I am Water

Introduction

There is some stuff lying on the floor of the classroom.

• Lego

• Where’s Waldo? Books 

• Magic Eye Books 

• Dominos

• Magnets + Links 

• Parquetry Blocks 

• Imaginarium Train Set + Thomas the Tank Engine 

Play!! Yes, you.

Discussion #1

• Did you get bored?
• Did you lose sense of time at any point?
• Did anything become too difficult at any time?
• What did you do at such times?

What is Flow?

We will understand Flow from:

1. The book Flow and the Psychology of Happiness, pp; 72-76; by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. First, let us learn to say his name!!

Here is the book.

1. This video:

2. This TED Talk : Flow, the Secret to Happiness

3. This is Water: David Foster Wallace’s famous Talk:

4. Let us quickly read and discuss this extract from the Play and Playground Encyclopedia https://www.pgpedia.com/m/man-play-and-games

Discussion #2

• Is the idea of Flow elusive?
• Do only some people get it, and then only at some times?
• Was David Foster Wallace’s talk somewhat self-deluding?
• Then what is this Empathy stuff we talk about when we speak of Design Thinking?

Pop Quix: Want still more Flow?

No, that is not a bad spelling….why not?

Go find me in this picture !!

References

1. Scott Eberle, “The Aspects of Play” https://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/6-2-article-elements-of-play.pdf

2. “Platform Creativity: Domain, Field, and Person”. https://medium.com/call4/domain-8a22b6b486f4

3. 8 Ways To Create Flow According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/

4. Ian Bogost, “Play at Anything”.