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Evening everyone (how many members are on this list anyway?) <br>
<br>
I'm a new joiner to this list. My name is Chris Ward. I'm 21, a senior
at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor--almost graduated with
bachelors degree in Human Ecology, and a avid advocate of Free / Open
Source Software. <br>
<br>
I'm working on a project which deals heavily with Blender3D and
education...I would absolutely love you all to read my initial proposal
and give me some feedback. I feel this is the most appropriate place
to start asking for support. It's a short few pages, and i've never
really been the best writer, but I believe it's pretty clear and
concise. Comment on anything you like. Ask questions. Critique.
Suggest. Just let me have it! There's lots of questions still left
unanswered. This is just my initial vision, and I want the final
product to be a product of the community. <br>
<br>
I'll paste it here inline, and i'll also attach it in case you prefer
to snag it and read it in your favorite ODT compatible doc reader. :-)<br>
<br>
Thanks, and I hope you enjoy reading it, and that it inspires you a bit.<br>
<br>
Sleep tight and happy Blending,<br>
<br>
-Chris<br>
<br>
<br>
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<p>Chris Ward College of the Atlantic - Fall 2006</p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Technologias Abiertas</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Centro de Educacion para los Videojuegos
y Deseno Graphicos 3D</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(Open
Technologies</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Education
Center for Video Games and 3D Graphic Design)</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p>My mission for it all is pretty straight forward, however
intricately complex in the making. For now, I will focus <span
lang="en-US">first</span> on simply proposing a general idea of my
project <span lang="en-US">to my college for bureaucratic reasons, and </span>to
you, the public at large, for feedback and critique. (Debo hacerlo en
espanol tambien, no? Si. Lo hare pronto) </p>
<p></p>
<p>For my Final Project at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor Maine,
I would like to develop a business plan for a very unique non
governmental organization called Technologia Abierta. This NGO will be
an Education Center set up in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, that will
provide the resources for students to learn to use the commercial
quality 3D graphic, animation and game design software Blender3D, and
will strive also to make the resources available to as many people as
feasibly possible in the area. </p>
<p></p>
<p>I have a few major visions of the results:</p>
<p></p>
<p>Firstly, I would like to see an environment setup there that
encouraged the productive and fulfilling use of time and potential
resources that computers provide alongside its' general use for
entertainment value. It is also my hope that the consumers of these
technologies in the Yucatan will become also their creators. I hope to
provide opportunities for community building through collaborative
learning, effective use of space, sharing of information and ideas, and
appropriate use of technology. I hope to see Technologias Abiertas
become the start of a center for digital cultural action which the
community will one day call their own.</p>
<p></p>
<p>It is a fact that millions of youth and adults worldwide spend
hundreds of hours each year playing video games on the PC or some
gaming console like Nintendo or Playstation. In Mexico however, this
statistic does not describe the current context of today so clearly,
but it is coming to quite rapidly. Mexico is still known as a third
world country economically and has only very recently dedicated itself
to breaking free from this undesirable label. Life has been changing
with great velocity these days for the citizens of Mexico, and
especially so since Vicente Fox came to office. O<span lang="en-US">ne
of the major political goals in Mexico since his inauguration was to
enhance the economy and the quality of life as a whole through the
increased dependence and use of modern technologies in everyday life.
And in the race </span>to keep up with the quick pace of developing
technologies, the state of Yucatan has become one of the forerunners in
Mexico to effectively integrate themselves into the new digital world. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Having spent some significant time in the Yucatan recently with
Karla Pena (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.yucatanlearning.com">www.yucatanlearning.com</a>) and the crew of the Yucatan
Spanish Immersion Program from College of the Atlantic (I attended this
school program both in winter of 2004/5 and 2005/6 - more information:
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.coa.edu">www.coa.edu</a>), I was lucky enough to experience firsthand the growth of
market demands there for computers and other modern digital
technologies the same. One of the first things I noticed, having an eye
for these sorts of things, was that the markets in the consumer
technology industries were growing exceedingly fast. The sale of
electronics, like mp3 players, video players, audio equipment, and home
televisions, etc. was really beginning to pick up. I noticed
significant changes that had occurred even over just one year. The
interest in computer and console gaming was no different. And if
anything can be told by the patterns of growth in this market in other
countries like the United States, Japan, China, Germany, Holland,
countries of the European Union in general, and the like, it leaves me
with only one conclusion: the gaming fever in Mexico has only just
begun.</p>
<p></p>
<p>It is my opinion then, one based off of own personal experience in
video gaming culture, inference from the words of others native to
Yucatan and those from abroad, and by observation from within the
context of technological development projects that I took participated
in while living in the Yucatan, the change of landscape the Yucatan is
seeing today could become a double edged sword. If these new
technologies are used appropriately they really could bring about a
significant upward swing in the economy, education of the people, the
transparency of government and the general quality of life. However if
abused, or used with ignorance they can just as easily cause harm to
local communities and hurt the growth of the individual. But that's to
say the obvious without saying much, and for now I'll keep it vague and
stay on topic. It's time to explain how I think Technologias Abiertas
could help some in the Yucatan to avoid some of these the negatives in
its own small way, and how I very generally expect to achieve it. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Firstly, with Technologias Abiertas it is my intention to provide
the newly forming gaming market in the Yucatan a fighting chance to
convert some potentially bad habits of computer gaming that we have all
seen develop in so many other places into something that is highly
productive and fulfilling to the user by turning the passive playing
into active creating. It is too easy to waste away hundreds of hours on
video games without walking away with any tangible gain. Technologias
Abiertas will be <span lang="en-US">dedicated to providing an
environment were active creation is encouraged alongside participation.
