Izzy Neis and I worked on a primer of kids virtual worlds that we could share with people. Kind of a what’s good about them, what difficult about them, what they are and are not. Enjoy.
And as I was uploading this one, I saw this fantastically designed on on Slideshare as well. Guess which one of us has access to graphic designers 
Marketing fact vs Marketing fantasy
OMG, I am SO excited about this new addition to National Geographic Animal Jam. Dr Brady Barr from Dangerous Encounters now has a Gadget lab in Animal Jam!
It’s been live for only a couple hours and the room has been full the whole time. Dr Brady Barr specialized in cool gadgets that help him get crazy footage of all sorts of animals. And we are showing some good ones, including Brady getting into a Crocodile getup and tagging Crocodiles, hanging out next to a deer carcass to see wolfpacks at night and pythons and Mystery Swamp Creatures! ACK!
I love it! And this is just the first day. Look out for more cool stuff from this awesome-tastic Scientist/Celebrity that we are partnering with.
I find myself shouting at the videos – get away from there Brady!!!
Woot!
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5/12 – UPDATE! Brady’s answering the player’s animal questions!
Dr Brady Barr now has regular video answers to questions from kids in the game. So our kids can ask a real scientist their animal puzzlers and potentially have him answer their question. Love this kind of feedback and recognition. How exciting!
Just a short post to point out a conversation I have had with a bunch of friends about the movie, The Social Network. After I watched it, I didn’t feel like I had watched a cinematic masterpiece. I couldn’t see what everyone was freaking out about. It was a fine couple hours, but really, what’s the big deal?
When I dug a bit deeper, I figured out that it was because I knew that story, really well. Not just of Facebook, but of tons of late aughts start-ups and silicon valley gossip. I read those stories in Valley Wag and Tech Crunch and all the other online rags as they happened. I’ve eaten tacos with Twitter execs while discussing COPPA fines and defended multi-million dollar business plans to tech VCs. I’ve felt the rush of hope with new bridge funding and the despair of multiple companies closing. I’ve become jaded of this industry. Almost bored with it’s dramas.
Maybe that’s why I have turned my focus to projects that have a little more “oompf” in the heart-department. I want to be proud of my work on a societal level, not just career and/or bank account. You would think children’s properties would be a fair choice, but oy! don’t get me started on some of the Television Execs and Licensing people I’ve met.
That’s not to say I don’t still pay attention a little. I grew up a gal in America – I’ve been trained to absorb gossip, whether I like it or not. At least I am getting better at the KIND of gossip I am absorbing (read: Please brain, less Kardashians!)
Hi All,
I was asked to do a short talk at Pratt Institute, so I decided to share my slides. Basically I wanted to have a short visual aid to a myriad of mainstream, large and successful properties and brands that did/do well interacting and connecting with their audience through online community and fan engagement .
Let me know if you would like more info or examples or if you have any questions.
So I was clearing out my favorites on Twitter and thought I would aggregate some of the random old articles I had saved to look at later….. way later. Why not put them here, right? 
Learning
Big Thinkers: Henry Jenkins on New Media and Implications for Learning and Teaching
Why playing in the virtual world has an awful lot to teach children
Is Video Game School Training a Generation of Professional Princess Rescuers?
The Changing Views of the Online Experience – from Fears to Possibilities
Raising Future People (aka kids)
A Healthy Day Starts in the Classroom with School Breakfast Programs
Online Safety
Twitter Safety: Keeping young people safe on Twitter
Social Media etc
15 Ways to Measure Return on Engagement (ROE) of Social Media
Game Design for Social Networks
Why Community Management is still misunderstood
What is Social CRM? An Introduction
2010: The Year of the Community Manager
35 social media KPIs to help measure engagement
Play!
Hey everyone!
The reason I haven’t posted in forever is because I am hard at work on our newly launched project (albeit in open beta) National Geographic Animal Jam!
