June 2015The Future of Business and Society

Welcome to the GAETSS June 2015 E-Newsletter. The last two months has seen a lot of activity and my return to the UK to focus on the development of opportunities within Europe. Readers of this newsletter can get a 30% discount on an exciting new book featuring 60 world experts on the impact of technology on business and society. Details of how to claim the discount for orders placed before June 23rd are shown here.

The Future of Business and Society Is Gamification an Art or Science or Both? The Disruptive Media Learning Lab (DMLL) Totem Learning – Welders & Leaders Subconscious Learning via Games and Social Media Disruptive Technologies for Military Recruitment and Training Neurosky Health and Wellbeing Technology for Mind and Body Featured Recent Events

o The K-Water Challenge Finals in Daejeon, Korea o APAN Webinar on Lifestyle Technologies to tackle Childhood Obesity o Emerging Infotech Conference in Shenzhen, China o Bangkok International Digital Content Festival Trade Convention o Medilink Innovation Day, Nottingham o Gaminomics Conference, London o Future of Business Book Launch, London

Featured Upcoming Events o June 20 th & 23 rd Future of Business Seminars o August 10-11 Thaisim 2015, Bangkok o August 11-14 Serious Games Conference, Singapore o October 5-9 Digital Earth 2015

Calls for Papers Recent Articles and Presentations Future Events Listing

The Future of Business and Society

Rohit Talwar at The Future of Business Book Launch

Disruptive technologies that are transforming the way we live and work are fast maturing and destined to transform business and society in unprecedented ways. This month there are 3 publications highlighted in this newsletter in which I have written chapters on the impact of technology on health, education and defence/security. In all these chapters there are both opportunities and dangers in the way these developments are accelerating to create questions about our future evolution as a species on this planet.

Readers of this newsletter can get a 30% discount on copies of “The Future of Business” book that was launched on June 11th in London (see following articles).

To obtain a 30% discount on the list price of the book, visit the Fast Future Publishing site, and apply the code dw1 in the coupon code box during checkout. This code remains valid until June 23rd.

Is Gamification an Art or Science or Both?

The recent sad death of John Nash, the man behind the film “Beautiful Mind” which starred Russell Crowe brings into focus the relationship between Art and Science. Nash’s most celebrated work was based on game theory. He was able to represent in mathematical form the dynamics of human rivalry which is at the heart of our humanity.

However, if we analyse what attributes define the world’s best sports personalities in games such as soccer, snooker, cricket and golf we can consider their skills in terms of an ability to translate physical and mathematical formulae into results. A top snooker player uses angles, spin and momentum in every shot. Golf professionals have to account for the wind and the resistance and contours of grass surfaces. Cricket players use weather conditions to swing the ball and timing to score runs. All of these abilities could be regarded as interpretations of scientific formulae and yet we understandably see the masters of these games as artists or wizards able to conjure the impossible, heroes who transcend sport to an extra dimension.

It is the challenges and skills of games which engage human beings as players or spectators and influence our behaviours, passions, perceptions and development in ways which few other human activities can hope to achieve. Games are activities which are entered into voluntarily and based on intrinsic motivation – the pleasure, enjoyment and emotions generated by our involvement. As the rapidly developing disruptive and ubiquitous technologies increasingly give us instant access to products and services which meet our daily needs, so the physical and mental challenges of life are dramatically reducing. We have fewer and fewer jobs which require hard manual effort and, in the 21st century, there will be a rapid decline in the number of jobs which require mental effort. Machines and artificial intelligence are providing superior and more cost effective solutions to activities that were once mankind’s sole domain.

All this poses the question of mankind’s future. Will machines and artificial intelligence trigger a decline in mankind’s physical and mental capacity or will our humanity find ways to extend and develop our capacity in ways which machines and computers may never truly compete. Our physical and mental superiority may have been overtaken by technology but humans have souls and sensitivities both physical and emotional that are so far beyond the domain of technology.

This brings us back to ask whether Gamification, which relies on known and proven factors to engage and influence human development, is a science or an art. Are those individuals who are the most successful at shaping and influencing the world we live in scientists or artists or are they an indefinable amalgam of art and science?

My own view is that Gamification is a magical blend of science and art that few people are genuinely blessed with – those Games Masters of Society who, in their chosen field, are like the sporting geniuses we admire and follow, instinctively able to assess situations immediately and act with a mathematical precision and complexity that only humans can hope to reproduce.

