Effect of resource spatial correlation and Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer mobility on social cooperation in Tierra del Fuego

This article presents an agent-based model designed to explore the development of cooperation in hunter-fisher-gatherer societies that face a dilemma of sharing an unpredictable resource that is randomly distributed in space. The model is a stylised abstraction of the Yamana society, which inhabited the channels and islands of the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina-Chile). According to ethnographic sources, the Yamana developed cooperative behaviour supported by an indirect reciprocity mechanism: whenever someone found an extraordinary confluence of resources, such as a beached whale, they would use smoke signals to announce their find, bringing people together to share food and exchange different types of social capital. The model provides insight on how the spatial concentration of beachings and agents’ movements in the space can influence cooperation. We conclude that the emergence of informal and dynamic communities that operate as a vigilance network preserves cooperation and makes defection very costly.MICINN http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es/ CSD2010-00034 (SimulPast CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) and HAR2009-06996; the government of Castilla y Leónhttp://www.jcyl.es/ GREX251-2009; the Argentine CONICET http://www.conicet.gov.ar/PIP-0706; and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Researchhttp://www.wennergren.org/ "Social Aggregation: A Yamana Society's Short Term Episode to Analyse Social Interaction, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina". The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscrip

User-Centered Design of an Online Mobile Game Suite to Affect Well-Being of Older Adults

This paper describes the ongoing design process of Pocket Odyssey, an online multi-player game suite designed for mobile phones that supports older adults in maintaining their physical, social, and mental well-being. It has been designed to provide engaging gameplay that supports positive emotion, fosters online social connections between players, enables play with others in a player’s physical surroundings, and integrates tasks that exercise physical and cognitive skills. This paper discusses the user-centered design approach that takes entertainment preferences, views on technology, and aspects of life that older adults consider meaningful as a basis. Based on the results of an exploratory survey and a series of workshops with the user group, this paper presents the initial game concept and the rationale behind its design. Finally, it describes early prototyping efforts and future activities.System Engineerin