The day is finally here to live wild with National Geographic Animal Jam™. Now you and your kids can be among the first to monkey around in this virtual world of discovery and fun. Combining the chance for kids to be the animal of their choice with access to National Geographic’s limitless libraries, National Geographic Animal Jam will open your child’s eyes to a world of adventure and exploration like no other virtual world out there. Your kids will soon realize that they’re having tons of fun in the coolest jungle around!
Two years in the making, National Geographic Animal Jam represents an ongoing creative collaboration between the great minds at National Geographic and the gaming gurus at Smart Bomb Interactive. The goal of this virtual world is to provide a fun, exciting, and safe environment for kids to play online, as well as inspire them to explore and protect the natural world outside their doors.
So come prowl around inside National Geographic Animal Jam. With lush tropical kingdoms, amazing adventures, and fascinating facts in store—plus the chance to live it up as your favorite animal—mommy and daddy bears (and their cubs alike) will find a wild world worth discovering!
National Geographic Animal Jam – Jump into the Jungle Today!
We are tweaking and polishing through the summer, and as such, it is completely free to play through the open beta! When we have our Grand Opening this fall, we will offer premium subscription content, but the game will always have free to play features.
Check it out and let me know what you think!
SPEAKER/S: Mark Methenitis (The Vernon Law Group, PLLC)
10 legal developments for 2010
1. What happen with “Glider?”
- EULA violations can be considered copyright infringement
- don’t be afraid to sue, but only for big ones
- What happen to Worlds.com
- patents case
2. Why should I care if kids are making content
- kids cant enter in a contract
- kids do have a valid copyright that is licensed
- prent is license – get permission
- cc’s are implied consent
- unclear stil
- assent to machinima rules
- does cc to service (xbox live) assent to all games
- user content when there is no parental license
3. You’ll never take me alive COPPA
- 13 is magic number
- must post privacy policy
- regulation on controls PII
- verifiable parental consent
- parents choose whether 3rd
- minimize pii collected and maintain
- COPPA 2.0 (little COPPAs) – extends to 17 and under
- NJ, NC, GA, IL, ME all have separate
- looking more like francise sale regulations, comply with the most stringent state
- COPPA ties into CAN-SPAM
- ecards and forwrd to friend
- requires an opt out list
- might have a issue with inviter and invitee emails
4. what is govt talking about
- COPPA 2.0
- FTC report on explicit content in VW for minors
- recommends age screenign and segregation
- more self-regualtion and possible lang filters
- No news on FTCs look into Dig Rights Management
- concerns over possible regulation on dig dist related to consumer protection
- Always worried about predators
5 Europe rules are different
- Server rules on privacy are complicated
- adequately protected data transfers – encrypted
- have to spell it all out in TOS
6. Cookies in Europe
- 11/24/09 – new rules in force by 2011
- cant use cookies unless the user consents after getting “clear and comprehensive info”
- or stictly necessary to provide services explicity requested by the user
- browser settings can be considered consent not clear
7. Biz model changes when taxed
- all income earned by US companies is taxed when it’s receieved
- only earn income when points are spent, even in wallet system
- income earned outside of US is taxable in both places
- get acct in intl taxes and attourney
8. What do you mean I might be a bank
- virtual currency considered bank
- anythign that can be bought with cash now and then cashed out later or as refund
- besides the poss implications in banking regs, you then may also be uner financial institution privacy regs
9 Hedging currency
- if you are running a global micro-transaction model, you should probably at least look at hedging currency
- buy insurance against price fluctuations
- micro-transaction model may find it especially beneficial b/c transaction volume can be erractic and over a long period of time
10. Zynga Poker
- subject of online gambling investigations
- gambling=
- consideration (payment of something to participate
- chance random element determines outcome
- prize – thing of value to be won
- sweepstakes are governed under gambling law
- take out consideration rule (no purchase ness)
- some states require bonds to insure sweepstakes
- check your rules, dont just cut and paste
http://www.edge-online.com/features/gdc-bringing-families-together-with-video-games
Jessee Schell
- toy story mania ride
- pixie hollow
