History , Lifestyle , NL Event

NY400 Week: The Island 2009

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Location
Down Town Association
60 Pine street
New York

The Island is an interactive mobile GPS game that allows high school students from New York and Amsterdam to enter the seventeenth century when Henry Hudson discovered the Island Manhattan and the Ducth founded the colonu New Amsterdam, now New York. 'Crawl in the skin of a merchant; negotiate deals, try to haggle, sell you goods and make a profit!'

The game will comprise a virtual 17th century world, in which the students interact at sea, in Old Europe and in the wilderness of the New World. Students play by using GPS-based mobile phones on the streets of Amsterdam and New York, receiving assignments based on their location. These assignments relate to historical events, which link their current location to the past. The information collected must be shared with student's abroad in order to advance to next stages in the game. The game continues online where players collaborate on the web and in virtual worlds, i.e., in virtual Amsterdam and 17th century New Amsterdam (New York) in Second Life. The Island will have a "game leader," who will spread clues via the worldwide web on community sites such as Facebook, Hyves, Flickr and You Tube.
 
The Island will be unveiled on September 12, 2009 in Amsterdam at Picnic 2009 and during NY400 Week in New York. From that moment until February 2010, The Island will run in schools in Amsterdam and New York. Students will cooperate with their counterparts across the Atlantic, advance through different levels of The Island, and race toward the thrilling conclusion. Click here for more information.

PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 12 IN NEW YORK
Down Town Association
60 Pine street, NY
(At the same time in Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

8.00 – 9.00 AM Breakfast with school children from New York and Mayor Cohen from Amsterdam 
9.00 – 10.00 AM Explanation of the game
10.00 -12.00 AM Playing the game (outside)
12.00 – 13.00 PM lunch and announcement of the winners

The Island is a coproduction of the John Adams Institute and the Waag Society, both located in Amsterdam. The Waag Society  is a media lab that develops creative technologies for social innovation and has long experience in the field of education and digital projects. The John Adams Insitute is the center for American culture in Amsterdam.
 
Other partner organizations, located in New York, will provide coordination and support. They include The New School for Social Research, The New Design School, the "Teaching American History" project, Area Code and Zoomlab. To start, at least three Dutch schools and three American schools will participate in The Island. Two representatives chosen from the participants - one Dutch and one Americam - will become project advisers.