The year is 2011 and let’s take a look at our “to do” list.

Posted on January 16, 2011 by David Ng

O.K.

So things have been a little quiet of late, and this project has been essentially chugging along in a slow and steady manner. Indeed, we’ve had (and still continue to attract) a wonderful outpouring of gracious help such that we already have several hundred cards ready for printing and playing.

But now it’s time to switch gears a little, and step it up a bit. For the past 6 months or so, we’ve been watching all the great comments and discussions going on in the forums, and we’ve been making checklists of things that we think would fit well with the project. In that respect, here is a quick list of immediate goals. Do let us know what you think, and even better: do let us know if you can help.

Immediate (prior to April 2011):
– Start producing pdf’s of various different “decks.” In particular, decks that represent certain locales would be particularly useful.

– Create a few videos that quickly demonstrate how to pick/choose and print cards.

– Tweak the search parameters. Currently, it searches entire entries and inadvertently results in a lot of noise (i.e. hard to search using simple key words).
– Program an extension to the current wordpress template. In this case, we’d like to have a section of the website that allows a user to produce their own cards. In other words, something like this, but built into the website. Better still, if there was a way for the user to save their card data.

– Kick it up a bit with the social media stuff, so as to attract even more participants. Maybe build from this and this for example.

– Host a teacher workshop on the Phylo project, where educators can be introduced to the project, as well as provide an environment to brainstorm potential ideas/activities.

– Attract a team of MBA type students who would be interested in using Phylo as a student project, especially with a light to explore mechanisms of high quality card production that could be “sold” without ignoring the wonderful non-commercial, open philosophy that is such an important part of the game.

– Partner with a local museum or environmental group to pilot the “high quality” deck scenario.

Not a bad “to do” list, even if we do say so ourselves!

Leave us a link to your art!

Posted on September 2, 2010 by David Ng

If you don’t feel like going through the hassle of submitting via Flickr, but you do have some great imagery to pass on, leave us a link in the comments below. Make sure you leave your proper email address (which won’t be shown to the public) so that we can follow up.

Thanks!

The Phylo project has a set of rules and close to 100 cards ready for beta testing.

Posted on May 22, 2010 by David Ng

Happy Biodiversity Day!

Well, it’s been about 5 weeks, and the Phylo project is close to 100 cards, all ready for free printing. As well, a set of rules is now available that is polished enough to go through some beta testing.

Today, we even have an “Oil Spill” card, and I’d like to invite people to leave comments on what text should go on this particular card. Is it too lenient right now, or too harsh? We’re really hoping that as the project progresses, the comments on the site will ultimately guide what needs to go on (or off) the cards.

In fact, while I’m making requests, I’d like to suggest the possibility of looking into funding a mobile app that could work with the project. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Also, it would be great to get more artists involved. If you are one, see if you can send an image or two our way. If you know one, see if you can lure them in! Here’s a sample of the ones recently uploaded on the Flickr submissions pool.

In any event, if you’re new to the project, do take a gander – the art, the photos, and the permalinks (where we try our best to find video footage of the card) are all time well spent. Better yet, do tell others about it – always lovely to get more artists, gamers, science-y folks involved.

The Origin Story

Posted on April 6, 2010 by David Ng

I thought it would be appropriate to have in the blog section of the website, a sort of origin story. You know, where we pretend this whole Phylo or Phylomon thing is a comic book superhero and then talk a bit about how exactly things came to be. In other words, think of this post as the proverbial “hit by a lightning bolt in the lab”, “bit by a radioactive spider” or the “long long ago in a galaxy far far away” tale.

Actually, maybe the story about a “rocket leaving the planet Krypton” would work better here. This is because the rocket of an idea would definitely be Andrew’s original paper on children’s cognition of Pokemon versus wildlife creatures. This was published way back in 2002, and it was the sort of paper that was a great story when one was talking about science and education. However, at the time, I also remember thinking, “That is a freakin’ awesome idea.”

In any event, it wasn’t until 2007 that I had a chance to follow up with Andrew and inquire whether anyone had run with the biodiversity cards in earnest – at least at a level where a large section of biodiversity could be covered. At the time, he basically said “Not really,” and so I suggested how a web-based effort might do the trick, and also queried whether he’d be o.k. with someone like myself taking on that challenge.