- toon town
- pirates
10 things to try to achieve:
1. You have to decide to design for both kids and parents
2. Find themes that both kids and parents care about
- Toon Town’s executives takeover theme – work/play tension
- Last child in the woods – nature – offline tasks
- Nostaligia bridges generation gap – children want to learn about their parent’s childhoods
3. Understand what family wants and provide it
- Families want shared experiences and shared accomplishments
- Parents want to feel that they provided meaningful and useful experiences
- Parents also just want to feel like they provided
- Kids want to be more emotionally connected to their families
- Both kids nad parents want to connect to distant relatives
4. Parents want to teach & kids want to learn
- Adult jokes are teaching/learning opportunities
- Need situations where kids are in over their head where the parents can save them
- Opportunities for kids to brag/show off
5. Co-opt existing roles for quick immersion
- Parent’s understand how to buy a doll, that’s why Webkinz had a big jump off
6. Reverse roles to delight everyone
- Everyone wants a break
- when child’s skills surpasses parent’s – it’s a landmark moment
7. Consider Gender Issues
- There are 12 POV in a 4 person household (Dad, Mom, Sis, Bro)
- Make play patterns to facilitate
8. Deciding to pay is collaborative
- Club Penguin – elastic Velvet rope – effectively teasing enough in a free-to-play situation
- Mailers in Toontown gave the impression of value add
9. Safety is paramount
This is where Mr Schell’s up-to-this-point wonderful talk went off the rails for me. Instead, he decided to perpetuate the culture of fear mongering that is so popular to do nowadays when discussing children in the online space. Instead of going off on the rant that this point caused from me, I will just leave this point as the title, and move on. grumble…
10. Design for the family as well as for the individual
- Design to let them connect with one another
- Families are busy now
- Connection btwn parents and kids is a stoong emotional bond. Leverage it.
It’s true! I got a fantastic opportunity to work with an insanely talented team of designers on one of the country’s most beloved brands, National Geographic. The game is out this summer and it’s BEAUTIFUL. So excited, stay tuned for updates. :D
Joi Podgorny Joins National Geographic’s Animal Jam Team
Online Child Safety Veteran to Lead Community Engagement in New Virtual World
Washington, DC and Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) January 25, 2010 — Smart Bomb Interactive announced today that Joi Podgorny has joined the company as the Director of Community Engagement for National Geographic’s Animal Jam, an online virtual world for kids 5-9 launching in the summer of 2010. In her new role, Podgorny will architect and oversee all aspects of community management for Animal Jam, with the goal of creating an online destination that is an industry leader in child safety, parental engagement, and pure fun.
“This team and this project are a perfect fit for me,” said Podgorny. “Kids who love animals are going to be immersed in a fascinating virtual world of unprecedented depth, and they’ll be part of an online community that parents can feel good about letting their children explore. “
Podgorny is considered one of the industry’s foremost experts in online community and children’s marketing, specifically in the under-13-year-old demographics. Her management and production accomplishments range across six international children’s entertainment properties. She most recently served as Head of Community for Mind Candy, where she oversaw phenomenal growth in the user community of moshimonsters.com. She is a frequent contributor to conferences and forums on online child safety and digital engagement with children.
I helped promote the second Kids Online unconference again and am so happy with the conversations that we all had. I wanted to share the conversations we had.
We used the hashtag #kidsonline if you want to check out the tweets.
I have a collaborative google doc of notes. Please feel free to check it out and/or add to it.
I also tried my first streamed video (audio is poor for many of the talks, but if you listen hard, you can hear us). It’s broken into 3 videos, each rather long. And the video sometimes doesn’t match with the audio. But I tried, right?
I know there were talks at the end about having another one of these next year. If you are interested, let me know and I can let the rest of the organizers know.
ALSO… I want to start roaming cocktail parties where we can all get together and talk shop about the kids online industry. We have a listserv that you should signup for if you are interested in knowing when the next one is (or starting one of your own)
