the great sweet-shop in the sky

The Great Sweet-Shop in the Sky<edited>

David SquireCreative Director, desq

davidsquire@desq.co.uk

"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Great Sweet-Shop in the Skye-content: mixed messages and mixed media

> Mixed Messages: e-learning

> When media is the big idea

> Mixed Media: PlayStation generation

Mixed Messages: e-learning

CBT Industry

Old school CBT educational software

eContent Industry

Nu school Edu-tainment Leisure software (games) Learning

focussed Training

Design focussed Gameplay

Mixed Messages: e-learningCBT Industry

Government funding Not for profit Co-operative Research-led HTML

eContent Industry

Publisher/VC funded Commercial Competitive Market-led Flash/shockwave Immerse/experience Inform/Present

‘rich interactive experiences’+‘exciting and enjoyable’ ‘engaging and relevant’+‘activity based’+‘accessible’ ‘appropriate audio, animation & graphics’+‘game-play’

want

need‘Bite-sized learning’+‘learning objects’+‘accessibility standards compliant (W3C WAI, Bobby)’+‘IMS compliant’ ‘hardware minimum specs’+‘dial-up’+‘content interworking’ ‘mapped to curriculum’+’content portability’+interoperability

‘game-play’ ‘learning lara croft’ ‘educational big-brother’aspire

Mixed Messages: e-learning

Channel 4Learning

GridClub: Bafta award winning interactive edutainment & co-branded TV/interactive features.

When media is the big idea

Channel 4's multi-media service to schoolsSupport for Channel 4's adult educational programmeAdult interactive learning

BBC Digital Curriculum£150 million from its licence fee income on the project over the next five years.“Interactive digital technology has the power to make a huge difference to the way we learn.”

“Our aim is to rise to the challenge of the PlayStation generation by making children’s content that is as compelling and personal as the computer games children adore.” Greg Dreg, DG BBC, Nov 1999

When media is the big idea

Guardian Education Interactive Ltd

Learn.co.ukOnline lessons & testsRevision materials

Teaching resources based on the vast Guardian archive.

When media is the big idea

Granada Learning

Anglia CampusLearnwise MLELetts Educational materials Pearson Education

When media is the big idea

Consoles (PS1; PS2; Dreamcast; X-Box; N64; GameCube)

Handhelds (Gameboy; Gameboy Advance)

PC/Mac

iDTV games channels (Jambon, 2WayTV)

Mobiles

Mixed Media: PlayStation generation

From Transforming The Way We Learn (DfES)

76%

64%

88%71%

36%

73% of 7-29 year olds have played computer games

In the USA sales of games outnumber sales of books

"Adults, Not Kids, Now Dominate Computer-Game Market." (The Wall Street Journal April 28. 2000)

Mixed Media: PlayStation generation

Old school: predominantly male, with console gamers 14-25, PC gamers 18-30

Nu school: The N-generation/Wired-generation – more gender balanced, greater age range, as the PlayStation-generation grow up & get jobs.Demographic for PlayStation proved to be 29-year-old males.

PS2 & Xbox aimed at late-20 and 30-something consumer

Sony wants PS2 to appeal to non-games players: entertainment unit with DVD & Internet.

Mixed Media: PlayStation generation