Graciously, he agreed – with the stipulation that he would also like a robust follow-up on the educational merits of such a project. But to me, this was a marvelous stipulation, since I happen to be mostly involved in science education anyway.

(October 5th, 2007)
Dear Dave

Good to hear from you, and apologies for being slow repyling, but I’m pretty crap on keeping up with email.

We never did anything with the Pokemon idea – our intention was simply to throw it out there in the hope someone would pick it up. So I’m pleased you’re interested – please let me know a bit more about your plans. This could be fun.

Best wishes

Andrew

And so, it was at this moment that the spaceship took off from planet Krypton.
Continue reading →

Name Change – Phylo!

Posted on March 11, 2010 by David Ng

Things are humming along! We have over 100 images submitted, 30 or so queued up for card production, and over 40 folks signed up on the forum (in fact, one set of rules is arguably close to beta testing). The response has been simply wonderful, and these numbers don’t even the include the numerous comments and chats culled from coffee meetings to blog posts to tweets. To us, this outpouring is something else, especially in light of the fact that we’ve technically only seeded an “idea” out there!

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The website, itself, is being prodded, poked and tweaked as we speak, and should be ready for a beta launch in about a week or two. At this point in time, the main emphasis on the website is that it allows set-up, production and printing of cards in a low maintenance and open access manner. The cards will initially have only a few major attributes on them, but will also allow for commentary so that we can continue to polish the way cards will look over time. Hopefully, you’ll find it a treat when it’s public, but if not, then do go with the crowd sourcing mentality of this project, and let us know what you think.

Probably the main news to report is that we’ve decided to change the name of the project to “PHYLO” (note that the logo above is only a “tester”). This was primarily due to conversations with various folks (notably Cory) who felt that having a name with “mon” at the end could set ourselves up for trademark issues since there is inferred linkage to the term “Pokemon”. In any event, the “official” URL will now be http://phylogame.org (although note that the http://phylomon.org will still work).

Finally, with info on hand from the forum, we’ve quickly made some card mock-ups (see above) so that you can get the general sense and feel of the cards. We’ve done this because a number of media outlets have inquired about the project, and many of these requested visuals. Anyway, for now, note that the cards have a few attributes already. These include: (at the top), name, latin name, a number depicting scale, another number depicting food chain rank embedded in a coloured circle (indicative of diet); (in the middle) some basic classification data; and (at the bottom) simple habitat information, name and URL of artist, and some info regarding preferred climate. More detail about this can be found at the forum, but better yet, sign up and weigh in on the various discussions.

Cheers
Dave Ng

Game Design Ideas?

Posted on February 1, 2010 by David Ng

Please do check out the images that have been submitted so far – they are, in a word, awesome! Also, at this point in time, we have gathered a collection of individuals from the scientific community to participate in the project. They will be asked to focus on coming up with 12 potential attributes suitable for presentation on these cards (although use of all 12 may be subjected to space constraints). Note that their choice of 12 will be strongly influenced by the feedback culled from a variety of different communities, particularily those who are passionate about game design.

To facilitate this, we have started a forum at http://phylomon.forumotion.net/ Anyone can view the forum’s content, but registration is required for participation. You can self register at this forum (by posting a new topic or leaving a comment). Hopefully it will soon be an independent place for dialogue and discussion on the project. We also have a FriendFeed site at http://friendfeed.com/phylomon. This site can provide a place to upload content (word docs, images, pdfs), should you not have a website/blog to present files. Reading the FriendFeed is open to anyone, but participation/uploading privileges will require a quick registration process.

For gamers, we are interested in all of your ideas, including specific calls for organism images, or other specialized cards. In particular, it would be wonderful if there are folks out there who feel the urge to fully design gameplay rules. We hope that a number of these rules can facilitate initial beta testing of preliminary card sets and card games. Rules of this nature will eventually inhabit a “game” section of the finished official phylomon website.

Again, please visit and register for the Phylomon forum by starting or contributing to a discussion (registration is initially prompted when you want to start a topic or comment in the thread)..

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me or send a tweet. The official website is on track for a March 2010 release. This website will be fully capable of generating imaged blank cards. We are hoping that the first of the working card sets with edited content and some game play rules to be available by April/May.