Future Focus - New Cyberworlds

Hmmmm..... shows like this remind me why I typically avoid the television and prefer to find my own reading and viewing materials online. Future Focus - New Cyberworlds, the program shown on SBS last evening, seemed to be fear-based in focusing on wealth and weapons, addiction and advertising. A (Ned Ludd) bulwark exposing virtual worlds and marketing 'bent on changing the way we live'.

Games can be engaging and intellectual pastimes, providing forms of learning that allow keen and willing participants to become familiar and comfortable. Many of the principles behind this kind of game-learning are supported by research in cognitive science. Its a pity no mention or exploration was made of this.

Instead, I felt encouraged as a viewer to feel sympathy for people who surrender time to online worlds. This could have been achieved within 10 minutes of the program - the 60 minutes seemed to be towing the same line with little or no exploration of the merits of virtual worlds.

Technology IS changing everything.... our world... our students... ourselves.... our research..... our learning. This needs to be embraced, not feared and certainly not opposed. Hopefully we'll see more balanced explorations of virtual worlds...

Perhaps that's up to us, as explored by Foreman in 'Game based learning:how to delight and instruct in the 21st century':

Academia needs to drive the "why", governments need to drive the "how", and industry needs to drive the "what", so that they can produce the market and the technologies to make this easy.