Linkage: From Social Trading Cards to Social Stock Exchanges

I'm heading to Austin for a week, so hopefully this'll tide you over while I'm away...


The social reality trading card alternative to Pokemon.

Investing in a Social Stock Exchange.

Taxicab curator. Thanks Carlos!

Fallen Princesses (image shown) via

A classic anti-billboard screed from 1960. via

Eco-friendly alternative to motivational office posters (image shown). Thanks Marc!

Duchamp Reloaded (image shown) via

Clever Condoms

The ocean of plastic is on the East Coast as well.

Mini-Golf meets Art in Brooklyn. Thanks Mica!

Bacardi using misogyny to sell alcohol...to women?! via

And for those of you following the story from last week...
busted Barrel Monster artist gets a commision...from the company he stole from. Thanks Carlos!

Tales of a 4th Grade Something...

There are teachers that you never forget, teachers that change your life for the better and make the world a better place one student at a time. For people going to public school in Richmond, Virginia in the 80's (like my sister and myself) John Hunter was one of those teachers. So it isn't surprising (but completely delightful) to discover that he's still at it all these years later in Charlottesville, Virginia. He and a cooperative game he developed are now the subject of a new documentary by Rosalia Films called "World Peace: and other 4th-grade achievements". World Peace requires young students to grapple and resolve real-world problems in a way that ends not with a bang but with a cheer. The trailer, which is quite moving (though not embeddable), can be seen HERE.

Here John talks briefly about the game:



For more about the game and John read this recent Christian Science Monitor article HERE.

Parsons Opens Socially Conscious Game Lab

Parsons The New School for Design in New York City has just launched a new research lab focused on creating video games centered around educating on social issues. The New School of Design PETlab is a partnership with the non-profit Games for Change. From their press release:

The initiative was made possible by a $450,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, as part of the foundation’Äôs digital media and learning initiative established in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life.

In its first year, PETLab will work with Microsoft’Äôs Xbox development platform and MTV’Äôs Think.MTV.com youth-focused online activist community on the development of both learning tools and digital games that explore social issues.

Read more in the AP article.

Free Rice

FreeRice adds a new twist to the one-click activism sites like The Breast Cancer Site. Not only does it allow you to donate rice to the United Nations World Food Programme, but it's also a vocabulary improvement game. Each word you get right is equivalent to 10 grains of donated rice (paid for by advertisers on the site). The site is a project of Poverty.com.

Thanks Nev!

PeaceMaker the game.

Think you'd do a better job solving the problems in the Middle East? PeaceMaker, a new video game created by a former Israeli soldier, gives you the opportunity to try. Watch the gameplay trailer below or visit the site to play a demo.



Thanks Jen!