September 27, 2011
WiCM’s Talking Tech:
Developing Websites for Kids
Wix Lounge
WiCM,
It’s been a long while, but the blog is still beating. In fact, we’re setting up the transition to the new MYSTERY 2012 BLOGGER (I know who s/he is and even I’m intrigued by the mystery!). So over the next few weeks, I’ll be tying up some loose 2011 threads–enough to knit an itchy sweater–and preparing the handoff.
This week’s event, Talking Tech: Developing Websites for Kids, went down at the Wix Lounge. Note about the location: The Wix Lounge is rad. It’s FREE creative space for NYC folks. This sounds sort of unbelievable, but I saw it with my own gullible eyes. It’s brought to you by Wix, which offers a FREE website builder and FREE support for it. In other words, stop reading this blog and go look at these sites. Just kidding! Read on and follow the other cool links to come, then go check out Wix.
My Overall Event Summary:
Holy cow. This one was chock full of information. I thought the presenters, Sesame Workshop’s Joey Egger and Jenny Kortina, did a careful and effective job presenting topics in stages, from understandable to a sleepy puppy to intelligible only to the I.T. guy NASA calls for help.
Big Points:
- Sesame Workshop is busy changing the way it develops websites/apps/games for kids. The Sesame folks are focused on optimal learning (maximizing educational impact), making their sites/apps/games portable (as properties and also to be displayed over portable devices), and making sure their work is inclusive (to encourage co-play among siblings and with parents—part of the inter-generational trend in kids’ media).
- There are many ways to develop sites for kids, all varying according to your resource level and goals.
- If you’re running an app, have a plan to update it regularly, always adding new content and reconnecting with your users.
- There were many, many more points…you probably should have been there. Sort of hard to explain it all. Sorry.
Written In My Notebook During The Event:
- “Computers are hard. Beep boop boop beep.”
Most Entertaining Tangent That Came to Mind:
The presenters’ insistence on the growing importance of metadata has given rise to a new character!!!! For the two among you who enjoy infrequent visits from the Transmedian, our resident wizard who is obsessed with the easy transfer of ideas from platform to platform, I’m excited to introduce his sidekick!
Once a mild-mannered German schoolboy with a keen interest in organization, Hans von Metzer-Datisch was accidentally dragged through an inter-dimensional radioactive portal. The result was the birth of METADATA, a Bavarian boy genius with an infinite memory, classification skills that would make Dewey drool, and an insatiable hunger for bratwurst (he’s still a growing German boy, right? Some things don’t change in radioactive incidents). Young Metadata accompanies the Transmedian on his inter-dimensional voyages, hoping to spread his love of organization:
“Eet ees ferry important to classify all information, ja? Eet makes seengs efficient!”
[Man, I’ll be so depressed when I hand this blog over to a new writer (coming soon! Stay tuned!).]
Some Of The Coolest Things I’ve Ever Heard Of (brought to my attention during this event):
- Developments in Gestural Recognition (think: creative hacks of Microsoft’s Kinect)
- Augmented Reality (2 links, check them both out)
- Mind control games. This stuff is so awesomely futuristic, and it’s HERE. It’s like someone was listening to me whine last week about being sick of having to walk around with my own dumb feet.
- Mattel/Neurosky’s Mindflex: think of Run Yourself Ragged, but updated for Elroy Jetson.
- Emotiv – WHAT??!! Just watch the link. Then, WHAT??!!
The Transmedian: Ooooh, these developments are wooooonderful. Mayhaps they will soon be accessible via multiple devices and multiple platforms! How simply delicious!
Metadata: Ja, like bratwursten! But Herr Transmedian, how must one classify zees developments? Also, maybe ve can fisit der Container Store later?
****
What an interesting event. If you missed it, do yourself a favor and go nuts on these links. They’ll provide great conversation starters when you’re hanging out with other people who read this blog.
I’ve got a couple more posts on the way. And coming very soon (please start a very, very slow slow-clap, starting now and building for the next 3 weeks), your new WiCM Blogger!!!!
See you soon,
Lucas
Children's Media Association 