While returning from a trip this past weekend, I asked my wife if we could swing by Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Without hesitation, she said yes (and then I launched into an entirely unnecessary history of computer games.) I wanted to visit the place that helped inspire one of the first computer games: Colossal Cave Adventure, […]
There’s too much goodness here to explain. Please just watch the video and you can follow the Twitter stream as well. Other Links: ’80s favorite returns as app with old interactive magic, via the Chicago Tribune Dungeons & Dragons at the movies, via The Cine Family (if you happen to be in Los Angeles August […]
For the true impact of modern technology to reach Appalachia, the government must provide help build that infrastructure, which includes not only building access points that make mobile technology usable throughout the region but also support the education measures necessary to turn that infrastructure on.
This past weekend, my wife and I decided to begin saving money for an RV, which would serve two family purposes: This would allow our family to travel for longer periods of time since we wouldn’t need to board the animals. We would still take our short camping trips, but come summer we could reasonable […]
What Vin Diesel Can Teach You About Transmedia, via Transmedia Coalition Psych – The Hashtag Killer and The S#cial Sector, via Robots and Fountain Pens Without divulging too many of our trade secrets, John and I have been kicking around the idea of including transmedia games near the end of our book. We’re not quite […]
This blog is primarily about the Appalachian experience as it relates to my work on So Far Appalachia: An American mythology as told by the Bakers of Beckinghamshire. If I do my job well, though, that story will touch on larger American themes. While I haven’t had the chance to watch this Frontline piece yet, it’s […]
When we wrote the first edition of Dungeons & Dreamers, Chris Roberts was a minor character in our narrative. That doesn’t mean we found him unimportant. His story just mirrored our main narrative. As such, he appears mostly in two chapters (as Origin Systems becomes part of Electronic Arts.) When I first met Richard in […]
The Evolution of Appalachian Culture, via Yahoo Voices Almost without question, I grow concerned whenever I see people writing about Appalachia in broad sweeping terms. Unquestionably it’s a knee-jerk reaction to reading countless stories by people who characterize the region by its least common denominators. But this piece doesn’t fall into that. Instead it’s an […]
Douglass Engelbart passed away today. You probably don’t know his name but you should. He invented the computer mouse. He helped develop hypertext (those hyperlink thingies, for instance) networked computing, and pushed forward the field of human-computer interaction (that thing that helps make your computers work a little better for you.) He decided when he […]
In 1998, I went to the University of California’s Graduate School of Journalism. In my very first class, I met Jessie Deeter, a talented filmmaker who would also become one of my best friends. If you’ve seen Who Killed the Electric Car?, Revenge of the Electric Car, Spark: A Burning Man Story, or her work […]
The ‘Lost Tribe of Appalachia, via Wired.com Legacy of the Lost Tribe’s Origin, via Wired.com Melungeon Secret Solved, Sort of, via Wired.com I’d never heard the term Melungeon until I worked at Wired. While I was there our science writer Kristen Philipkoski wrote a series of pieces about genetics and Appalachia. Since then, I’ve learned […]
This PBS Arts video just came across my Twitter stream, and I thought I’d pass it along. Our book Dungeons & Dreamers explores a similar thread although we spend more time focusing on the four decades after the release of D&D. However John and I were in agreement that you couldn’t tell the story of computer games […]