<div>I just came across these interesting conferences.</div>
<div><br>Games for Health Fourth Annual Conference 2008<br>May 8-9, 2008, Baltimore MD<br>(yes I know it's crazy short notice, but I just came across it)<br><a href="http://www.gamesforhealth.org/index3.html">http://www.gamesforhealth.org/index3.html</a></div>
<div><br>and</div>
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<div>Games for Change<br>2008 Fifth Annual Games for Change Festival<br>Parsons the New School for Design in NYC</div>
<p>June 3<br><a href="http://www.gamesforchange.org/conference/2008/index.php">http://www.gamesforchange.org/conference/2008/index.php</a></p>
<p>and/or pre-festival workshop, June 2<br><a href="http://www.gamesforchange.org/conference/2008/101.php">http://www.gamesforchange.org/conference/2008/101.php</a></p>
<p><br>An OLPC presence at one or both of the conferences below looks like too good an opportunity to pass up for meeting/recruiting other game developers with compatible goals and for showing off the XO as a really cool platform that they should consider porting. I posted the info for "Games for Change" to etoys, devel and games lists. It's still within a reasonable timeframe to organize an "official OLPC" presence for that one and SJ has expressed some interest in that idea.</p>
<p>It's less realistic to expect that anyone will be going to Games for Health, but I passed notice along to OLPC Learning Club DC, just in case. In any event, the list of presenters makes for some excellent leads on identifying potential developers/projects with similar goals.</p>
<p>There is a certain sad irony in the fact that a number of the games in development seem to be about getting over-nourished kids to put down the game controller and get active when malnutrition is such a great concern for the developing world. That's not to say that a little economic development won't bring all of the ills of the first world to others in time or that exercise messaging isn't suitable in any environment, but I think those particular materials would need substantial reworking for use by OLPC. To a great extent OLPC represents the first time there will be a channel/platform for reaching the developing world with such games, so it's perfectly pragmatic that there has been little work there to date. I very much want to think that some introduction to OLPC's efforts would bring the passion of these folks for electronic health message delivery to bear on a wider world audience.</p>
<p>cjl</p>
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