Small-group Game Dynamics

I'm planning my Geography Ambassador sessions for Monday. Getting a bunch of year 9/11/12s excited about geography just by talking is trickier than you think - as I found out on my first visit. So this time I'm opting for an interactive activity that has little chance of floundering, and might actually get people excited.

I know of only one game that fits the bill and is plausible in small groups: Bananagrams. In case you've never heard of it, it's a light version of Scrabble that doesn't need a board, has very simple rules, and doesn't require immense stretches of waiting. Oh and everyone makes their own crossword simultaneously. (I feel honour-bound to mention here that the game had existed under different names long before the current version was marketed.) Simply put, it's an elegantly structured game that despite lacking "traditional" reward mechanisms and player interaction, never fails to engage and entertain.

Now how to use the same principles in a geography-related activity? I've attempted to (after going 3 days on about 9 hours of sleep due to other matters) strip it down to the bare bones, in hopes of remodelling them into some thing useful. Thus...

In order to stimulate the Bananagrams mode of play, players need:

1. Unpredictable input - in the form of scrambled letter tiles
2. Independent play - each player makes their own crossword
2. Choice within structure - here structure = crossword
3. Self-imposed time limits - determined by a) the shortest length of time needed to complete each crossword, and b) the number of tiles available.

It doesn't sound much of an interactive game any more, does it? A forage into the murky waters of game theory and group dynamics is much needed, but I've already used up my quota of consecutive sanity today.

Now I'm thinking case studies and career aspirations and geoggy jargon and diamond 9 exercises and index cards...and this is so exciting!

Early Morning Madness

For some strange reason I woke abruptly at 2am this morning (perhaps it was the fact that I forced myself asleep at 9:40pm??) and had this undeniable urge to write up a shorthand system for recording origami directions. What the??!! (FYI the REM stuff had nothing whatsoever to do with origami)

Even more astounding is the fact that I did exactly that, instead of revising for the GEO101 exam or trying to get back to sleep! Pure MADNESS!!!

So, 7 pages of notes, 3 hours of scratching, 2 test models, and a gazillion versions of code later, I actually came up with a shorthand system that does the job. Fancy that. Not that I'm going to type it all out now, with exams coming up tomorrow...but here are the finished codes for the two models I worked on:

Traditional Crane
>BB. X180 [3-4] Y180 @ IR(3, Y120) @ IR(pp, Y30) MF-lv1!X90 @< Talking Frog (picked randomly from a book)
>PD. (3,1) (2-3,1) FP-DH2 (1-1,pp) D2 FL-D2 SQ-pl (3,1) Y180 (2-3-4):df1 a1a2-DV2 RF-a3-[1-2,3] FL-lv1-(1,2)@!#:df2 MF-[3,5]!Y90 ly2-(df2,df1)<

Oh. And the result of all this madness was that I totally blew my newly established circadian rhythm and slept in til 2pm. Bummer :(

A Whiff Of Yuletide

Thursday night, way past bedtime. "Christmas is approaching" I lay musing, "but what shall we do for a tree?" I had scoured the shops for a decent-looking tabletop tree earlier, to no avail. Then the long-dormant origami master in me stirred, and spit out, "we shall fold one, of course."

I had searched for Christmas tree origami models before. They were disappointing. Either they're flat, vaguely tree-like shapes, or modular structures resembling pagodas more than trees. So I set about devising an alternative method.

Being the strict purist I am, that would mean folding an entire Christmas tree out of a single sheet of paper. Yes I'm bonkers.

But I only realised that after hours of fruitless attempts, during which I worked out a solution to the decimal counter, revised the structure of the solar system clock, invented a 3D board game, to name a few things.

Needless to say I succumbed to pressure and tried modular origami instead X( My final method is based on one of the pagoda thingies plus the "Fortune Teller" fold. Somehow the two unrelated folds came together in a moment of glorious Eureka!!

This is partly due to my curious gift of "space awareness": presented with any simple enough fold or warped continuous structure (e.g. drapery and certain garments), I can mentally reconstruct their original state and folding process. So the whole thing was worked out lying in the dark, with mental images as reference. I resisted the enormous urge to creep out of bed and start folding one straight away, and was determined to do so first thing in the morning.

