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This is Mingfong’s post from the ARGaming blog:
The Caerus Game Engine: a first look
(Copied from my old Blog–since this article was written, the Caerus engine has been modified and my introduction here is certainly not the most updated!!!)
I installed the Caerus (Context Aware Educational Resource System) program on my laptop and Dell Axim and spent […]

To sum up, the new MIT AR game engine is a dream that I dreamed of since I designed my first AR game. Now it is possible to create a history game (or many other narrative-based games, inquiry-based games, science games or even second language acquisition games) with the affordances built into this new game […]

After our meeting today, I had a chance to ask Jim Gee why space and place is never really mentioned in socially-situated learning theories — even though it seems to be pretty foundational to the language used in the theories (e.g. “learning environment” etc.)
He said, in his matter-of-fact “Well, John…” way, that “time trumps space” […]

For next week, let’s read Bonnie A. Nardi’s (1995)”Studying Context: A Comparison of Activity Theory, Situated Action Models, and Distributed Cognition” [PDF]
Hopefully, it will offer further insight into how these theories vary, and — a personal interest — how space and place is addressed in them.
Besides being available as a PDF, it’s a chapter in […]

An interesting story from Britain on Societies with God on their side. The abstract is here
Large-scale surveys show dramatic declines in religiosity in favor of secularization in the developed democracies. Popular acceptance of evolutionary science correlates negatively with levels of religiosity, and the United States is the only prosperous nation where the majority absolutely believes […]

I met with Richard Halverson in Learning Sciences today to discuss my research plans and to see whether he’d have any interest in being involved. He does. I actually walked away feeling simultaneously pretty good about what I’m doing, and a bit depressed about the amount of work I still need to do to form […]

In the Abstract (and conclusion) of Video Games and the Future of Learning (2005), David Shaffer, Kurt Squire, Richard Halverson, and James Gee contend that:
video games matter because they present players with simulated worlds: worlds that, if well constructed, are not just about facts or isolated skills, but embody particular social practices. Video games thus […]

Here are links to two readings that draw from the theories surrounding sense of place and combine them with critical pedagogy, placed-based education, and environmental education. They appeal to me because I feel that they support some of the design features that have shaped the PDA designs that we have been discussing to date, Env […]

Ran across Jason Underwood’s 592 Blog, which he started as an instructor at NIU for a course on video games he taught this summer. They read a lot of Gee and Squire, and other “usual suspects” and blogged their notes and reactions (some interesting reading). Somehow he got funding for his class to attend the […]

I did a quick Google for Yi-fu Tuan’s Space and Place but stumbled upon ° R e s e a r c h ° o n ° P l a c e ° & ° S p a c e ° instead. As with anything, there’s plenty of information out there — it’s just a […]

Tuan
Scanning through the pages of this book, I’ve realized that there is a lot of information.
I went through the chapters that I thought would best fit our research directives.
Chapter 2 – Experiential Perspective
Experience – term for various modes through which a person knows and constructs a reality.
This chapter primarily focuses on a discussion […]

Mingfong recommends this as an “all you need to know about Distributed Cognition” book — or at least a good place to start.
It’s got Michael Cole, Roy D. Pea, Moll, Gardner, Ann Brown, etc. in it, so it’s got to be chock full of DC goodness.

Thanks to Matt for introducing Yi-fu Tuan into the dialogue, as we look at the role of Space/Place in Augmented Reality Gaming. It promises to be very interesting stuff from a reflective academic. From past experiences, I guess I sort of expect a quiet sensibility from the Human Geographers I’ve met (and, speaking of, thanks […]

To get my mind around the idea of epistemic frames, I’m reading the following articles: Shaffer, David (2004?) “Epistemic Frames and Islands of Expertise”
In it, Shaffer describes the benefits of participating in an infusion experience, as displayed in the schooling, behavior, and confidence of Natalie. He merits the organization of her expertise around a […]

This excerpt of a longer article about Google Maps strikes me as heralding an important point in augmenting physical reality, as well as being quite apropos to our focus. The full article is Killer Maps
Annotating the Planet (page 6 of 6)
As the big three vie for Web users’ loyalty, they’re likely to introduce more […]

