www.rahulsood.com: Using Mediascapes for Gaming
Interesting concept that sounds a lot like the conceptual (and real) work being done at Information In Place, Inc. (IIPI) for a few years. In fact, the visionary leader of IIPI, Sonny Kirkley, founded a project that opened my mind to mobile augmented reality several years ago call the World Board Project Forum. While this project included many initiatives, the one presentation I remember Sonny giving described school children using an Apple Newton with some attachments to take weather and soil mesurements at GPS-specific locations. Several classes could do this over time and build a database that could be used both for education and real research on the climate.
(note: an introductory paper on the World Board project is still available online and is an interesting read for anyone wanting to learn more about where a lot of this thinking originated).
Creating a digital "overlay" of the real world has a number of interesting learning opportunities and will challenge our knowledge of "reality" as technology progresses. It is with great interest that I watch as HP opens the door with a free (for non-commercial use) application to allow many possibilities for information/reality overlays.
You never know where you will discover something or someone interesting, which is why I read so many different sources of information.
Everyone in my F500 class (and others who read this blog) should take a look at this presentation, which was put together by Karl Fisch (and I promptly added Karl's blog to Bloglines). As a former planetarium guy, I love the mind blowing facts that can get people ready to learn by capturing attention and opening the imagination. This presentation, titled "shift happens" is focused on much more terrestrial concenrs but is still an eye-opener. (The first few slides are specific to the school district. Start on slide 10).