Toys and Web 2.0
Some time ago my Dutch newspaper, the NRC, ran an interesting article about "The evolution of place of play" (written in Dutch). This article was largely an interview with Maaike Lauwaert, a PhD student from the University of Maastricht (The Netherlands), that finalized her study on this topic.
The title of her book is: The Place of Play. On Toys, Technological Innovation and Geographies of Play. Just recently I had time to read a large part of her (lengthy) thesis. I must say this is very interesting! In my simple words it's about how toys (physical and digital) and the place where kids play with them change based on technological and social developments (and vice versa). And what "the increasing technologization and digitalization of both toys and play" has to do with "the vagueness of borders between [toy/game] producers, consumers and players" ("participatory culture"). She uses Lego a.o. as an example of this change.
I browsed around to see if you can order her book somewhere. I don't think it's out yet. But I got the pdf-version from her directly. Maybe something to read this weekend, eh?
The title of her book is: The Place of Play. On Toys, Technological Innovation and Geographies of Play. Just recently I had time to read a large part of her (lengthy) thesis. I must say this is very interesting! In my simple words it's about how toys (physical and digital) and the place where kids play with them change based on technological and social developments (and vice versa). And what "the increasing technologization and digitalization of both toys and play" has to do with "the vagueness of borders between [toy/game] producers, consumers and players" ("participatory culture"). She uses Lego a.o. as an example of this change.
I browsed around to see if you can order her book somewhere. I don't think it's out yet. But I got the pdf-version from her directly. Maybe something to read this weekend, eh?
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