Social network charrettes

Brian Berry notes in his ArcNews commentary entitled "Quo Vadimus?" (where are we going), that the millennial generation is among a growing segment of US Internet users who play games on social network, and that the geospatial community has yet to realize the potential of social games for addressing real world issues. He points at an interesting parallel with the 'charrettes' that designers/planners frequently use find participatory solutions to scenarios with conflicting goals and trade-offs. I elaborated on that very theme earlier this year under the title GIS + Games = GeoDesign. It's great to see more people recognize the power of new dynamics afforded by the use of emerging technologies and constant connectivity. Thanks to colleague Yuri Medvedkov for alerting me to the article.