The Disruptive Media Learning Lab (DMLL)

I had the pleasure of visiting Sylvester Arnab, one of my former colleagues from the Serious Games Institute at Coventry University. Sylvester now works at a new initiative at the university, the Disruptive Media Learning Lab (DMLL) where they are involved in many different initiatives to research the impact of technology on learning and development. The DMLL organises frequent events to share their work. To learn more, visit their web site at http://dmll.org.uk/.

Totem Learning – Welders & Leaders

Whilst visiting the DMLL, I took the opportunity to catch up with Richard Smith, Head of Totem Learning based on the Coventry Technology Park. Totem Learning are one of the most established serious games developers in the UK with an impressive portfolio of applications which range from a virtual reality environment that realistically simulates the welding process and safely and cost effectively trains welders to develop the skills needed in what is a difficult and potentially dangerous job to multi player serious games that test out leadership skills and can be used to assess and develop future leaders. For more details, visit the Totem Learning web site at http://www.totemlearning.com/

Subconscious Learning via Games and Social Media

Last month, Springer launched a new book on Subconscious Learning via Social Media and Games in which I was one of the editors as well as contributing a chapter on games based learning. You can learn more and order the book at http://www.springer.com/gb/book/9789812874078

Disruptive Technologies for Military Recruitment and TrainingDefence Global Article

I have been a regular contributor to Barclay Media’s publications on Health and defence. Last month one of my articles was published in Defence Global. The article “Disruptive Technologies for Military Recruitment and Training” examines the role that the Defence and Security sector has played in shaping the use of technology by civilians and how the defence and security sector is now using technologies developed for civilian use. To access the publication, visit the Barclay Media site at http://www.barclaymedia.uk.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=29&lang=en

Neurosky Health and Wellbeing Technology for Mind and Body

Neurosky Web Page – Mind and Body Quantified

Whilst visiting Korea in April, I had the pleasure of meeting Jonglin Jin, the Founder of Neurosky, with whom I had a long standing relationship at the Serious Games Institute based on their brainwave technology. Neurosky have now expanded the portfolio of products to include sensor technology for both body and mind and I am currently road testing the LifeBeat bracelet which incorporates ECG sensors. To learn more about Neurosky, visit www.neurosky.com

Featured Recent EventsThe K-Water Eco Challenge Finals in Daejeon, Korea

The K-Water Challenge Winning Team from Taiwan

The finals of the K-Water Eco Challenge were held in Korea in April. The challenge was a competition for schools in Asia designed to raise awareness of environmental issues around water and sustainable development. Winning teams from each country took part in workshops in Daejeon where each team of two school children had a challenge to design a game concept. These concepts, complete with graphics were presented in Daejeon and the best 3 teams had an opportunity to present their ideas at the World Water Forum.

As one of the panel of judges, I was extremely impressed by the quality of the presentations from such young children. For more details of the event see http://www.unescobkk.org/news/article/playing-for-change-k-water-eco-challenge-camp-2015/ .

Photos from the Eco Challenge Singapore event held at the Suntech Covention Centre are available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/72157650658001637 and for the Daejeon Eco Challenge camp and workshop at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/72157651496760780.

Images from the World Water Forum Finals in Daegu are posted at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/72157651926182761

APAN Webinar on Lifestyle Technologies to tackle Childhood Obesity

Webinar Screen

The trip to Korea also gave me an opportunity to present my thoughts on the use of lifestyle technologies to tackle childhood obesity. The webinar included details of European projects I am involved in through the Italian Serious Games partnership with Imaginary, including Pegaso ( http://www.pegasof4f.eu/) designed to tackle childhood obesity and encourage healthy eating as well as increased physical activity using wearable devices.

The webinar presentation can be viewed at http://www.slideshare.net/dwortley/apan-serious-games-and-childhood-obesity-webinar-seoul-2015

Emerging Infotech Conference in Shenzhen, China

The InfoTech Conference in Shenzhen, China

I was an invited speaker at the Infotech conference in Shenzhen which brought together speakers on a range of disruptive technologies that impact business and society. Topics included Community Informatics projects in Canada, Internet of Things strategies and technologies in India, Educational Technologies in Europe and 3D printing in the UK. Images from the conference have been posted at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/72157651751404537

My presentation was on the Impact of Enabling Technologies on Business and Education. This presentation can be viewed at http://www.slideshare.net/dwortley/impact-of-gamification-and-enabling-technologies-on-business-and-society-bit-congress-shenzhen

