For every 100 girls there are not 100 boys

This list is amazing. For example, for every 100 women enrolled in college there are 77 men enrolled. Or, for every 100 American women who earn a doctor’s degree from college 92 American men earn the same degree. The website, “The Boys Project“, looks at the skew of boys vs. girls, and tries to create a positive atmosphere for the young American male population.

Not Creative: Stock photography

This person has done some sleuthing. I have seen similar posts before where a woman has appeared in brochures and newsletters from pharmaceuticals to college education. But when your creative department is looking for a unique “look” to push a product, you take your chances with buying stock photo’s. Especially when you search an online database with terms such as “dark”, “romantic”, etc. No, it’s better to go out and shoot the image(s) yourself, even cheaper to hire a photographer. I always tell my students to be creative and use as much as their own material as possible.

Here is more.

Games with a conscience: Darfur is Dying

Further to my post about Libraries needing to create computer games to stay current and woo visitors, comes this new game, “Darfur is Dying”. Produced by five students at the University of Southern California, is an online role-playing game that tries to show what it’s like to be a Darfurian refugee struggling to survive while escaping Janjaweed militias.

Already it is being translated into Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish. Presented at the fourth annual Games for Change conference at the New School in New York City, it has struck a chord with socially aware new gamers.

When I was teaching CD-ROM interactivity over ten years ago, many of my students were interested in such an idea. Why, my students were asking, weren’t there interesting games for young adults that were more than scoring points through killing, etc. The time wasn’t right, back then. Is it now?

A $3 item that could save lives…and tastes good too!

More than 1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, and 6,000 people die each day of waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery. In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, half of most people’s water consumption takes place outside the home—either while they’re working, or walking to and from school.

Enter the LifeStraw®, an inexpensive gadget that is shaped like a fat kazoo. This straw has a power filtration inside of it that can catch many water borne parasites that are common to Africa. The nine-inch-long straw filters up to 185 gallons of water–about a year’s worth of use–after which it needs to be replaced. I say this is fantastic and glad that there is a company that is making these available.

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

I always wanted to do something like this, oh, 30 years or so ago. Thankfully, some one had the time and patience to accomplish this, and very well done, too. It was fun showing this to art friends, as we would all shout out the artists names, and some were so brave as to shout out the name of the paintings as well. How many do you know?

Libraries (need to) change to match the new learner

First, this post at ARCLog (A Blog from the Association of College and Reasearch Libraries) makes for an interesting argument for Computer Games in Libraries. Why? Well, for one, this is the gaming age, and if libraries don’t entice new users or encourage older users to return through fun and learning techniques, then Libraries could loose out to other online resources.

Here is a quote:

“Games can be serious. Games can change the way we think about things and they are changing the way we acquire knowledge. More libraries are beginning to offer different types of gaming environments for patrons, like equipment or space for game playing, but I think we should also consider what we can create that will foster better information skills in our patrons.”

The state of gaming has changed since the somewhat linear CD-ROM of the 1990’s, and need to be updated to match the skill level of the new learner.

Second, Santa Clara Universtiy has created something of a first with the New Media Consortium. Their new library, due to open in the fall of 2008, has been constructed online in Second Life a virtual library that students can go to and help with the design, etc. Made to coincide with every phase of construction, anyone can join in and suggest what theis new library will need and where. Have you ever wondered why that bookcase was put up against a wall with a window that made it impossible to look at the books because the sun (or bright daylight) was penetrating your eyes? I think I’ll request that they don’t do that in the new library!