Comments on: Ypulse Youth Website Profile: Smokescreen

By: Ypulse Youth Site Profile: The Curfew | Ypulse

Ypulse Youth Site Profile: The Curfew | Ypulse — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:54:11 +0000

[...] Channel 4 Education, the same team behind media literacy game Smokescreen (reviewed in an earlier site profile), The Curfew takes a similar approach to addressing how the issues of civil liberties and [...]

By: Ypulse Essentials: FDA Cracks Down, Kotex Courts Controversy, Best States For Teen Drivers | Ypulse

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:31:54 +0000

[...] reality online reputation game takes home the Best Game award at SXSWi this week. See our site profile and interview with Alice Taylor on Ypulse. Plus virtual world Webosaurs goes mobile with the Dino [...]

By: Ypulse Interview: Alice Taylor, ‘Smokescreen’ | Ypulse

Ypulse Interview: Alice Taylor, ‘Smokescreen’ | Ypulse — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:38:31 +0000

[...] couple months back we profiled the alternate reality game Smokescreen, launched by British public-service broadcasting network [...]

By: Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:15:31 +0000

Thanks, Adrian, I emailed you offline to interview about this, as I feel it's imperative we merge the 'ooh, cool' fun factor with the almost subliminal informal learning digital context seamlessly. As you well know, if there's any whiff of a 'serious' game it's a buzzkill for teens. ;-) Anxious to test it out! p.s. Do disagree a bit on the privacy assumption a la Iger's 'kids don't care' (about keystroke/behavioral tracking etc.) though, as I did an informal 'did you know' poll on digital data-mining & the kids were gonzo w/the corp. stalker factor sans permissions. Very clear to me "my data is my data" could be emblazoned on a tee and sell well...kids want the control put back in their hands, to be players not pawns in this mktg. gameboard of 'Life.'

By: Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:13:48 +0000

Thanks, Adrian, I emailed you offline to interview about this, as I feel it's imperative we merge the 'ooh, cool' fun factor with the almost subliminal informal learning digital context seamlessly. As you well know, if there's any whiff of a 'serious' game it's a buzzkill for teens. ;-) Anxious to test it out! p.s. Do disagree a bit on the privacy assumption a la Iger's 'kids don't care' (about keystroke/behavioral tracking etc.) as thing, though, as I did an informal 'did you know' poll on digital data-mining elements & the kids were gonzo w/the corp. stalker factor sans permissions. Very clear to me "my data is my data" could be emblazoned on a tee and sell well...kids want the control put back in their hands, to be players not pawns in this mktg. gameboard of 'Life.'

By: Adrian Hon

Adrian Hon — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:21:47 +0000

I definitely agree that there's a challenge in reaching teens, when – as we all know – they don't perceive online security, privacy, etc, as something they need to know more about. Our real aim with Smokescreen is to essentially bypass that question, and make a game that's fun and compelling, completely independent of any educational purpose. Will that work with teens? I think so, but we'll see!

As for parents and adults, I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up becoming many of our players. Smokescreen provides a safe window – for adults – into how teens actually use the internet, and how important it is for them.

We're also producing follow-on resources for each of the 13 missions that expand on the issues covered, again, in an interesting and entertaining (rather than dry and didactic) way.

By: Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:56:11 +0000

Agree that media literacy (social or otherwise) is universally in need for ALL ages, esp. w/privacy but am glad to see someone trying to deploy informal learning/game based fun. We've been toying with immersion concepts (e.g. 'what if we sifted data nuggets INTO the game seamlessly' where young kids particularly would have to engage in the process as part of the leveling up?) Could be a win-win to enhance their skillsets without preach and teach and 'earn' some sort of virtual cred 'in game' to spread peer to peer collaboratively and embed vital info on the privacy front. A thought I'd love to explore w/these guys further. Let's talk.