NPR: Smart Bomb - Inside the Video Game Industry

Authors Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby were interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the Nation about their new book Smart Bomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment and Big Bucks in the Video Game Revolution.  Their book is another rendition of the history of video games told from a cozy almost “in-world” feeling. Read More

Superpowers of the Arabic Broadcasting Marketplace

The world is divided among three superpowers: the United States, the United Kingdom, and al-Jazeera. The world of Arabic satellite channels, that is. Each of the three has claimed its section of this world, defining it in a tidy little package called a business model. The models created by the U.K. and al-Jazeera have filled, or plan to fill, specific voids in the marketplace. The third superpower has its business model too, but the void it attempts to fill is more vague than the others, and thus its goals have been more difficult to attain. Read More

Predictions for 2006 in Public Diplomacy

It is relatively clear to me where U.S. public diplomacy is headed in 2006. And so there’s really no reason to wait until late December, or New Year’s day, to make predictions about the coming new year. Therefore, I will submit my predictions now, and take my chances. Read More

UN Lebanon report prompts wall-to-wall live coverage on Al Jazeera

WASHINGTON -- Oct. 22 Thursday night was a big night for Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language television news channel in the Middle East. The preemptive lead story was the release of the UN report on the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon. For most news organizations, it was a story worth at best three or four news reports. At Al Jazeera, editors decided this was the only story of the night. Read More

Likely Winners and Losers in TV Satellite Information War

The Bush administration has a new public diplomacy game plan to promote democracy within Iran. The idea is to build public support for democratic reform there and to pressure Iran's new hard line leadership into becoming more enlightened, especially where their nuclear aspirations are concerned. The State Department's plan includes a Farsi-language television service beamed to Iran. But there are at least two problems with that public information concept. Read More

Stop the Genocide in Sudan through an Online Video Game!

We’re not the only ones holding a game design competition! mtvU, a dedicated television network for college students and the Reebok Human Rights Foundation is offering a $50,000 reward to a student or group of student digital activists who create an online video game or viral campaign to raise awareness and help stop genocide. Check out mtvU.com Read More

You have entered the world of Games and Public Diplomacy

Welcome! The purpose of this space: to document my research on the potential of video games in the realm of public diplomacy.  With the rise of “info-tainment”, “edutainment” and political marketing, there has been merge between politics and popular culture. One burgeoning form of popular culture is that of video games. As technology advances and this interactive media becomes more and more sophisticated, the reach and influence of video games is expanding exponentially. Can institutions utilize video games and massively multi-player online games to promote public diplomacy? Read More

Pages

Subscribe to USC Center on Public Diplomacy RSS