One topic that Brenda Laurel addressed in her book, Utopian Entrepreneur, is a Culture Worker. This is what would be a perfect world. These people aren't creating for money, but to better society.
They "insist that the practices and outcomes of the businesses they build be harmonious with public good, even when it is perfectly legal and more profitable to do otherwise. An example would be violence in video games. A Culture Worker works toward an alternative to violence. This may not be where the profit is, but they feel it is better for the public. They work with popular culture(Pop culture shapes values and influences both public and private institutions)
Brenda Laurel herself is a Culture Worker. She created Purple Moon, which was a computer game for girls. She never made a profit and eventually lost the business, but she felt she had made a difference. She researched what girls liked and enjoyed. She constructed Purple Moon to how girls constructed meaning and worked cognitively, and their perceptions of society.
Posted by Rachel Howard at April 20, 2004 11:52 PM