March 2012 – Kristen Baumlier

Month: March 2012

Social Media – More Pinning and Gaming

Posted on March 31, 2012April 2, 2012 by Kbaumlier

I recently heard that a few days ago President Obama joined Pinterest, the latest cool social networking platform. Pinterest which calls itself “an online pinboard where you can organize and share things you love” With pinterest, you can put up photos, videos, text on a bulliton board type of space. Since the site started in September 2009, the site has seen close to 900 percent increase in unique visitors. The Huffington post reported that there were 17.8 million unique monthly views in February, up from 11.7 million one month earlier. What makes it so popular? It’s exclusive and you can’t just join. You have to be invited, and there is a waiting list. It is a clean design and is a break from the networking part of facebook and twitter. You get to escape into your bulliton board – and put up. It is easy to get to see interesting content. Want to see a page of animals hugging? Or antique doorknobs? There are pages for that.

Another growing trend in social media is the increase in games in social media. A visiting game designer who came to school last month told us that gaming is moving towards more games being made for social media platforms rather than for console. Right now, the hot games are delivered on the canvas in Facebook. Facebook has become a major part of the gaming industry. 60 million people use games every month through Facebook. Facebook paid $1.4 billion to developers in 2011.

Where is social media going next? Hard to say. I recently have found it difficult to balance my teaching, art projects, and keeping up with my social media. I have consistently been up 5 posts a week, but dipped down to only 4 posts last week. I put out about 10 tweets a week, and use bitly to help shorten and track my links. I have resisted signing up with Google+, but the new commercials that show groups of people videochatting with friends made me want to join. I got an invitation to join Pinterest 4 months ago, but never signed up.

Today I checked out Flowtown, a social marketing blog that already helped me find a new service to help me with getting more attention in Twitter. I joined Timely, a free service that is supposed to help me get more retweets and replies. I also confirmed my account for Pinterest and will be making my first board related to a current project I am working on. What is the future of social media ? For me it seems like I will be joining more networks and expanding my social media.

Image Source:
wheredoyougive.org/blog/

Links:

Flowtown – a Social Marketing Blog

It’s All Games Now (Cnvergence of Games and Social Media) talk by Raph Koster of Playdom at GDC

Closet Swap: Sustainable Fashion in the Here and Now

Posted on March 28, 2012March 28, 2012 by Kbaumlier

When my friend Knut was at the Game Developer Conference a couple of weeks ago, he texted me a link to a new website and app called Closet Swap, where you can you exchange clothes with others. To use the site, you make a login and then make a virtual closet with pictures of your clothes that you own, so that you can lend out and eventually borrow from others.

The site is an initiative to promote sustainable fashion, upcyling, and sharing instead of purchasing. On Closet swap, there is a section that talks about the garment industry and the reasons behind why clothing is so cheap. Cheap labor, poor working conditions, and the global scale of most clothing manufacturing makes it so we can afford to get more clothes at cheaper prices.

Closet Swap is the intersection of fashion and sustainability. The project promotes the respect of people and the environment. It also aims to get others to think more about our clothes and how we wear, buy, and use them. The site is considered to be something to “play” like a game, and has promotions, contests, and other resources to promote awareness and playing closetswap.

Got a sweater you don’t wear often? Got your eye on someone else’s shoes? Make an account with Closet swap and see if you can be part of a community where sharing and swapping replace purchasing and buying. As the site reads, “ Don’t shop – swap!”

Image Source:
Closet Swap Website

Links:

Closet Swap Website

Closet Swap App for Iphone

What would it be like with rain in your house? I Wish You Hadn’t Asked

Posted on March 27, 2012March 28, 2012 by Kbaumlier

What would be like if rain was to fall inside of your house instead of outside? I Wish You Hadn’t Asked, an artwork created in Denmark explores this idea and is a house where over 300,000 liters of water enter the structure as part of the piece.

The project is the work of the group The Glue Societyand was made for the Sculpture By the Sea Festival in Denmark. The fully furnished house was built, shipped in and outfitted with pipes that drop over 200 liters of water per minute into the rooms of the house.

The water is recycled – and is a semi-closed system, with pumps that get the water into the structure. As the artists say the piece explores the idea of “that moment in a relationship when something is said, or done, that can’t be taken back. And the rot sets in.”

A the beginning of the show, visitors could walk through (either wearing or not wearing a raincoat) but overtime it will not be safe to occupy.

The Glue Society is an independent creative collective based in Sydney and New York. It was founded in 1998 by Gary Freedman and Jonathan Kneebone and now includes five other writers, directors and artists: Matt Devine, Luke Crethar, James Dive, Pete Baker and Paul Bruty.

Image Source:
www.gluesociety.com

Links:

www.gluesociety.com

Crop Mobs – In Your Town and Mine

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Recreational farming has been on the rise, with more and more individuals spending weekends and free time working on farms. Crop Mobs, sometimes called Farm Mobs, offer the experience of sustainable community farming to those who don’t have land. Crop Mob groups have popped up all over the U.S. including Chapel Hill, Atlanta, Cleveland, and other cities and have helped many smaller and younger farms in growing and harvesting food.

Generally a monthly word-of-mouth (and Web) event, volunteer head out to a farm to help mulch, build greenhouses and pull rocks out of fields. Participants are usually in their 20s or 30s, college educated, and usually work in the office during the week. Usually no previous experience is required, and bringing your own shovels and hoes is encouraged. Sometimes lunch is served in exchange for work.

A first group called Crop Mob began in the Chapel Hill area in North Carolina in 2008 when a group of 19 farmers, some apprentices, and other volunteers met at Piedmont Biofarm in Pittsboro, NC to harvest sweet potatoes. Each year since, the crop mob returns to the farm every October for the sweet potato harvest. Today there are over 50 people who show up to the Crob Mob events.

Since that first Crop Mob, there have been more than 50 groups that have popped up. Much of the rapid growth is attributed to an article in the New York Times that was published in 2010.

Want to get your hands in the dirt and work on the farm? Check out the cropmob website where you can get connected and learn about what opportunities for Crop Mobbing are happening near your neighborhood.
Image Source:
cropmob.org/

Links:
cropmob.org/

Field Report: Plow Shares – New York Times Article

Want to be a Social Citizen? Millennials Making Positive Change

Posted on March 25, 2012March 26, 2012 by Kbaumlier

In the past two years I have noticed a change in my students. My students today are different than my students I had even three years ago in terms of their attitudes, skills, and values. To improve my teaching, I have been reading upon millennial generation in order to better understand and teach my students.

The term Social Citizens is a name for the new generation of activists of the millennial generation who are working to make change in the world using technology. Passionate about social causes and equipped with digital tools, some of the millennials are working to make change in the world.

The website socialcitizens.org in 2008 released a discussion paper about young people affecting civil engagement, and termed it Social Citizens.

Some issues they investigated with the site were whether institutions can and will survive, if social networks are “bubble cultures” that need to be expanded, if access is granted or taken, and whether government matters.

The outcome of interviews showed that young people feel they have no access to decision makers and decision making, particularly with regard to public policy, that most social networks are cliques and not open, and that millennials value peer relationships over institutional loyalty.

What to become a social citizen, or read about the morals of the millennials? The site, blog, and original paper are an interesting read that I found to be hopeful since most of my students have no interest in creating change, and on the whole do not seem to believe that they can affect policy and the world.

Image Source:

www.tusconcitizen.com
www.casefoundation.org/

Links:

http://www.socialcitizens.org

http://www.casefoundation.org/