GetUp is Announced!

So - a while back we explained that a big part of what we want to accomplish with Funomena is to give something back. We have felt incredibly blessed with the opportunities we've had in life: from our families and education to the teams and games we've been fortunate enough to work on. At this point in our careers, we want to work on things that continue to express our creative values, while devoting roughly 20% of our time to non-profit, for-good projects! We're so happy to let you know that our first "20% time" project has been officially announced and is underway! We will be working on a grant with UC Davis and the Play4Change Lab on project GetUp! This collaboration takes us out to UC Davis roughly twice a month, where we meet with researchers and also work with kids at a local middle school. The kids are fantastic - but they live in a world that's somewhat stacked against them when it comes to becoming strong, healthy adults. And that's something that we believe we can help change!

Alongside several inspiring and dedicated health researchers, we will be developing a game which uses activity data from FitBit trackers as a primary input. Our goal with the game, and the project in general is not to build applications *about* health... but rather, to measure if/how making kids more aware of their general level of activity can help shape their self awareness and future choices. To that end, we'll be experimenting with prototypes to see what works best in the context where the kids actually live & play.

It's a fantastic opportunity, one that we're just grateful to be a part of. On this day where Americans say thanks, we wish you all health and long life!