like the notion of writing from your soul, being authentic in what we say and seeking a pure, fun kind of creative ethic. Do you?

Photo by Okavanga Delta

Photo by okovanga delta

And here I am, working for IBM. Guess what? I love technology. I’m amazed to see how technology is improving the way we communicate. New media mashes up the medium. Virtual worlds are bringing a new dimension to traditional online interaction. I’m impressed with the way social media helps people to connect with each other, share knowledge and ideas. Purposeful innovation using technology is a wonderful thing. There is so much potential for emerging technologies to improve the way we live, communicate, do business and help one another. Web2.0 has made the difference for me.

Who would have thought working in IT could be so creative?