I think it’s essential to engage in this kind of discussion. I do appreicate the mention provided in this video that rather than create games specifically by or for women, gender eventually becomes a non-issue. I think it will take some time to result in this kind of situation, but I’m encouraged by the steps that many have taken to encourage women to get involved in the industry as more than booth babes.

The blog for this clothing shop is just amazing…  Rumors in Richmond. It looks like the kind of store I’d like to get accidentally locked in at night and just have to hang out in until morning.

The brilliant blog 30sleeps covers some great territory lately – from “How to Deal With Negative Emotions” to “Becoming More Social”. With the tagline of “Open Source Personal Development”, this blog is a must read for its clarity and genuine inspirational focus.

Here’s a photo of some great wall stenciling I caught near Atwater… Pretty fab.

Marshall Ganz (The architect behind Obama’s organizing campaign) web module on Organizing which  “contains learning materials that touch upon such questions as: what is organizing, how do people organize, what skills are required of organizers and how can these skills be shared with others?”

I’m currently reading “Girls Against Girls- Why We Are Mean to Each Other and How We Can Change” by Bonnie Burton and I’m absolutely loving it. It’s really designed for the young adult market but so much of it is so relevant regardless of your identifiable age group.

“Most girls and women feel a kinship with other girls, but some try to divide us. It is important to our advancement as a gender that we stick together as women and know that we are here for each other for support.” - Jane Wiedlin from The GoGo’s

40 Beautiful Grunge Photoshop Techniques from Smashing Magazine (yeah.. I’m feeling retro,  just no 80′s please!!!)

In 1992, Brenda began research on the ways in which girls engage in play behaviours and how many of the games on the market were geared mainly towards the interest of boys (the believed target market). She’s a true pioneer in the study of how humans interact with computers and is credited with studying what it takes to help to make girls more comfortable with computer technolgies and gameplay. Her examination of the motivations of girls, their mind-sets and values helped to gauge the opinions of these mini-girl-geeks and develop games related to their specific needs.

Brenda’s writing has always fascinated me and this passage from “Utopian Entrepreneur” is one of my favourites:

“So when I see signs that say “pray for peace,” I want to post these signs:  Work for peace.  Speak for peace.  Tell stories for peace.  Make music for peace.  Write books and make movies and build websites for peace.  Do culture work that corrodes extremism and intolerance.  Manifest peace.”

For more information, check out this TED talk with Brenda to hear her stories related to her work related to games for girls. The recordings of the girls recounting their stories shows how excited they are about being asked to share their experiences.

Thank you Brenda Laurel. I’m glad you are a champion for girl gamer geeks everywhere.

Nielsen’s new VideoCensus is asserting that women prefer mainstream media produced online video content while guys are more interested in user generated video.

To read more stats-y details on this proclaimation check this link

It seems to me that too much is trying to be packed into this initiative and that in targeting the ladies they are tossing in there every possible tie-in which the execs think a woman would be interested in.

But what do I know? The stats are pretty impressive:

“In the nearly 11 months that the site has been up, the Prilosec-sponsored Bunco game hub on MSN has registered 1.7 million unique visitors who played 4.5 million games, according to the company. The chat feature involved with the game was used 56 million times in that period. And Bunco players on the site are also staying longer than other casual gamers visiting the MSN Games portal. The average playing time is 46 minutes, which is almost six times as long as any other game..”

Click on the link to read more from the ClickZ article

How adorable is this little pillow? I mean really people?