A game called EteRNA is being used to further research into how RNA folds itself into particular shapes. The game is a way of crowdsourcing the modeling to free biomedical scientists to use the shapes for their research.
Daniel Green, co-founder and CTO of Wikistrat, spoke at GSummit 2014 on an intriguing topic: How Gamification Motivates All Age Groups: Or How to Get Retired Generals to Play Games Alongside Students and Interns. Wikistrat, a crowdsourced consulting company, leverages a worldwide network of experts from various industries to solve some of the world’s geopolitical…
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…
Given the massive success of Fold.It and it’s crowdsourced approach to tackling protein folding to fight AIDS, it’s not surprising that other researchers are adopting this model for other applications as well.
Enter NanoDoc, a scientific simulation/puzzle game that will allow bioengineers and the general public to design nanoparticle strategies to treat cancer.
If it sounds futuristic, it totally is.
It’s become quite clear to all sorts of businesses and organizations that adding an element of gamification to their interactions with their customers can be a real asset to them. Even NASA is taking note of the success of gamification, and working to use it to their advantage.
When it comes to research, no other method matches the productivity output of motivated groups of people. Fold.it has seen great success with breakthrough findings in AIDS research with their crowdsourced puzzle game and recently, even the US Navy has started to crowdsource ideas to spur innovative solutions for their problems. It is no surprise then that a group of climate scientists at Arizona State University has taken to this tactic in an effort to catalog fossil fuel-burning power plants around the world, in order to get a better understanding of their emission output and its total effect on global warming. The result? A crowdsourced data collection game called Ventus.
Earlier this week, Twitter was run amuck by Foursquare Co-Founder and CEO, Dennis Crowley, and his statements about Foursquare’s overemphasis on gamification elements.
Crowley was discussing the future direction of Foursquare in an on-stage interview with Anil Dash (Co-Founder of Activate) at SXSW and stated that he was phasing out gamification from Foursquare in an effort to move away from the perception that Foursquare is only about points and badges.
Numerous people on Twitter were quick to take these statements as evidence that gamification itself was a mistake, when in fact Crowley explicitly mentioned that it was the overemphasis on points and badges that has led to Foursquare’s perception problem.
In fact, I would say that Crowley’s decision to ultimately phase out Foursquare’s gamification mechanics is one of the most mature decisions a gamification designer can make.
What could the US Navy’s crazy acronym “MMOWGLI” possibly mean? – “Massively Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet”
The acronym makes me picture an old Admiral with a monocole saying “Ah yes, we need to use the internets!” but the game is being used for more than just a little “war game”.
MMOWGLI is a new game by Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Institute for the Future (IFTF) designed to crowdsource solutions for some of the Navy’s current problems.
Every week until GSummit SF 2013, we’ll be unlocking some special content from last year to give you a preview on what to expect this April 16 – 18.
Watch Seth Copper explain how Foldit was able to motivate citizen scientists to play for the greater good:
The New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority has recently announced that they will be selling MetroCard advertising for prices ranging from 18¢ to 51¢ per card. Whether or not this will be the solution to the MTA’s financial woes will remain to be seen. However, there is an opportunity to create a massive game with the collective minds of…
Money can’t buy everything. “The drive to make a few dollars comes from a very different place than the drive to do a favor.” That is Micki Krimmel’s belief, co-founder of FavorTree—the first ever mobile favor-trading game. Backed by a $350K investment from the Knight Foundation’s Technology for Engagement Initiative, FavorTree aims to build stronger…
by Greg Caswell and Jeff Lopez Regardless of your political orientation, the last few months have been frustrating ones for American voters and citizens. The political system seems far removed from ordinary Americans; politicians are playing a game removed from the needs of many of their constituents because their primary goal is to win the…
Think about the last food you ate for a moment. Can you fully describe where it came from before the supermarket, vending machine or plastic package? How was it grown or raised there? Chances are it’s quite the challenge for most of us. It’s no secret that in our modern existence, urban dwellers have grown…
Do you have an idea about how to deal with the piracy in the Gulf of Aden? Well, starting next Monday, the US Navy would like to hear it and put it up for a vote in front of the whole Internet. The game is called MMOWGLI, (Massive Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet)…
