Find
Great Courses
Create
a Course

This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.

Week 1- Tech Tools

For tonight’s Tech Tools session we’re going to do a bit of old school show & tell. Please bring along your favorite smart mobile device (smartphone and/or tablet) and a web site link to least one app that you have used or are considering using for an ARG. We will be giving everyone a bit of time to share, show & tell their app and idea(s) for using it, and we will be sharing a few of our own. The session promises to be fun for all the family (who are allowed up past bedtime), so join us won’t you?

Tonight’s session will start 7pm Second Life Time (SLT), i.e. 7pm PDT in the U.S., and take place at the Front Range Ground Floor location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Front%20Range/171/70/33 (look for the tree stumps & dandelions)

(If you'd like to see how this time lines up for you in other parts of the world, try: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/)

Task Discussion

Imtiaz A. Chowdhury May 21, 2012, 8:52 a.m.

The livebinder link is a great junction for all the resources. Thanks!
Kae May 21, 2012, 2:02 p.m.
In Reply To: Imtiaz A. Chowdhury May 21, 2012, 8:52 a.m.

Kudos to Gridjumper for putting that together.
Jerry Buchko May 11, 2012, 3:09 p.m.

I thought we had quite a lively discussion at the tech tools session. Part of the conversation touched upon development tools, but it did seem much of our focus had been on apps that might be used in the game itself.

We've collected a bit of both in the Livebinder, and it's always useful to learn of other tools that might be out there. Please feel free to do a bit of show & tell here if there are any tools you think would be good to share and perhaps a few ideas of how you imagine they they be used for development and/or game play.

~ Jerry
graymills May 17, 2012, 5:42 p.m.
In Reply To: Jerry Buchko May 11, 2012, 3:09 p.m.

Given my likely need for AI, I have started looking at the CallMom Android app. It is a little like Siri on the iPhone but I suspect eventually you should be able to couple it to your own Pandorabot which makes it more customisable from the perspective of an ARG. The voice recognition is quite good imo. At the moment the beta is free.

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=df5qhrdh_210hngtvc8g

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pandorabots.callmom
graymills May 18, 2012, 4:44 a.m.
In Reply To: Jerry Buchko May 11, 2012, 3:09 p.m.

What might be cool would be to have RL versions of simple virtual world objects. There are ToS restrictions if it isn't your own creation, of course.

If you have a COLLADA mesh, you can presumably print it out using a 3D printer/service (Meshtastic and Meshlab may help convert simple prim-based models to mesh and STL format).

A cheaper option may be to use paper/card. I haven't tried this but there are a couple of sites that explain how to do it. I'd be more inclined to try it with OpenSim than SL in case it generates problems.

http://www.exporttoworld.net/

http://jimpurbrick.com/2008/12/14/babbage-linden-real-life/
graymills May 18, 2012, 6:52 a.m.
In Reply To: Jerry Buchko May 11, 2012, 3:09 p.m.

Another image-based approach might be to use reverse image search, i.e. here is a picture, use tineye.com or a similar service to locate the (hopefully unique) URL it came from. There could well be a sub-text there too.
graymills May 10, 2012, 1:23 p.m.

Tools

Don't know whether this is at all relevant but I used alternativeto to compile a list of tools similar to CeltX.

I'm a fan of TiddlyWiki and I'm interested in seeing whether a really simple interactive fiction tool called Twine that Cathy Moore blogged a while back can be adapted for ARGs.

Codes

Apparently codes can play a key role so this list be useful. On the other hand, as my students are biologists, I may use something related to the genetic code. Or not use codes at all.
Gridjumper May 10, 2012, 2:18 p.m.
In Reply To: graymills May 10, 2012, 1:23 p.m.

Please come tonight and share your information regarding this tool.
graymills May 10, 2012, 5:06 p.m.
In Reply To: Gridjumper May 10, 2012, 2:18 p.m.

In the broader sense it's more an aspiration than a finished product. Re attendance, time zones are against us.
Kae May 10, 2012, 6:58 p.m.
In Reply To: graymills May 10, 2012, 5:06 p.m.