Bangkok International Digital Content Festival Trade Convention

Brendan Harkin of X-Media Lab at the BIDC Festival Trade Convention

The Bangkok International Digital Content Festival Trade Convention brought together expert representatives from international creative industries to take part in an intensive two day business matching event at the Centara Grand Conference Centre in Bangkok. Along with invited colleagues which included Ivan Boo from Singapore and Brendan Harkin of the X-Media Lab, I had a series of 30 minute introductory meetings with representatives from creative industries in Thailand looking for partnerships with other companies across the globe. I was very impressed by the quality of work and innovation from all the companies I met. You can find details of the event at http://www.bangkokdc.com/ and images at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/72157651820884628

Companies seeking off-shore creative developers across all forms of media can contact me for introductions to companies with specific skills in game development, animation and digital art.

Medilink Innovation Day, Nottingham

Medilink CEO Dr Darren Clark Welcome Presentation

I attended the Medilink Innovation Day held at the Belfry in Nottingham to investigate partnership opportunities and to network with delegates involved in innovative products in healthcare. The event was hosted by TV presenter Sue Nelson and culminated in a gala dinner and Awards ceremony for the most innovative East Midlands companies. The event also included a series of “soapbox” presentations which gave small companies an opportunity to promote their products and services. You can view the event programme at http://www.medilinkem.com/events/innovation-day-2015/programme . I have also posted images from the conference and its associated exhibition at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/72157654502204425

Gaminomics Conference, London

Sebastian Deterding of Code Conduct Keynote Presentation

The Gaminomics 2015 event organised by Playgen at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London on June 11th was a brilliant collection of leading figures from the world of Gamification and it provided me with an opportunity to run a practical workshop on the use of Gamification in workshops and ice breaker sessions. Kam Star, the CEO of Playgen introduced the event in his usual relaxed and professional style before handing over the Sebastian Deterding whose keynote presentation was entitled “Will the Real Mary Poppins Stand Up?”. His presentation was an engaging and effective illustration of two different approaches to Gamification using extracts from the film Mary Poppins in which the lead character has to persuade the children in her care to do things they don’t want to do. The first example was based on the song “A spoonful of Sugar helps the Medicine go down” where the incentive of a spoonful of sugar as an extrinsic motivator persuaded the child to take medicine. Sebastian likened this approach to the “Chocolate coated broccoli” argument adopted by far too many people who do not understand Gamification properly.

This contrasts with how she got the children to clean up their rooms by finding an element of fun in any activity which can inject intrinsic motivation into the activity. To view images from the event see https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/72157653990422068 and for details of the Gamification Workshop options go to http://www.davidwortley.com/workshop.html

Future of Business Book Launch, London

Rohit Talwar’s Introductory Presentation

The Launch of the Future of Business e-Book version was held on HMS President at Victoria Embankment, London on the evening of June 11th. The ship was packed with delegates to hear presentations about the Future of Work followed by a stunning and eye-opening set of futurologist presenters who had contributed chapters to this book. Rohit Talwar is one of the most respected authorities on the impact of technology on business and society and he has brought together the thoughts of global experts from many sectors and disciplines. My own chapter in the book is on the impact of wearable technologies on personal health management. The E-Book Launch is being followed by two further events in London on June 20th and 23rd.

Please take advantage of the 30% discount which is only available until June 23rd.

Featured Upcoming EventsJune 20th & 23rd Future of Business SeminarsThere are two upcoming events that feature some of the futurologist experts who have contributed chapters to Rohit Talwar’s Book. I am pleased to be one of the speakers at the event on the afternoon of Saturday June 20th at Birbeck College in London. For details of these events see :-

June 20th - The Future of Business Meetup at Birbeck College, Torrington Place, London from 14:00 to 17:00http://www.meetup.com/FutureScapes/events/223126205/

June 23rd - Dancing with Disruption Meetup at Osborne Clark, London Wall, London from 18:00 to 21:30http://www.meetup.com/FutureScapes/events/223126897/

I hope to see you at one of these events

August 10-11 Thaisim 2015, BangkokThe Thaisim Conference on Games and Simulations for ASEAN Education is a much anticipated annual event for me as it brings together some of the best practitioners of games-based learning in a conference which always has wonderful cultural experiences and excellent hospitality. To learn about Thaisim and to register for the conference go to http://www.thaisim.org/ts15/ts15.htm

I will be one of the keynote presenters talking about Gamification in education practices.

