This story is re-posted from Pop City
Pittsburgh Celerity’s Innovation Center is developing a new social networking platform that will assist educators and researchers in working together to create of new learning tools and games.

Celerity is teaming with CMU and the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) on the platform, called Working Examples. The project was funded by the Gates and MacArthur Foundations for an undisclosed amount and is housed at ETC.

The goal of the platform is to help researchers, designers and developers to work better together on projects through a website that acts as a social network for collaboration, explains Harry Ulrich, director of the Celerity Innovation Center. The platform will boost innovation in several areas, such as the creation of new educational games for children or better industrial design.

When people from different disciplines or areas of expertise are collaborating to develop a new field, they lack defined and widely accepted solutions to core problems, he adds. Until there are such solutions, no one can be sure such an emerging field is possible or necessary.

For example, a research scientist who is focused on elementary-level math theory may work with a game designer to create a product for children that gives them the ability to interact with one another on math concepts.

“This allows them to design a better game,” says Ulrich. “It’s a sort of social network for collaboration across different disciplines.”

Celerity is based in McLean, VA, employs 35-40 internally (plus 60 consultants) at two offices in Pittsburgh, Gateway Center and the Celerity Innovation on Fourth Avenue. The company has nine regional offices and 600+ employees across the country.

The company focuses on human center design, using designers to validate how existing products work and overcome and solve critical problems.

While the Pittsburgh office has downsized in recent years, Celerity is growing again and plans to hire six for the local office, mostly software developers, web and mobile analysts.

The platform will be unveiled in Chicago, Illinois, at MacArthur's Digital Media Learning Conference in March 14-16 2013.

Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Harry Ulrich, Celerity

At 1:00pm, Wednesday, December 5, 2012, the students of the Entertainment Technology Center will present our annual Fall Building Virtual Worlds Show at the McConomy Auditorium, Carnegie Mellon University. From virtual reality to audience interaction and everything imaginable in between, this interactive experience of the final student creations is truly a must-see event!

About BVW
Over the course of this semester, BVW students were collaborating in four or five-person interdisciplinary teams to create a series of virtual worlds, each of which must be completed within a one to three week time period. We look forward to sharing the final worlds with you.

For more information, visit http://bvw.etc.cmu.edu/content/show

For those of you not able to catch the show, we will have a web broadcast at 5:00 pm via cmuTV. Check the BVW site for more information.

At the annual Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) IAAPA meeting in Orlando, Florida it was announced that Shirley Saldamarco was elected to TEA's International Board of Directors.

"I’m very excited about the opportunity and think it will be beneficial for both CMU and the ETC. Long term goals include a focus on education, networking and developing and expanding a global presence. My plan is to have my direct involvement provide significant access for our students – and alumni - to a global community made up of some of the most talented, knowledgeable and professional creators of themed experiences." said Shirley.

In addition to the Board of Directors Shirley will also be co-chairing SATE's Cafe Experience committee. SATE is the Themed Entertainment Association's signature creative conference dedicated to the art of Experience Design. The Cafe Experience committees specific goal is to make student more aware of the variety of job available to them in the themed entertainment industry and provide them with access to the people currently doing the jobs.

Congratulations Shirley!

Good morning,

Today, we bring you the juries for the upcoming BVW show.

(Stream links)
mms://soundwave.etc.cmu.edu/rpis

(or, http://soundwave.etc.cmu.edu/rpis)

An afternoon session will also begin at 1pm at the same links.

Please tune in and enjoy!
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We recently received email from ETC alumna RayRay Shen, class of 2009 about her work on a recently released game, below is her email.

My first game: Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale is out today! As the combat designer for the game, I have worked on the combat system as well as specific character design and implementation of the characters Parappa, Sly Cooper, Toro and Metal Gear's Raiden. Just want to share this good news with everyone in the ETC family! If you guys spot it in stores, please let me know.

IGN review: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/20/playstation-all-stars-battle-roya...
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/PlayStation

Nice work RayRay! Thanks for the update!

We would love to hear from out ETC alumni, just send us email and if you would like, we will post to the ETC news page.