We're going to do 2 maybe wrap-up this week/overview session on Saturday. Or at least Abacus and I will be there at 8 am SLT and then 5 pm SLT on Front Range. Drop by if you are available and are interested.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Front%20Range/128/127/33/

Thanks,

Kae
graymills May 11, 2012, 3:47 a.m.
In Reply To: graymills May 10, 2012, 1:23 p.m.

Seems like I misinterpreted tech in this context in terms of development rather than delivery.

In addition to a customised TiddlyWiki, I would offer Wikitude though I have negligible firsthand experience of it. I would envisage using it to give some kind of immersive experience of the locale as it was in Victorian times via images and maybe for some kind of geocaching or data visualization experience.

The product has been updated recently to support a number of interesting capabilities, mainly for ambient game-play. Although the product is commercial, the development kit (SDK) is free for non-commercial use. As ever, the concern would be long-term viability so some fallback position is required too. That would also support students without suitable mobile devices.
graymills May 11, 2012, 5:53 a.m.
In Reply To: graymills May 10, 2012, 1:23 p.m.

Old example of the use of the Simile timeline plugin in TiddlyWiki (see different timelines in tool bar) -- I think you can also use it in gDocs. This or something like it might be of use in planning and/or delivery.
Gridjumper May 11, 2012, 12:37 p.m.
In Reply To: graymills May 11, 2012, 5:53 a.m.

We have posted a link to our Livebinder - bottom of the ARG P2P main page under all the participants and agenda/tasks. Take a look and let us know if we need to add something, or perhaps change up the tabs to be more clear.
Jerry Buchko May 11, 2012, 2:58 p.m.
In Reply To: Gridjumper May 11, 2012, 12:37 p.m.
Kae May 11, 2012, 10:41 p.m.
In Reply To: graymills May 11, 2012, 3:47 a.m.

Abacus, LeeDale and I will be introducing Wikitude, Wallit and TwittARound to a group of instructors at our inhouse Teaching with Technology conference on Tuesday. We'll report back on how it is recieved.
graymills May 12, 2012, 7:46 a.m.
In Reply To: graymills May 10, 2012, 1:23 p.m.

From a design-based-on-nodes perspective, Tufts VUE would be another possibility.
graymills June 5, 2012, 6:13 p.m.
In Reply To: Kae May 11, 2012, 10:41 p.m.

Just to say that there is a possibility that the Android-based SL viewer Lumiya may be GPS-enabled and also ported to OpenSim. That might significantly impact the way in which virtual worlds can be used in ARGs in the future.

Also, I blogged the backstory to my ARG in case anyone's interested.

Good luck with ARG Prime -- sorry I couldn't participate more fully but I have found the MOOC very useful.
Kae June 7, 2012, 5:58 p.m.
In Reply To: graymills June 5, 2012, 6:13 p.m.

Hey Gray!

Read your blog - like how you revealed nothing about "ARG Prime." Whether you offer or not, we are going to be doing a free low UnSymposium in November. We'd love to have you come and we can have a general discussion session on ARGs and what it takes to plan and/or implement one. We would absolutely make it a EU friendly time! We could actually make it so the peopel at the UnSYm try different rabbitholes and challenges.

We are psyched about producing ARG Prime. We're going to be a bit more transparent and let educators perhaps peer around the curtain.

So we're going to start by leaving clues at the ISTE conference in SanDiego and the EdMedia 2012 AAEC conference in Denver. Then run the ARG online from July 9 to July 23rd. We do have an online track and also a virtual worlds track ( yes plural!).

So please keep in touch ..and yes we do read TIDALBLOG.
Jack Mosel (Jack Buxbaum in Second Life!) @moseljack (Twitter) June 7, 2012, 9:14 p.m.
In Reply To: graymills June 5, 2012, 6:13 p.m.

Team Viewer, Linking a remote desktop worked for me... On my iPad, I would think it would work on an Andoid device as well.
Jack Mosel (Jack Buxbaum in Second Life!) @moseljack (Twitter) June 7, 2012, 9:16 p.m.
In Reply To: Jerry Buchko May 11, 2012, 2:58 p.m.

NICE!
graymills June 8, 2012, 4:25 a.m.
In Reply To: Jack Mosel (Jack Buxbaum in Second Life!) @moseljack (Twitter) June 7, 2012, 9:14 p.m.

I use join.me -- very simple setup.