The Play Ethic

Michelle Shocked

Can a Big Girl be a Pop Star? I wrote this piece for my old alma mater, the Sunday Herald, on Michelle McManus, the oversized winner of the public vote on the UK's Pop Idol show. "Sure, the revenues are extraordinary, and everyone who participates in the process is being squeezed for every micropayment they can make. But nobody can look at Michelle McManus, waddling to some kind of stardom with her Lanarkshire nebbishness fully intact, and not see a different kind of democratic will emerging. The people are speaking – and they want to see their nice pal in the events department, who can burn down a karaoke box on a Friday night, getting her legitimate 15 minutes (or months) in the celebritocracy. We should watch, learn … and not instantly condemn."

Mom Unplugged Syndrome

Faith Popcorn's predictions for 2004. Like astrology with statistics and qualitative research. Good Fun, nevertheless. I love the Big Mother riff: "Forget Big Brother, technology creates a new generation ofsuper-observant moms.  Consider her tools:  classroom cams, RFID tags in backpacks, GPS chips in watches ... or even embedded in kids' bodies.  When children are never out of sight, a whole new mother-child emotional dynamic will result.  A part of that:  kids strike back.  Call it the 'Mom Unplugged' syndrome."

 

Jingle Bells, All Is Well, In the Best of all Possible Worlds

Virginia Postrel on Xmas Decorations: "Today's lavish displays do more than brighten the night. They tell a story of economic progress. Like the electronic gadgets aimed at gift buyers, the tiny lights outlining rooflines and tree limbs illustrate new sources of growth, productivity, and prosperity. Aesthetic pleasure, they tell us, is an increasingly important source of economic value and hence of new jobs and business opportunities. And the same trends that boost living standards in other areas also make Christmas lights more abundant."

Playas Loves Brands

American Brandstand. A rich entry from the Fast Company blog, on a project that notes how many brand names have been mentioned in US pop music. No surprise: 50 Cent tops the list.

Moby Poker

Japanese address book poker. "There are three people: two players and a judge. The two players pick someone from their address books and reveal them to each other simultaneously. The judge decides which one is more famous or important. The loser has to shred the business card or in the case of mobile phones, delete that entry from the address book." Ouch. Business 'players' at their most agonistic.

What would Marshall say... or text?

McLuhanizing Mobile Media. Great thread started by Howard Rheingold on Nokia's The Feature site, on what the great Canadian-Catholic would make of digital mobility. Says Howard:

"In some way, the mobile telephone is reviving the oral dimension that McLuhan claimed was supplanted by print literacy, which was supplanted by "electric" literacy of simultaneous, image-heavy, quickly changing, multi-mode information. As we walk through image-bombarded Shibuya or Times Square, we spend our time engaged in the oldest human communication medium, the spoken word.

"What is pushed aside or obsolesced if some aspect of mobile telephony is enlarged? How about the office? Cybernomads already cluster at Starbucks, migrating to Kinko's if necessary for hardcopy, and abandon their offices to sit in Wi-Fied parks on sunny days."

Yet in McLuhanising the mobile as an oral phenomenon, is Howard guilty of US bias - because they don't text? The comments after make the same point and more.

State of Emergence: or the Howard Dean Video Game

Playing Politics. Henry Jenkins on the use of videogames by the Dean campaign to get activists ready for the big fight. "The game simulates the process of getting out the vote in Iowa, including pamphleting, canvasing, placing signs, and moving people to the local precinct to caucus."

Pupils 'need far more' play time

Says Professor Pat Broadhead of Northumbria University: "During the last eight years or so, the emphasis on training early-years teachers has changed. This is having an impact in the classroom. Play-based learning gives children a sense of independence. It's a chance to explore and investigate the world. Children also determine the ways in which they work and use their experiences to solve problems."

Prof Broadhead said activities such as sandpit games, playing with model figures and using building blocks, had been ignored because of growing emphasis on literacy and numeracy targets. She added: "Play contributes to all aspects of development. I hope it regains its prominence in future. All the changes in primary schools have pushed back the amount of play for the younger children. If they are allowed to play, children can participate in building the curriculum themselves."

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