The Extensions of Noha

Hey all,

So it's late, I've been biking all over New York City, and I'm feeling something about social change. There's a lot wrong with our country and our society at this moment, which many of us speak about to each other, and most if not all recognize, but few directly confront in the work that they do. Tonight I spoke with a man who railed against people's obsession with entertainment and fashion to the exclusion of concerns relating to current warfare or the wrongs of the world, but out of whom I could get no coherent solution of how to solve this problem. Later, I spoke with a man on the street who seemed quite intelligent, pleasant and functional, but who claimed to be homeless, unable to fund his "baby mamma" and unable to find work, convinced that his rapping skills would earn him some money some day. To both my natural response was to prescribe technology and entertainment media, to spread the message that the internet as a cost-free and omnipresent connection with millions of memeseekers would either propel them to stardom or spread their philosophy in a way that would actually speak to people's day-to-day reality in a way that newspaper headlines could not.

Am I living in a bubble? Is this really a possibility? Can Interactive Media - downloadable games, cell-phone based applications, stereoscopic technology - help not only entertain but spread messages that we would like to propagate? What is the ideal road to take? Armed with the convictions we possess, and the knowledge that we pass to each other and gain from working in this institution, is it not our responsibility to use what we have for the better good of society? Are we not betraying ourselves if we ignore what we feel and spend all of our time chasing a dollar and a gleam?

Obviously the approach to actually accomplishing this task is the hard part. Yet to date my most popular accomplishment at this institution with non new-media initiates is my involvement in the Darfur is Dying project. USC IMD is getting tons of press for what it is claiming to bring to games and new forms of media entertainment. People are definitely looking for Web 2.0 and New Media's Social Change Killer App - it is my opinion that we are the most qualified technicians to provide it.

I had been thinking about raves. Recently I've been thinking about schools. I wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times a few weeks ago in response to an Op-Ed speaking our against the problem of cellphones in the classroom, in which I cited IMD's integration of technology into its lesson plans and made the point that when trying to reach a generation that communicates through cellphones, instant messenger and myspace, you will gain far higher mental penetration if you attempt to reach people on a level they are familiar and comfortable with, and maybe don't expect from the likes of you. If you like it can be downloaded here.

To quote a famous scholar, "my question is this:" Can a series of in-classroom games and real-world cell phone based exploration experiences increase a students interest in their education? Can interaction and understanding between disparate cultures, classes and economies be aided by community based and social networking technologies? Can this type of shit pay the bills? With the East River below me and the hot summer's air in my face, this is what I'm thinking about.