In my New Media class, we’re discussing the concepts of ARGs, which are kind of like simulated quests with storylines. Here’s a website about them: http://www.argn.com/

Anyway, one of the ARGs that the class is playing is called “Who is Grayson OziasIV, and where is his fortune?” It’s sponsored by our friends at Levi Strauss, and so guess who the game features? None other than our buddy Whitman. The players have been issued various clues (audio files, videos, images, etc), and they’re supposed to go find objects that the leaders have hidden, which lead to more clues, which will eventually lead to $100,000. The first set of clues led everyone to New York, and then later, to New Orleans, where someone was given an 1884 edition of “Leaves of Grass” by a strange man in a hat (I’m serious). Now, the players are following a Benedict cipher through the poems.

You can follow Grayson OziasIV on Twitter (http://twitter.com/GraysonOziasIV). If you do, every day he tweets several quotes from “Leaves,” with most of them being from “Song of Myself.” No one’s sure what to do with these yet. I bet one of the clues will eventually lead somewhere near Fredericksburg. Anybody else feel like playing?