Sing Your National Anthem For A Cold One On July 1, 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain and a federation of four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. The anniversary of this date was originally called Dominion Day, but was officially changed in 1982 to Canada Day. This is the…
In his session at GSummit 2014, Brian Burke, vice president of research at Gartner, outlined gamification, its potential and its future impact. Burke rehashed his stance on gamification from his 2014 Gartner research report. He stated that gamified programs have existed for longer than most people realize (e.g., Olympic Games, Boy Scouts, Weight Watchers). However,…
May the Force (Shoe) Be With You! It’s a long way from the runways of Milan to low-earth orbit, but the two have one thing in common: a new generation of shoes called ForceShoes. While certainly eye-catching, they don’t look like designed footwear, but are designed to help NASA gather data on how astronauts are walking…
GLEAMING INFORMATION FROM VIDEO GAME SCORES Neurological disorders have been in the news lately in large part due to the stunning revelation of Robin Williams’ Parkinson’s diagnosis and the viral ice bucket challenge campaign to raise money and awareness for ALS. Meanwhile, the diagnosis rate of another neurological disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease, has been steadily climbing…
Gothenburg Is Testing a 6 Hour Work Days Based on Positive Evidence In Sweden, citizens have really taken the adage “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” to heart. In fact, the Swedes are testing the waters of a very enticing future – work less, play more. Some experts in Sweden want to prove…
Join 130,000 People from 145 Countries Already Helping Neuroscience Those who think that scientists are all work and no play haven’t met MIT scientist Sebastien Seung (@SebastianSeung). In his quest to map the cells in the mammalian retina, he launched the EyeWire online game (@eye_wire). The game was first announced in late 2012 when Seung launched it…
Tailor Gamification to Different Types of Systems Understanding systems theory is crucial for designing successful educational and enterprise projects. There are two basic types of systems: open and closed. Closed systems are relatively stable, highly constrained and consist of repetition. In business, an example of such systems is manufacturing. Engineering metaphors work in these systems. Efficiency and…
Carrot Rewards From Down Under Move over, Bugs Bunny! There is a new rabbit in the land down under. His name is Buck, and he is the star of EB World, which is the customer loyalty program of EB Games in Australia. According to the company, Buck is a “loudmouth, cheeky bunny”. As the hero of…
Mango Health Improves Adherence to Medication with Gamification Mango Health (@MangoHealth) offers a new type of game in the health field – one that aims to help users remember to take their medication. Former executives from the ngmoco, a mobile gaming company, wanted to create an application that would help people remember to take their medication. The…
Learn English By Reading Your Tweets And The News While children start learning their first language with basic words, more research is showing that adults learn a new language faster when they start with relevant words and phases used in their everyday conversations. Game-based learning can help stimulate the mind to recall these new words and…
GAMIFY YOUR GROUNDED KIDS’ WAY OUT The weekend has come, and parents of young kids know what that means: no escape from the kids for two days! To help you manage we’re revisiting the concept of the gamification of parenting. The Huffington Post recently reported on a mom who designed her own gamification methods to ground her kids….
A QUESTION OF TRUST If someone introduced a new currency, would you trade your hard-earned cash for it? Who would determine the value of the new currency? How would it be regulated to maintain value? These are the questions being asked about bitcoin, which is a “cryptocurrency.” And, make no mistake, it’s gamified. Yet the…
“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” – Dan Gable I have noticed that the terms “flow” and “deliberate practice” are being used interchangeably in the gamification community. This leads to misinterpretations that I feel should be addressed. The term “flow” is one of the…
Since the beginning of the gamification movement, we’ve had our fair share of naysayers. Some have been academics, others simply impassioned folks with strong opinions. At their most charitable, these critics have stated – as fact – that basic gamification mechanics simply won’t (can’t) work. At their worst, they’ve accused us of being manipulative, under-informed…
Crowdsourced Dr House Fills a Niche in Creative Diagnostics A new gamification startup, CrowdMed (@CrowdMed), has broken into the gamified health field with a unique mobile application that is looking to change how rare diseases are diagnosed. CrowdMed targets two different audiences. First, the company targets patients who have bounced around from doctor to doctor looking for a diagnosis that fits…
