The Critical Path Project and the importance of games

As an anthropologist—and in particular one who studies cyborg culture through video games—the fact that games change the world is something never lost on me. We’re in an advantageous period of development for human communication and culture, that splendid moment when spark meets fuel in the luminiferous aether of social gaming.

We have entire communities that evoke themselves from simple MMO games, where Minecraft can become a cult phenomenon just because of its simplistic form and infinite creativity, and where Call of Duty and other similar online games have minor Internet-celebrities on YouTube pulling in millions of viewers a month.
Gaming is the next-bright horizon that culture will-yet-consume and we’re watching it happen.

http://criticalpathproject.com/

Visit the page, click on a few of the links and, if you’re at all culture minded like I am, perhaps you’ll enjoy some.

I Have Evolved as a Technology Journalist

Recently, I had the chance to interview the amazing Dr. Amr Awadallah, Chief Technology Officer of Cloudera, about his thoughts on video games and Big Data. The interview will likely become an article over the winter holidays, but people who follow the social and cultural impact of video game and MMO culture will probably be interested in some of his insights.

Better yet, and totally selfish of me, I was introduced to him as a “reporter” and by someone who didn’t mean it ironically.

In the words of my good friend, RyAnne, I have had my pokémon evolution, “A Jolteon with ink in the blood, huh?”

Expect big things coming your way this Yule from me on both anthropology and the cultural effects of technology in articles written for SiliconANGLE.