The convergence of smartphones, GPS, the Internet, and social networks has given rise to a playful, educational, and social media known as location-based and hybrid reality games. The essays in this book investigate this new phenomenon and provide a broad overview of the emerging field of location-aware mobile games, highlighting critical, social scientific, and design approaches to these types of games, and drawing attention to the social and cultural implications of mobile technologies in contemporary society. With a comprehensive approach that includes theory, design, and education, this edited volume is one of the first scholarly works to engage the emerging area of multi-user location-based mobile games and hybrid reality games. It is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses covering mobile phone or gaming culture, media history and educational technology, as well as researchers and the general public.

An international roster of contributors come together in this comprehensive volume to examine the complex interactions between mobile media technologies and issues of place. Balancing philosophical reflection with empirical analysis, this book examines the specific contexts in which place and mobile technologies come into focus, intersect, and interact. Given the far-reaching impact of contemporary mobile technology use – and given the lasting importance of the concept and experiences of place – this book will appeal to a wide range of scholars in media and cultural studies, sociology, and philosophy of technology.

In this updated second edition, Jason Farman offers a groundbreaking look at how location-aware mobile technologies are radically shifting our sense of identity, community, and place-making practices. Mobile Interface Theory is a foundational book in mobile media studies, with the first edition winning the Book of the Year Award from the Association of Internet Researchers. It explores a range of mobile media practices from interface design to maps, AR/VR, mobile games, performances that use mobile devices, and mobile storytelling projects. Throughout, Farman provides readers with a rich theoretical framework to understand the ever-transforming landscape of mobile media and how they shape our bodily practices in the spaces we move through. This fully updated second edition features updated examples throughout, reflecting the shifts in mobile technology. This is the ideal text for those studying mobile media, social media, digital media, and mobile storytelling.

This compendium volume, Urban Land Use: Community-Based Planning, covers a range of land use planning and community engagement issues. Part I explores the connections between land use decisions and consequences for urban residents, particularly in the areas of health and health equity. The chapters in Part II provide a closer look at community land use planning practice in several case studies. Part III offers several practical and innovative tools for integrating community decisions into land use planning.

Foundations of Mobile Media Studies gathers some of the most important texts in this emerging field, offering readers key approaches to understanding our moment and our media. The impact of mobile media is far reaching and this book discusses topics such as human intimacy, social space, political uprisings, labor, mobile phones in the developing world, gender, the mobile device’s impact on reading, mobile television, and mobile photography, among others. This carefully curated collection will serve as the central text to introduce this field to anyone eager to understand the rise of mobile technology, its impact on our relationships, and how these media have transformed the ways we understand the world around us.

In the global culture of education, game-based learning needs to be an integrated part of formal education, and not just an 'exotic spice' for many educators, as it is today. The critical role of the educator as a facilitator, gatekeeper and enabler of serious games is often downplayed. Therefore a comparison across regions is needed so that we do not limit the potential of transferring best practice, research results and the development of games across borders. This book deals with three key questions: How are serious games understood and designed? How do they establish themselves in learning and education locally? And, how can games as a learning culture be explored in a global perspective?

Intergenerational Locative Play: Augmenting Family examines the social, spatial and physical impact of the hybrid reality game (HRG) Pokémon Go on the relationship between parents and their children.