I woke on Friday feeling distinctively perky, and set about making this promising model. First the theory was tested out on scrap paper, just to get an idea of the proportions. It turned out pretty well! You can see how the finished model retains the elegance of pure origami without resembling a pagoda or using up 250 pieces of paper. The whole thing consists of 17 squares of paper, and holds together entirely by friction (except the topmost cap, which is optional and purely for aesthetic reasons).

Love love love love love it. 'Nuff said.

Beijing 08.08.08: The Good, The Bad, And The Weird

So the opening ceremony's over. I'm going to serve my thoughts - still free of media influence - while they're fresh. Here goes.

THE GOOD

• Choice of Date
I could really nitpick here and say that in northern parts of China people actually prefer the number 6 over 8...nah, three eights is perfect enough.
• Choice of People
No faux pas, no out-of-place celebrities, fewer-than-normal clichés...this event is surprisingly well done considering what they churn out each Chinese New Year. Dai Yuqiang might be the natural choice for the singing, but when you think of it Liu Huan actually suits Sarah Brightman (squeee!!) better in terms of style and stage presence.
• Choice of Themes
Thank the Good Lord they didn't go with the monstrosity of a performance at the 2004 Olympics! I would have died with horror! Instead they stuck to classy themes like "Four Great Inventions" and the Silk Road and Peking Opera. Wise choice, as the Chinese are already branded over with red lanterns and psychedelic floral patterns...The opening drum matrix was especially spectacular, as was the Confucius part, though slightly overdone.
• The Podium
It's a scroll!! What more can I say??
• The Cauldron
I never knew they call that thing a cauldron...anyway, this year's is beautiful, very "Chinese" and brings to mind the Xiangyun relay torch.
• Entrance Order
Probably the most confusing entrance order in Olympic history - but we loved it! Muahahahahaha. Australians must have fallen asleep waiting for their nation's entrance.
• The Much-Abused Picture
Nice trick, letting the athletes do the stamping. I wonder why it wasn't soiled?
• The Lighting
When the lights were suddenly turned off during the drum sequence, I squealed in delight. There were many other instances of lighting setting the mood nicely.
• Giant Footprints
A pleasant surprise. I was wondering why the footprints didn't have toes - technical limits? Then I caught on: we're civilized enough to wear shoes, duh. (But the technical issue was probably true.)
• Choreography
London, you're in serious trouble :D

THE BAD

• Choice of Music
Another Olympic Opening Ceremony come and gone without a memorable piece of music to take home. What a shame. I would've loved to add the song of '08 to the list of Olympic theme songs that I can recall (which currently consists of only Amigos Para Siempre and Hand in Hand). Theme songs aside, I was really disappointed by the lack of recognisable Chinese music - true, there were instances from a wide range of styles, but few classics made it: Huanghe, Liangzhu, etc. A little girl sang Ode to Our Homeland as the national flag entered, and that was all. (Yet it was the most powerful scene of the night; I almost cried)
• Structure of Events
5000 years is a lot of stuff to portray. They got their priorities right, but the progression wasn't as smooth as it could have been.
• Handling of Particular Subjects
The Peking Opera part was quite creative, but I felt it was weak compared to the other subjects. Same for the Silk Road section, it didn't really explain the scope and purpose of the Silk Road.
• Cinematography
Many details were missed: dancers on the canvas, all the historic costumes, the cauldron coming out, Li Ning's facial expression during the final lap...maybe I'm asking too much of the camera crew =)
• Fireworks
Here's an idea: save a couple fireworks, and let people commute to work next morning, no?

THE WEIRD

• The Scroll
For about like, the first half hour it seemed so novel and elegant - after that it just gets in the way. Especially with all the irrelevant video clips. What an eyesore.
• The Feitian
Perhaps it was just me, or did those (supposedly beautiful heavenly beings) look like glittery intergalactic locusts?
• The Vanishing Brush Strokes
I was thrilled at the sight of dancers swirling ink onto the giant canvas - there were stylized clouds (xiangyun) among other things - but where did those strokes go? The finished picture shows no sign of them. They were far more prettier than the final hills and sun.
• The Doves
The wing-flapping imitations were pretty lame, but the big question is: did they actually release doves or not?

Hither we set sail

Mariner's Handbook is a notebook modified by me. Its former self was ugly beyond words.

The real thing: