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Systems and theology in The Binding of Isaac
The Binding of Isaac is a retro-styled action game inspired by the Old Testament* story in which God orders Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a demonstration of his faith. The game has prompted discussion about the relationship between its overt religious themes and the systems embedded in its design. Systems-driven deism John Teti began ...
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How to use social media in higher education
If you want to do smart things with social media in higher education, listen to the advice and look at the examples below. I recently realized that I am a “content strategist”—one day I just looked in the mirror, and I couldn’t lie to myself any more—and social media falls within my ducal lands. I have ...
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What is Educational Technology?
Academic specialties are like clown cars: They look much bigger when you’re on the inside. For those of us who oppose calculus on humanitarian grounds, the entirety of mathematics consists of “stuff with numbers.” I’m sure that my recent jobs look to most people like “stuff with computers,” or at most like some sort of ...
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Early uses of the phrase “educational technology”
Google Books Ngram Viewer is a data visualization tool that uses the Google Books database to show how often a word or phrase has been used in print sources over the years. There are some bugs—inaccurate years of publication, spotty OCR—but it’s pretty damned cool. I was trying to track down the first use of ...
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What ever happened to Boom Culture?
Boom Culture is dead. Long live Luderacy. Boom Culture was my previous blog, which ran from January, 2009 until May, 2012. More people read the site than I expected when I started it as a graduate school project. For this I am grateful and flattered. Also slightly bemused. If you found this site because you ...
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Dear Mister Marston, part 3
Hey Max, My second letter is below. I know the pony express took a long time to arrive. I don’t plan to go on another two week hiatus! Harrison Dear Mister “Max” Marston, It is always good to hear from you, sir. Remembering that your experience and mine oddly echo one another is always a ...
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Dear Mister Marston, part 2
Hey Harrison, Here’s my second letter. I think my Marston might be losing it a bit—but he recovers at the end. We’ll see what the future brings for him. Apropos more of the West than of Red Dead specifically, I just finished reading a book about the Comanche people, called Empire of the Summer Moon. ...
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History, genre and conflicting narratives in Red Dead Redemption
The judicial system treated the Wild West bandits with an unusual degree of understanding. Those who surrendered and survived—Frank James, Cole Younger, Emmett Dalton—served a few years in prison and then went on with their lives…The West was closing up. The cattle drives ended in the early 1880s. Reconstruction ended in the South. Automobiles and ...
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The Year of No Guns
Games I have played in the past year that feature shooting as a prominent mechanic: Red Dead Redemption Metro 2033 Borderlands Perfect Dark Zero Gears of War Dead Space Resident Evil 5 Alan Wake Vanquish Dark Sector Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Singularity Darksiders Far Cry 2 Grand Theft Auto IV Halo 3 Halo ...