Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Technologic lyrics by Daft Punk

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick erase it,
Write it, get it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag it, drop it, zip, unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, call it, find it,
View it, code it, jam, unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, switch, update it,
Name it, read it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax, rename it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start, format it,

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Library 2.0 Committee

Well, we have formed a Library 2.0 Committee at work, so let's see what exciting new things we can offer our existing patrons and those we don't even reach at all, at present. Stay tuned!

There's rose-coloured glasses and then there's just pink, pink and more pink


Picture is from The Second Life Herald article mentioned in the post below.

Barbie World of Fashion 40 years on


In the same vein as Sony's "Home" is the Barbie virtual world called "Barbie Girls". Visually, it is a bilious combination of pinks, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the Hello Kitty school of design. Being a vintage and mod Barbie collector myself, this new Barbie world is as far away from true fashion and style as Hannah Montana is from Audrey Hepburn. It's downright ghastly and could only appeal to the young and befuddled in our society: those poor kids who actually believe this stuff is interesting and fun. Barbie Girls has very little to offer, it would seem, in the way of game-play or virtual social interaction. It is all pretty dreadful when you think about the way children, particularly young girls, have been hijacked by people selling useless stuff and manipulating their minds and behaviour, just to make a dollar.

In Barbie Girls, the emphasis seems to be on dressing up your avatar (the power of the 'makeover'), buying stuff (clothing, etc). Here is an article about it in The Second Life Herald (unconnected with Linden Lab's SL). Players use Barbie Bucks instead of Linden Dollars. You can buy virtual furniture or 'furni' as they term it, or virtual pets. I suppose on the positive side, it is reducing actual clothing bought (and as quickly thrown away as last week's fashion) and unwanted real animal pets.

And yet, it is not THAT far away from a game that Mattel put out 40 years ago, in 1967, called "The Barbie World of Fashion game by Mattel". There was still that emphasis on fashion, cute guys, but it wasn't so insidious and was probably aimed at an older market. And the fashions actually looked like fashion - you know, related to art and design, not some sort of ghastly pink cyberchic masquerading as 'fashion'. Cheap disposable fashion, as in the real world, now represented virtually. How utterly pointless! Mattel also release Barbie's "Keys To Fame" game in 1963 but at least the premise of that was "your dream career comes true!". Gosh, a career! There's something that young girls today don't seem to aspire to. They just want fame, money and to be very attractive (and don't forget sexy, even if you are only a tween or younger).

What a shame that all that effort has been put into a game which adds to the already gargantuan effort by companies to further squander and possibly destroy the potential of young girls in the Western world. When I was pre-pubescent, I dreamed of being a ground-breaking scientist or an inventor or an investigator par excellence. I don't think I ever thought of being famous for its own sake or being a popstar/rockstar/fashion model. Now that seems to be all these girls want to be. What an awful waste!

Sony Playstation Home - safer, but...


I read with amusement that Sony is launching a 'safe' social game product called "Home" which mimics Second Life (SL) in some aspects. Clearly there must be a market for this type of game, although SL is, of course not a game at all really - not in the conventional sense anyway. Home is described as "a social layer for the PS3", developed for people who wanted to experience some of the fun of SL, such as customising your avatar, meeting people, etc, but without the full-on scariness of the unknown found online, I presume. It also seems more about the game-play rather than actually creating a SL or other existence. For example, going 10-pin bowling with virtual strangers who have been vetted to ensure they don't offend or spoil your enjoyment. There will apparently be some live events too, which does make it more like a real virtual world (a virtual real world?) rather than just a game environment. This is the article I read: http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/open-house/2008/08/26/1219516479540.html and the picture shown is from that article.