liam | Liam O'Donnell

links for 2008-02-27

by liam | Feb 26, 2008 | weekly feedings

US to sniff out terrorists in WoW. Really. “The U.S. Intelligence community is looking into World of Warcraft and other MMOs, aiming to create software that will pick out extremists and terrorists in online worlds.” Someone’s watched too many...

Hello Kitty Online players must sing for their beta

by liam | Feb 24, 2008 | gaming, literacy, media

Like many folks following virtual worlds for kids, I was pleasantly surprised when Sanrio announced they were to release a Hello Kitty virtual world, Hello Kitty Online. And probably like many vw folks, I signed up for a beta account. Clearly, I’m not in the...

RezEd gets funding

by liam | Feb 21, 2008 | education, gaming, media, virtual worlds

Not much time to write about this, but the MacArthur Foundation just granted the great folks at Global Kids $72,000 to create RezEd, an online social network for educators intreresting in using virtual worlds in edcuation. From the MacArthur site: The Virtual World...

links for 2008-02-19

by liam | Feb 19, 2008 | weekly feedings

iSchool Podcast » Henry Jenkins on “Combating the Participation Gap” “According to recent studies by the Pew Center on the Internet And American Life, more than half of American teens online have produced media content and about a third have circulated media...

VW-linked toy hype in full swing at Toy Fair

by liam | Feb 18, 2008 | education, gaming, media, virtual worlds

Virtual World News reports on the unhinged hype of Webkinz copycats cramming themselves onto the real world/virtual world toy bandwagon. Toy Fair, the leading toy show and expo in the country, has barely kicked off, but virtual worlds-related toys are already making a...