In a world where "print is dead" is a popular meme and newspapers face declining readership and revenues, who could imagine a paper with 6.7 million readers, staffed by 3.5 people, and virtually unknown to anyone over the age of 14? The LA Times profiles this curious publication, the Club Penguin Times, which exists inside the kid virtual world of Club Penguin. Club Penguin, a Kelowna startup, was purchased by Disney last year for $350 million. This virtual newspaper doesn't feature advertising or "real world" news, but receives 30,000 daily submissions from children, either questions, jokes, poetry, or reviews. Great to see an online game promoting literacy and creative contribution. Next time someone says "Oh, kids these days..." it can be completed with "...use different mediums".
In March of 2005, New Horizon Interactive set out to create an online world for kids where they could safely play games, have fun and interact. As... [more]
Greg Andrews
Greg Andrews is a Writer and Web Developer and for Techvibes. Born and raised in Edmonton, Greg was blogging about his high school drama long before it was fashionable. In the Spring of 2007, half a year out of school, Greg moved to Vancouver in search of interesting technology and the Canadian dream. His personal sites are gregcorp.com and miscellani.ca.
Photo by kk+
