Verbotomy: Are you stuck for a word? Play Verbotomy at b.

Verbotomy, the daily create-a-word game is launching at b, Baltimore’s free daily newspaper. The game has been completely integrated into b’s website (www.bthesite.com) using the paper’s existing log-in system. Each day, b readers are challenged to invent a word to match the new definition, and vote for their favorites. Winning word of the day is published in the print edition.

The launch with the b is being promoted with the release of a new Verbotomy “movie trailer”, titled “Are you stuck for a Word?” The video features invented words created by (or for) Dan Pink (Johnny Bunko), Amy Sutherland, Kurt Vonnegut and Britney Spears — artists and writers who have all been featured on Verbotomy. The video is also a “call to action”, urging everyone to invent new words “to describe the incredibly weird things that are happening today”. And to do it, not just for themselves, but “for the whole frigging planet!”

See and share the video here:
http://www.verbotomy.com/verbotomize.php

How Verbotomy Works
Verbotomy works like a three-way cross between a puzzle, comic and blog. Every day we would publish a new definition and comic. Readers are challenged to create an invented word to match the definition, and vote for their favorite. The winning word of the day gets featured with the comic in the print edition.

Here are sample print pages from the first week:

July 22 PDF

PDF

PDF

PDF

PDF

Benefits for b:

1. Integrated Cross-Platform Entertainment: Daily content for web and print editions.
2. Hilarious User-Generated Content: It’s a showcase for reader creativity and cleverness.
3. A Social Networking Game: Voting, sharing, groups, and something to talk about every day.
4. Right-Brain Exercise: Verbotomy is good for you! It’s the daily brain exercise that keeps your creative mind sharp — like Sudoku for your imagination.
5. Snack Culture: Daily easy-to-digest content fix.

Verbotomy is Easy

• Easy-to-understand game concept (Invent a word to match the definition and comic.)
• Easy to manage content and users (Daily content fix which encourages short, funny and focused, user-generated content.)
• Easy technical set-up (Integrated int site using the same technology as Google Gadgets. Produces daily print-ready PDFs sized to fit publisher print specifications.)

For more details see the Verbotomy Publisher’s Overview

About Verbotomy
Verbotomy is the create-a-word game and comic. Every day we publish a new definition and comic. Players are challenged to create a word to match the definition, and then vote for the best. It’s creative, satirical and quirky, so it’s usually good for a laugh… And as a creative brain exercise, it’s also good for you!

Newspaper publishers use Verbotomy as a tool to build local communities and showcase cross-platform, user-generated content. The game works like a three-way cross between a puzzle, a comic and a blog and can be easily integrated into the publishers site. The online game produces daily batches of short, funny, localized, user-generated content — the winning word of the day and comic — which get published in the print editions.

About “b”
b is the new Baltimore free daily newspaper and website for people in their 20s and 30s. With its companion newspaper, b, the site is an ongoing conversation among our reporters, bloggers and readers, to provide the most complete picture of what’s going on in the area. See : www.bthesite.com

Credits:

Paradise Unpaved © 2008, Franke James, MFA
Photographs, illustrations and writing by Franke James, MFA except where noted.
Alice in Wonderland drawing by Franke James, was inspired by illustrator John Tenniel’s 1865 drawing, “She was now more than nine feet high!”
Franke James with shovel photo by Michael Stuparyk, Toronto Star, under license from Torstar
Seeding Photo of Franke James by Lucas Oleniuk, Toronto Star, under license from Torstar
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell, excerpt of lyrics.

Many thanks to Joan Chadde, author of Understanding the Ecological Impacts of Changing Land Uses published in the Spring 2008 issue of Green Teacher, and her colleague Dr. Alex Mayer, a hydrologist in the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering & Sciences at Michigan Technological University, for their kind assistance with the stormwater calculations.

Articles and Media:

The Green Driveway Articles detail the building of our green driveway step-by-step, including the materials used.
Eco-friendly driveway is rejected by the city Paul Moloney, Toronto Star, May 5, 2007
Interview by Melissa Grelo, CITY TV, May 6, 2007
Don’t Rip Up Your Driveway in North York, Lloyd Alter, Treehugger.com, May 8, 2007

Resources:

Stormwater Runoff: Understanding the Ecological Impacts of Changing Land Uses by Joan Chadde, Michigan Technological University, Green Teacher Magazine Issue Spring 2008

Toronto Homeowner’s Guide to Rainfall: Riversides 2008 report: Urban Runoff Excellent backgrounder on stormwater runoff and the economic cost of it to the city.

Riversides 2008 Toronto Workshops – 5 Things You Can Do

Reports referenced by Franke James to City Official
City of Toronto 2005: Transportation Report on Wet Weather Flow
City of Toronto 2005: Impacts of Front Yard Parking on Wet Weather Flow