August 11-14 Serious Games Conference, SingaporeFollowing on from and slightly overlapping Thaisim is the Serious Games Conference in Singapore where I will also be delivering a presentation on healthcare technologies and gamification The web site for the conference is at http://2015conf.seriousgamesconference.org/

October 5-9 Digital Earth 2015, Halifax, Nova ScotiaTowards a One-World Vision for the Blue PlanetDigital Earth concerns the integrated use of digital technologies to monitor, map, model, and manage our planet’s environments. The Digital Earth vision was first proposed by Al Gore in 1998, and has evolved to keep pace with rapid developments in earth-sensing, cloud computing, and Big Data. ISDE now espouses a more dynamic view of Digital Earth as the digital nervous system of the globe, using sensor networks and situation-aware systems to inform in real-time about events on or close to the Earth’s surface.

At Digital Earth 2015 up to 1,000 scientists, engineers, technologists, and environmental managers from around the world will meet to share concepts, research findings, technologies, and practical applications relating to the Digital Earth vision. Our conference will include themes from the entire spectrum of the Digital Earth vision, and will highlight applications related to Nova Scotian expertise in ocean and atmospheric sciences.

Register for ISDE 2015 at http://digitalearth2015.ca/

Calls for Papers

Below is a selection of current calls for Papers, Posters and Articles that may be of interest :-

HaPoC 3: Third International Conference for the History and Philosophy of Computing

8 -- 11 October, 2015, Pisa

http://www.hapoc2015.di.unipi.it

The DHST commission for the history and philosophy of computing (www.hapoc.org) is happy to announce the third HAPOC conference. The series aims at creating an interdisciplinary focus on computing, stimulating a dialogue between the historical and philosophical viewpoints. To this end, the conference hopes to bring together researchers interested in the historical developments of computing, as well as those reflecting on the sociological and philosophical issues springing from the rise and ubiquity of computing machines in the contemporary landscape. In the past editions, the conference has successfully presented a variety of voices, contributing to the creation of a fruitful dialogue between researchers with different backgrounds and sensibilities.

For HaPoC 2015 we welcome contributions from historians and philosophers of computing as well as from philosophically aware computer scientists and mathematicians. Topics include but are not limited to

• History and Philosophy of Computation (interpretation of the Church-Turing thesis; models of computation; logical/mathematical foundations of computer science; information theory...)

• History and Philosophy of Programming (classes of programming languages; philosophical status of programming...)

• History and Philosophy of the Computer (from calculating machines to the future of the computer; user interfaces; abstract architectures...)

• History and Epistemology of the use of Computing in the sciences (simulation vs. modelisation; computer-assisted proofs; linguistics...)

• Computing and the Arts: historical and conceptual issues (temporality in digital art; narration in interactive art work...)

• Social, ethical and pedagogical aspects of Computing (pedagogy of computer science; algorithms and copyright; Internet, culture, society...)

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GALA (Games and Learning Alliance) Conference 2015 in Rome, Italy. The Games and Learning Alliance conference (GALA 2015) is an international conference dedicated to the science and application of serious games. The conference aims at bringing together researchers, developers, practitioners and stakeholders. The goal is to share the state of the art of research and market, analysing the most significant trends and discussing visions on the future of serious games. See http://www.galaconf.org/

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The 1st ICA European Symposium on Cartography (EuroCarto 2015), which will take place in Vienna on November 10-12, 2015.

EuroCarto 2015 aims to bring together cartographers, GI scientists and those working in related disciplines with the goal of offering a platform of discussion, exchange and stimulation of research and joined projects.

The call for papers is currently open. The deadline for Full paper submissions is June 1, 2015, and work in progress submissions is June 29, 2015. High-quality submissions are intended to be published in the International Journal of Cartography and in a book of the series Lecture Notes on Geoinformation and Cartography by Springer. More information can be found at http://eurocarto.org/.

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Second Call for Abstracts and Special Sessions 9th Symposium of the International Society for Digital Earth

DIGITAL EARTH 2015 "Towards a One-World Vision for the Blue Planet"Halifax, NS, CANADA, October 5-9

Interested contributors should submit their abstract or proposal for a special session by April 17. Submission details can be found under the Program menu tab at digitalearth2015.ca. Abstracts and proposals will be promptly considered by the Scientific Program Committee

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Recent Articles and PapersA comprehensive list of archived articles, presentations and videos can be accessed at my website – http://www.davidwortley.com/listing.html

The most recent updates are shown below :-

Date Article Title CommentsMar 2015 Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing and

Social Media - Are we Creating God in our own Likeness?View Article

In recent months, a number of technology luminaries have voiced concerns about the potential threat of Artificial Intelligence, echoing the final chapter of my book “Gadgets to God”. Bill Gates is quoted as saying (1) :-"I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence," Gates said in response to a question about the existential threat posed by AI. "First, the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that, though, the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern."

