"Millions of children visit virtual worlds every day. In such virtual play spaces as Habbo Hotel, Toontown, and Whyville, kids chat with friends from school, meet new people, construct avatars, and earn and spend virtual currency. In 'Connected Play', Yasmin Kafai and Deborah Fields investigate what happens when kids play in virtual worlds, how this matters for their offline lives, and what thi…
How electricity became a metaphor for modernity in the United States, inspiring authors from Mark Twain to Ralph Ellison.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
"How family video game play promotes intergenerational communication, connection, and learning. Video games have a bad reputation in the mainstream media. They are blamed for encouraging social isolation, promoting violence, and creating tensions between parents and children. In this book, Sinem Siyahhan and Elisabeth Gee offer another view. They show that video games can be a tool for connecti…
How better information and better access to it improves the quality of our decisions and makes for a more vibrant participatory society.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
How to focus anti-hunger efforts not on charity but on the root causes of food insecurity, improving public health, and reducing income inequality.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
An examination of the transformation of the Japanese diet from subsistence to abundance and an assessment of the consequences for health, longevity, and the environment.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
Philosophical reflections on creativity in science, humanities, and human experience as a whole.In this philosophical exploration of creativity, Irving Singer describes the many different types of creativity and their varied manifestations within and across all the arts and sciences. Singer's approach is pluralistic rather than abstract or dogmatic. His reflections amplify recent discoveries in…
"Most people would agree that the healthcare system in the United States is a mess. Healthcare accounts for a larger percentage of gross domestic product in the United States than in any other industrialized nation, but health outcomes do not reflect this enormous investment. In this book, Philip Rosoff offers a provocative proposal for providing quality healthcare to all Americans and controll…
"America is the world leader in innovation, but many of the innovative ideas that are hatched in American start-ups, labs, and companies end up going abroad to reach commercial scale. Apple, the superstar of innovation, locates its production in China (yet still reaps most of its profits in the United States). When innovation does not find the capital, skills, and expertise it needs to come to …
What if every part of our everyday life was turned into a game? The implications of "gamification."OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.