While I am happy at Ball State University, I have to give some love to my (graduate) alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. All graduate programs are not created equal. Berkeley is an elite institution training (future) award-winning journalists who can tell stories across every medium. This is not […]
I believe in science, but I spend almost no time reading the academic literature where the science of my craft (journalism) has traditionally been published. I spend even less time trying to craft research that would get published in those outlets. For most normal human beings, this is not a controversial stance. As a tenure-track […]
In 2009, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive coordinators decided to carve out a corner of the conference where those people interested in start-ups, emerging technology, and entrepreneurship could gather. At the time, this wasn’t necessarily a popular move. For years the conference focused on emerging technologies, media, and creative endeavors. The thought of turning […]
When I first read Black Like Me in high school, I was sick to my stomach for two reason: This was the first time I experienced a hopeless despair about humanity. I wasn’t reading history (although it was set twenty years before); I was reading the now; and It felt oddly strange that it took […]
While returning from a trip this past weekend, I asked my wife if we could swing by Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Without hesitation, she said yes (and then I launched into an entirely unnecessary history of computer games.) I wanted to visit the place that helped inspire one of the first computer games: Colossal Cave Adventure, […]
There’s too much goodness here to explain. Please just watch the video and you can follow the Twitter stream as well. Other Links: ’80s favorite returns as app with old interactive magic, via the Chicago Tribune Dungeons & Dragons at the movies, via The Cine Family (if you happen to be in Los Angeles August […]
What Vin Diesel Can Teach You About Transmedia, via Transmedia Coalition Psych – The Hashtag Killer and The S#cial Sector, via Robots and Fountain Pens Without divulging too many of our trade secrets, John and I have been kicking around the idea of including transmedia games near the end of our book. We’re not quite […]
This blog is primarily about the Appalachian experience as it relates to my work on So Far Appalachia: An American mythology as told by the Bakers of Beckinghamshire. If I do my job well, though, that story will touch on larger American themes. While I haven’t had the chance to watch this Frontline piece yet, it’s […]
When we wrote the first edition of Dungeons & Dreamers, Chris Roberts was a minor character in our narrative. That doesn’t mean we found him unimportant. His story just mirrored our main narrative. As such, he appears mostly in two chapters (as Origin Systems becomes part of Electronic Arts.) When I first met Richard in […]
Douglass Engelbart passed away today. You probably don’t know his name but you should. He invented the computer mouse. He helped develop hypertext (those hyperlink thingies, for instance) networked computing, and pushed forward the field of human-computer interaction (that thing that helps make your computers work a little better for you.) He decided when he […]
In 1998, I went to the University of California’s Graduate School of Journalism. In my very first class, I met Jessie Deeter, a talented filmmaker who would also become one of my best friends. If you’ve seen Who Killed the Electric Car?, Revenge of the Electric Car, Spark: A Burning Man Story, or her work […]
This PBS Arts video just came across my Twitter stream, and I thought I’d pass it along. Our book Dungeons & Dreamers explores a similar thread although we spend more time focusing on the four decades after the release of D&D. However John and I were in agreement that you couldn’t tell the story of computer games […]