Mar 2015 What's the Big Idea - Societal Fission or Fusion? - View Article

The internet and atomic energy have certain things in common. They are man-made discoveries which can be used for good or evil and now that they have been invented there is no going back – we cannot un-invent either of them. The difference between nuclear energy and the internet is that our global society seeks to prevent a proliferation of nuclear energy to stop it falling into the wrong hands whereas we have made the power of the internet accessible to virtually everyone on the planet regardless of their potential usage for good or evil.

Upcoming Events Listing

Below is a list of forthcoming conferences – also accessible at http://www.davidwortley.com/events.html

Date Event Name / Description Location Web URLJun 20 The Future of Business Book Launch London, UK http://www.meetup.com/FutureScapes/events/

223126205/

Jun 23 Dancing with Disruption – The Future of Business

London, UK http://www.meetup.com/FutureScapes/events/223126897/

Jun 27-28 ICCE 2015 International Conference on Creative Education

London, UK http://www.icce-conf.net/index.htm

July 6-8 EDULEARN15 - International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies

Barcelona, Spain http://iated.org/edulearn/

July 13-14 Immersive Learning Research Network Conference - ILRN 2015

Prague, Czech Republic

http://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2015prague

July 17-21 ISAGA/JASAG2015 - the 46th ISAGA conference | Japan Association of Simulation & Gaming hosts

Kyoto, Japan http://jasag.org/isaga2015/

July 22-24 9th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Visualization, Computer Vision and Image Processing

Los Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

http://cgv-conf.org/

July 24-26 World Future 2015 San Francisco, USA

http://www.wfs.org/worldfuture-2015

July 26-27 Cloud Technology and Computing Macau www.ccss2015.org

Aug 10-11 Thaisim 2015 - Learning from educational games, simulations and debriefing for the AEC

Bangkok, Thailand

http://www.thaisim.org/ts15/ts15.htm

Aug 11-14 SGSC 2015 - Serious Games Conference

Nanyang University, Singapore

http://2015conf.seriousgamesconference.org/

Sept 7-10 IED 2015 – Immersive Education Initiative

Paris, France http://immersiveeducation.org/events

Sep 24-25 Innovation in environmental education: ICT and intergenerational learning

Firenze, Italy http://involenconference.com/

Oct 1-2 7th International Conference on Science in Society

Chicago, USA http://science-society.com/the-conference

Oct 5-9 DIGITAL EARTH 2015 "Towards a One-World Vision for the Blue Planet"

Halifax, Nova Scotia

http://digitalearth2015.ca/

Oct 8-9 9th European Conference on Games Based Learning ECGBL 2015

Steinkjer, Norway

http://academic-conferences.org/ecgbl/ecgbl2015/ecgbl15-home.htm

Oct 20 Westminster Forum - Conference on UK video games: policy, funding, technology, skills and areas for growth

London, UK http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/book_event.php?eid=1079

Nov 3-5 WISE 2015 - World Innovation Summit on Education

Doha, Qatar http://www.wise-qatar.org/apply-attend

Nov 10-11 SAI Intelligent Systems Conference 2015 (IntelliSys 2015) -

London, UK http://saiconference.com/IntelliSys2015/

Dec 3-5 Segamed 2015 Nice, France https://segamed.wordpress.com/editions/2015-2/edition-2015/

Dec 11-12 GALA - Games and Learning Alliance Conference

Rome, Italy http://www.galaconf.org/

Feb 18-19 2016

Twelfth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Buenos Aires, Argentina

http://techandsoc.com/the-conference

If you would like any presentations, videos or documents circulated to my network, I am happy to provide this service free of charge for any material relevant to readers of this newsletter. If you are interested, contact me at david@davidwortley.com.

Best Wishes for a Better Future for all Mankind

David Wortley FRSA

Founder and CEO

GAETSS – Gamification and Enabling Technologies Strategic Solutions

Shaping the Future of Business and Society through Human Development and Motivation

Mobile Phone : +601123180284 (Malaysia) +447896659695 (UK)

Email : david@gaetss.com

Skype: davidwortley

Web: http://www.gaetss.com

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