Superstruct

Superstruct begins on Monday – then over the next 6 weeks it will invite people to create a collabrative and diverse narrative of what the world might be like in 2019. The Institute for the Future who are behind the game hope that, in a similar style to World Without Oil, predicting the mess of the future means we can figure out what actions we need to take now to avoid and prepare for it.

Sounds a bit like another slightly bannanas ARG but those behind it are serious indeed. 

Traces of Hope

A couple of nice examples from the BBC on technology (and ad techniques) being put to great use by chariities.

‘Traces of hope’ is a new ARG from the British Red Cross (with the writers of Kate Modern and Enable Interactve) were you have to help Joseph, a refugee in wartorn Northern Uganda, find his mother. The game works to raise awareness of the conflict, the work the Red Cross does to reconnect families separated by conflict, and drives home how individuals can make a difference by actively getting involved. I’ve signed up to the game and am excited to see how it plays out.

And an interesting article on the UN and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership funded initiative that uses an open source mobile platform to help control the outbreak of polio and other diseases in Kenya.