Hi all,
Nowadays a lot of kids of middle class, upper middle class and rich
sections of society play video/computer games which have a lot of
violence etc in them. These games are generally expensive and very
addictive plus they make children self centered and unable to think of
working in a team or group. (sense of getting inputs from the community
is not there as collaboration is not a part of the game)
Lincity (or similar games) could be a way to motivate a child to the
profession of town planning which is a very specialised job right now
and in the hands of an elite few leading to a lot of lost inputs from
the general populace. The mess in urban areas is a result of too few
fossilised thinkers at the top who have a lot of power but paucity of ideas.
Once children are introduced to such games which call for inputs from
others (maybe at a later stage) and once such games become commonplace,
more and more people will start participating in town and country
planning processes far more easily than at present.
I hope ngos and software developers can both think of such better ways
to educate the newer generation and take away the dread of a specialised
occupation by building even better games and user interfaces. Such games
taken at a young stage could easily launch a child into a career and
give them a headstart. Parents would also like to see children doing
something constructive even while playing computer games.
Besides several offshoots of such games can take place such as easily
designing a place of residence etc (profession of architect, civil
engineer, structural engineer, interior designer, landscape artist, GIS
planners etc etc) There is a lot of scope in this idea for people in the
game/educational software business.
Kush
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Fsf-friends] city planning--application software
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:34:14 -0400
From: Kush <be_a_sport(a)rogers.com>
Reply-To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
CC: Anil Laul <anillaul(a)vsnl.com>om>, karmayog <karmayog(a)yahoogroups.com>
Hi all,
Is there any site which rates open source application softwares in
various categories? e.g. I was trying to find applications under town
planning etc and I found only one working application software which has
not been improved after 2004 or so.(looks like the development has stopped)
The application is known as
http://lincity.sourceforge.net/ and after
playing it in ubuntu one can see it is entry level and not like the
commercial simcity game. Still town planning is a very specialised
occupation and it will become increasingly relevant as more and more
parts of India get urbanised.
Allowing such FREE tools in the hands of youngsters and the youth will
only lead to better plans, debates, creativity and decision making as
town planning impacts so many areas for a better quality of life. Its
time we start thinking strategically on key applications such as these
to make India and the world a better place.
Maybe then such imaginative scenarios can be added to real gis maps etc.
http://www.freemap.in/ is an effort in that direction (for the city of
mumbai) but it leaves much to be desired as the data used is faulty or
outdated.
Kush
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