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Transmedia Storytelling Raises Awareness for OCD

August 22, 2011 By 1 Comment
OCD-Teen-Web-150

Stories are powerful things.  The International OCD Foundation is putting transmedia storytelling to work in its new campaign to raise awareness and overcome stereotypes about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) called Dare to Believe...Together We Can Beat OCD.  Stories are a primal form of communication that allows us to capture and share authentic human experience.  If you or those you know have never experienced OCD or its symptoms, it's hard to image what it's like, how difficult life with OCD can be, or the stigma and emotional hurdles to getting treatment. But stories engage us at multiple levels and using all of our senses and, most importantly, they create a shared space of understanding.  This opens a pathway to our right brain, activating our creativity and imagination; we can experience stepping out of our own world and into another.  For a sufferer of OCD, stories can show proof of hope and help suffers image possibilities for the future and change their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Psychology, Transmedia Tagged With: , ,

Missouri Takes Aim at Facebook: Who Are We Protecting?

August 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Gun-sight-facebook

Social media and Facebook in particular are an emotional powder keg these days.  From anxieties over stalking and child abuse to the potential for terrorism and social unrest, social networking is the new poster child for fear.  The state of Missouri has even gone so far as enact legislation severely restricting teachers online interaction with students. Gov. Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54, or the "Amy Hestir Student Protection Act" into law on July 14. There is a political and emotional appeal in artificially suppressing something you're worried about, in this case how teachers and students can communicate and connect.  You can either feel like you're doing something (or show your constituents you're doing something), and/or you don't have to see it when it does happen, so you don't have to worry about it.  But I guarantee you that there are already geeks inventing new ways of communicating that this law won't touch.  Unless, of course, you don't want teachers talking to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Psychology Tagged With: ,

Us versus Them? It’s time for “We’re all in this together”

August 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
201-08-18_Small-All-in-this-together

The in-flight safety message on a recent Virgin America flight ended with a clever info-cartoon intended to raise awareness of how obnoxious airplane behavior impacts everyone on the flight called “We’re all in this together.” This is a message in short supply today.  We should take a cue from Virgin America & Method (who co-sponsored the message). Instead of politicians trying to convince voters that the other guy is the problem, or, like after the London riots or the BART cell phone shut down, that access to communications tools is dangerous, we need a new mindset.  It's time for a Public Service Announcement that focuses on the strengths that come from unity; a nationwide public relations campaign based on the understanding that we are all in this together. Social media and communications technologies are in everyone’s sights.  Technology does contribute to what David Altheide (2010) calls the ‘politics of fear.’  He talks about it in terms of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Politics & Policy, Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , , , ,

Vote for Me @SxSW 2012 Panel Picker: Brains, Games & Design

August 16, 2011 By 1 Comment
Vote for Rutledge SXSW

I am always looking for ways to get people to think about the psychology behind media, mediated communication, and technology. SxSW (South By Southwest or 'South By' if you're on a first name basis) is a music, film, and interactive media conferences held annually in Austin, Texas and it is a perfect place to do that.  I like to think of myself as an ambassador for media psychology because at SxSW Interactive, I get to talk and hang out with the people I don’t normally see, who are doing a lot of the inventing, communicating, and producing.  Aside from getting some psychology into the greater global consciousness and I always learn a humbling amount about technology and emerging media development and use.  SxSW would be more accurately called a celebration than a conference.  It has grown exponentially because it brings together a fascinatingly diverse group in all senses of the word--artists, thinkers, and doers from across industries around the globe. The energy from that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , , , ,
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