A little while ago I signed up with Penguin to review a pre-release (and as it turned out, pre-cover and pre-typo-removal, there's probably a term for that) copy of Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody. I did it, to put not to fine a point on it, for shits and giggles. At some point I was supposed to blog about the book and maybe send them a link to the blog post. I'm ashamed to say that I never have. Luckily being shambolic and unreliable as an individual is a characteristic of the blogosphere, I can console myself as being an insignificant part of something much more effective as a collective. The effective collective.
Clay Shirky is now popping up everywhere (that host is worse than Jonathan Ross - does he need a guest?) and his book seems to be being well received. Which is great, because it's a really interesting book. It's primarily about user-generated content and social networks on the internet, with examples ranging from flash-mob protests using Twitter to Wikipedia. He should get into ARGs, there's some lovely fodder there.
This is something particularly of interest to me right now because we're making an ARG, which I sometimes view as making a place for people to play and seeing what happens. Analogous to designing Twitter or Facebook, but with less defined networking. The players will play us almost as much as we play them, and creating somewhere where this can happen with ease that is also appealing and fun is not easy, but I think there are relevant lessons from Here Comes Everybody. The concept that stuck with me is that persuasion is better than prescription when it comes to making the game, perhaps exemplified in the book by Wikipedia, starting as a place for experts only to contribute and being improved by becoming a place for everyone.
Another example of this that's been recently discussed at Unforum is player recruitment. If you want to bring more players to the game making "going out and finding new players something that players want to do because the game's cool" is much better than the Facebookesque "recruit me 20 players and I will give you something lacklustre and piss off your friends". Better because it doesn't piss people off and better because our players are doing us a favour, never the other way round. Puppet Masters or Court Jesters?
Speaking of making an ARG, we had our second meeting with Cancer Research UK a weekend or two ago, I got up at 5 am and got home at 5 pm for a two-hour meeting, that thankfully, was really worth it. Our Cancer Research UK liaison was incredibly enthusiastic about everything. Obviously a man of taste. He also thinks we can make money, which is even better.
Below is our motley crew outside MI5 headquarters. Do we get hung for taking a photo there? Let's see whether I'm duffed up in an alley and the post mysteriously corrupted o_O .
So, because I'm a scientist and every figure must have a legend, this is The Legend of the Vauxhall Six; mysterious strangers with an enigmatic purpose. Shane, with pockets that are infinitely large on the inside and quite large on the outside; Izzy, who cannot look into the camera directly for fear of bewitching you with her enthusiasm; Juliette, that's not just a belt on her coat, it's a dark grey belt, probably with a concealed laptop; Adrian, our own disembodied Mimir, notable for 'lurking at the back'; David, who has accomplished terrible things with that thumb; finally Mark Haymes, whose abilities are simply to look less like a student than the rest of us. And to liaise, which he does with aplomb. My own ability is overuse of; the; semicolon.
I promise next time I'll take a better picture. Is this one even level? I have terrible trouble with horizons.
Anyway the point of this post was that after enjoying Mr Shirky's book quite a lot (it wasn't one of these weird, preachy, trendy evangelist books, neither was it dry as old bones - just nicely thoughtful and a little compelling) I was suckered into going for another Penguin blog offer. Their Facebook group has offered a Penguin Classic to bloggers who want to review one of each of the 1300 (or was it 1400?) Classics. Unlike last-time they specify that six weeks after receiving the particular, randomly assigned classic, they expect a review. Mea culpa. The things I do for a free book.
My randomly assigned classic? The Symposium. I should have gone for Puffin Classics shouldn't I? I could have done a lovely review of Black Beauty. I guess I'm not going to get pin badges with this one?
2 comments:
Just been to have a look at the Symposium, and jeepers, better you than me! Or is that a really mean thing to say. At least because I know that you have brains it may not be quite so bad, but can't wait to hear what you have to say about it.
Glad to hear that the game is going well, sorry not to have been much use, things haven't exactly been going well here. I'm having a better day today (no painkillers needed yet and it's nearly 5 pm), so making the most of it!
Lots of love & keep well
Mima
My pockets are, indeed, like the Tardis. Also, I seem to have a hideous looking face in every picture you take of me. I'm going to hide next time you hold a camera in your hands :P
(Note: I refuse to believe that my hideous looking face is, in fact, because I *actually* have a hideous face. Though it's probably true!)
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