It will be </span>an Non Governmental Education Center located in the
incredible capital city of Merida, Yucatan that focuses its course
development on 3D graphic and gaming design using the Free Software 3D
Creation Suite Blender3D (and other Free and Open Source -FOSS- tools
that accompany it in creation needs, i.e. sound, 2D graphics editing
and the underlying GNU Linux operating system as is needed). The
courses will cover the basic education from Beginner to Advanced skill
levels, and will use an educational approach that
integrates collaborative learning and project building, volunteer
teaching and curriculum development, multiple disciplines, and a
philosophy of cultural action. This is the first priority <span
lang="en-US">of a small handful that will guide me ('us') in its
development. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p>The next priority will be aimed at giving all Intermediate and
Advanced level students a chance to take their knowledge of 3D design
and their enthusiasm for gaming to a new level by providing them with
the tools to start heading down the path of Game Design and
Development. Still using Blender 3D in combination with other <span
lang="en-US">accompanying </span>FOSS tools, learners would gain ever
important experience and exposure through collaborative project
building and design. </p>
<p></p>
<p>And here at this point I would like to pause for a moment to
explain a little more thoroughly my vision of how this aspect of
education in game design at Technologias Abiertas will look in the end.
</p>
<p></p>
<p>In the process of teaching the fundamentals of gaming design, it is
with respect to all the people of Yucatan, Mexico and Latin America in
general that I will invite all students and faculty of Technologias
Abiertas to take a step outside the box to incorporate a philosophy of
game design that appeals to local customs and perspectives of life,
culture, and understanding rather than simply creating to meet the
expectations of popular culture. It is my hope in doing this to find
that through the localization of games to present contexts, a larger
potential market could be reached that was generally ignored or
overlooked. Also, as a side-effect of popularity in local contexts, I
hope to find that this approach also encourages the preservation of
culture and community through games by embedding an understanding and
appreciation of local values and world-views into the minds of the
quickly growing video game playing youth of the day. Family values,
community morals and ethics, language, humor, history, and even ways of
problem solving and learning are all valuable and viable aspects of
local cultures that could be incorporated into the content and design
of games that differ in the Yucatan compared with other parts of the
world. And how it would be done would be completely dependent on the
students themselves. They are the ones who know their cultures the
best, and so it will be up to them to develop to their own needs.
Technologias Abiertas will act only as an enabler, allowing the freedom
of developers to create games which can fill the cultural and
educational niches in the gaming market that are currently left void,
that respect the creators own culture.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The third element of Tecnologias Abiertas will be to
provide Yucatan's gaming enthusiasts of today and tomorrow an exciting,
fun, comfortable, clean and modern locale for playing the games created
by the community--gaming cafe-style (likely those of popular culture
too will be played, I don't believe this could be avoided. World of
Warcraft is just too good of a game! And these games are great tools
for learning anyway). This aspect of Technologias Abiertas will play a
fundamental role in drawing in active members of the expanding gaming
community in Yucatan, and will reach out to them to provide the
encouragement and support they might need to turn their passion for the
virtual into something real. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Weaving together all these pieces like a spiders web, the social
aspects of the gaming experience, in combination with the 3D graphic
and gaming design, intimate interaction and commitment between the
foreseeable faculty, staff and students, and enlightened community
development educational models will, I believe, work together to form
a synergy of creative powers that could put Yucatan on a road toward
success in the 3D design and gaming markets and the creation of the
first human ecological graphic and gaming design education
organizations in the whole world. </p>
<p></p>
<p>A lot, well, that is not all just yet. In my attempt to provide
a one-of-a-kind environment for learning 3D graphic and gaming design,
a unique environment for gaming in general, and a community for
cultural activism (if that is the best word for it...), Tecnologias
Abiertas will also be dedicating itself to the exclusive use of Free
and Open Source Software (FOSS) where no other reliable or viable
alternative option exists. There will be great effort done to ensure
that only as the last possible choice will any non-free source
software, or proprietary software be used in the courses offered in our
education programs or in the configuration of the gaming cafe parallel
either. All software possible in other words, will need to be licensed
according to the GPL Free Software licensing terms or one of it's close
relatives such as LGPL, Creative Commons, and the like. In doing so it
is my intention to provide the opportunity for all participants to join
and take part in the the global Free and Open Source communities that
support their right to freely learn from, use and profit from such
software as Blender3D. Also, I believe it is the only reasonable option
I have based on the type of community inspired education model I intend
to follow, since it holds sharing, collaboration and dialog as central
elements to success. Knowledge is a thing to share, and so are all
things derived from it. At Technolgias Abiertas, we will be committed
to staying open to share through the act of contribution and dialog
with the community which supports us.</p>
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