Back in the old days, I had me a diskette that not only held an entire operating system, but all the files I ever needed also fit on it. When I upgraded to a 3 1/2-inch “hard” disk, there was space aplenty. My first 20 MB hard drive never filled, regardless of how much clip […]

>”I would surely be interested in knowing more about your research purposes”
Oh boy, that’s actually a challenging question for me in that it’s forcing me to both narrow in on a few specific purposes, and then to actually state them. Let me begin broad.
In the larger picture, I’m interested in getting people to think for […]

Again, thanks go out to Nicolas Nova (his blog: Pasta and Vinegar) for a comment of fabulous references — he’s doing much of my legwork for me (thanks!!), and clearly, he’s much further in his knowledge of this stuff than I am. So thanks Nicolas, for helping me play catch-up. My take on AR Gaming […]

It’s funny how the grayness of weather just sucks all the enthusiasm for studying/reading out of me [whatever huge amount I can usually eke out on a Monday], while at the same time infusing a deep foreboding gloom. Ugh! Humid, cold, tired.
I shall write for a bit on things not relating to school. How about […]

My goals for this semester:

To gain a broad survey-level understanding of the field of location-aware handheld games, and to create a brief review of this literature
To differentiate the subtleties between, and to define, Augmented Reality, Hybrid Reality, Mixed Reality, and other related nomenclature
To learn and be comfortable with the RiverCity Game editor, so I can […]

This past April, when I explained what my vision of Augmented Reality Gaming to David Hatfield in Learning Sciences, he asked if I’d read The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer and gave me his copy. I finished the coursework reading and started reading it for pleasure, but then went to Maine […]

A big thanks to Nicolas Nova for commenting on the blog below that some of the references are missing in the downloadable copy I posted earlier.
“Socio-cognitive functions of space in collaborative settings: a literature review about Space, Cognition, and Collaboration” Nicolas Nova, Sep 2003.
Embodiment, and the situation of a bodied person in its environment, […]

I keep coming back to these two terms as being so extremely important to the body. And now, as I search for a theoretical framework that encompasses them, I find myself critiquing and rearranging theories so that they fit. Here’s an attempt at a summary of where I’m at with it:
After spending last semester reading […]

“CHAT and the Expansion of Opportunities for Learning After School”
In this 13 page paper, Katherine Brown and Michael Cole, in “CHAT and the Expansion of Opportunities for Learning After School” discuss an After-school learning program called “The Fifth Dimension” (5D) which uses the Internet, and video (and traditional) games, to engage the students in an […]

Apart from my comments here at the top, this is taken directly from their site.
My comments: Call me an old fuddy-dud, but the heavy emphasis of these games on commercialism, television, “latest fashion trends”, and obliterating of “the enemy” etc. sort of bothers me in an admittedly moralistic “this is the last thing we need” […]

Beware the silly Flash. These guys have a smooth front-end that implicitly promises much more than they currently have inside — I expect that it’s mostly just a framework that will be filled in further as they get more clear about their content, and more content. This actually ties in to our discussion yesterday, of […]

I’ve requested a site, and will keep you posted.

I quickly skimmed this. It seems to nicely tie both space (spaciality) and place within Distributed Cognition. And although neither Pea, nor Taun are cited, Benford is. Here’s the link, title, abstract, and TOC.
Link to PDF download (148k): CRAFT_report1.pdf
Socio-cognitive functions of space
in collaborative settings : a
literature review about Space,
Cognition and Collaboration
Nicolas Nova
nicolas.nova@epfl.ch
September 2003 […]

Started with a discussion on what format our conversations, resources, etc. should take place in. The blog is, duly noted, very linear. Maybe a course site that could house files, etc. or a wiki. We’ll have to get Kurt to set us up.
Matt’s asking what spaces are not traditionally gaming spaces — theatre, sports, etc. […]

Hey folks,
The messages being posted are really helpful and I think this collective data mining could eventually lead to a fruitful outcome for all of us in this learning community.
While we have no questions regarding what we think we want to do, I think it pays to go a little bit further by imaging where […]