calc keynote 2008

Videogames at the Library?!Using Games as Learning Tools

Alice J. Robison, PhDMassachusetts Institute of Technology

[email protected]

1Tuesday, May 27, 2008

mailto:[email protected]


How many of you are gamers?

photo of Eli Neiburger via Jenny Levine


Define “Gamer”

• 90 million gamers up to age 35

• 77 million baby boomers--retirees largest growing segment of gamers

• 2003 Pew Internet study of college student gamers--70% play once in a while, 65% play regularly

• Average gamer age is 31-33

the entertainment software association; pew internet & american life project


Games are Changing

Music & RhythmMovement-Based (Wii)

Casual Games (Flash-based)Sports Games (best-sellers)

Strategy Games (chess?)Literature-themed (narratives)


Where do Gamers Play?

• Home

• Hospitals

• School

• Online

• Offline

• Libraries!


More than half of all American teens--and 57% of

teens who could use the internet--could be

considered media creators.

33% share what they create online with others

19% blog and 19% remix content they find online

22% have their own homepages

32% report they’ve experienced

“cyberbullying”

55% use online social networking regularly

85% use Facebook if available on their campus

55% protect their personal information online


This isn’t Just About Technology

technical stuff: we can now use cool stuff to do the same kinds of things we have previously known; a “physical-industrial” mindset--individualized, enclosed, product-centered, hierarchical

ethos stuff: co-existence of physical space and cyberspace; a “cyberspatial, post-industrial” mindset--collective, distributed, decentered, process-focused, change-based

Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; Jenkins, et. al, 2006


Good Games Can Be Good for Learning

• Gamers see themselves as heroes on quests; series of ever-increasing puzzles and problems

• They work toward an end-goal, a quantifiable outcome (school-like)

• They are willing to experiment and keep trying, to fix things, take risks, failure is part of the objective

• They learn to see the world as a designed space, as a series of systems

• They are willing to seek expertise and ask for help--also willing to share expertise, tutor others

• Collaboration is crucial with both problem-solving and execution

• Thrive at fast decision-making and know how to prioritize

• Are good at multitasking and continuous partial attention


What Do Gamers Learn?

• See themselves as heroes on a quest, identify with protagonists

• Experimental identities, strategies, solutions (guitar player, drummer)

• Low-risk testing of living in an immersive space, role-playing (a bee in a bee’s world)

flickr.com/photos/foreverdigital



• Real-time, immediate assessment and visual feedback


• They are willing to experiment and keep trying, to fix things, take risks, failure is part of the objective flickr.com/photos/conexaogamer




• Can synthesize both macro- and micro-data in order for quick analysis


Phase by Harmonix Studios, Cambridge, Massachusetts



• They are willing to seek expertise and ask for help--also willing to share expertise, tutor others (forums, boards)

• Collaboration is crucial with both problem-solving and execution (guilds)

• Thrive at fast decision-making and know how to prioritize in order to work collectively toward a goal.



Collaborative gameplay as a designed objective:

• collective intelligence

• building networks of trust

• ad-hoc committees, cooperation

• synthesis of ideas

photo: josh bancroft via flickr.com


Good Games Can Be Good for Learning

• Gamers see themselves as heroes on quests; series of ever-increasing puzzles and problems


• They are willing to experiment and keep trying, to fix things, take risks, failure is part of the objective


• They are willing to seek expertise and ask for help--also willing to share expertise, tutor others

• Collaboration is crucial with both problem-solving and execution

• Thrive at fast decision-making and know how to prioritize



information literacy-> gaming literacy

identity play

affiliations

affinity spaces

collaborative problem-solving

circulating information & data

surfing with others


What do we mean by “literacies?”encoded texts that can be retrieved, worked

with, and made available independent of the physical presence of another person

(Lankshear & Knobel, 2006 - newliteracies.com)


What do we mean by “new literacies?”blogging, fanfic writing, manga-producing,

meme-ing, photoshopping, podcasting, vodcasting, gaming, html-ing

(Lankshear & Knobel, 2006 - newliteracies.com)


newest gamer cultures

negatendo.nethttp://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel


http://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel

http://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel

online social networks

xkcd.com


alternate reality games


PMOG “adds an element of score-keeping, gentle competition, cooperation and self-reflection through scorekeeping and game dynamics added to web-browsing” (Justin Hall, 2007)

It opens our eyes to what the web really holds, to expand our grasp of meaning-making experiences with the web

passive gaming

pmog.com


Diner Dash, gamelab.com/game/diner_dash


“Gamers...in the Library?” --Eli Neiburger

“WHY?! For the love of dear old Melville Dewey, why would we take our hallowed houses of learning and sully them with these vile, prurient, mind-rotting entertainments? Well, it’s a fair question, so long as you remember that they were saying exactly the same thing about Pride and Prejudice not that long ago. Minus the Dewey part, of course.”


“Gamers...in the Library?” --Eli Neiburger

“We’ve also learned that content is not just about text, and that media doesn’t have to be socially redeeming, or even any good, for our patrons to want to consume it....

...If we were supposed to restrict ourselves to offering materials with purely redeeming social qualities and educational value, we’d have to throw out half the collection.”


Gaming Literacy Ethos• Kodak Picture Gallery -->

Flickr• Britannica Online -->

Wikipedia• personal websites -->

blogging• evite -->upcoming.org• publishing-->

participation • content management

systems --> wikis• directories (taxonomy)-->

tagging ("folksonomy")

• stickiness--> syndication• demographics--> identity

play• developer-written-->

players co-writing• individual competencies

--> collaborative questing• value dependent on

scarcity of products--> value dependent on behavior choices

• surfing alone--> surfing with others


What Does it Mean if...

• Gaming is the new golf?• You’re not making connections in WoW, etc., or you

have no reference for it?• You don’t know how to visualize data, problem-

solve with others, know how to think with systems• You don’t know how to interact online and socialize

in games, virtual worlds, or interactive sites?• You don’t know how to present yourself online?


Adopt the Ethos of Gaming Literacies

Use design principles of good games• Low-risk opportunities for failure• Encourage design-system thinking• Reappropriate, circulate, visualize data• Legitimate peripheral participation• Don’t erase judgment, ethical decision-making• Problem-based learning• Information literacy• Go outside the game: transmedia, fan cultures• Identity play• Affinity spaces

PLAY GAMES--failure is part of the game, remember?


References, Further Reading

• “Meet the Gamers” -- Squire & Steinkuehler, Libraryjournal.com, 2005

• Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services-- Jenny Levine, ALA (theshiftedlibrarian.com)

• Henry Jenkins’ ALA Keynote (TechSource, Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium), 2007

• What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy-- James Paul Gee (2003)

• Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever-- Beck & Wade (2005)

• How Computer Games Help Children Learn-- David Williamson Shaffer (2006)


References, Further Reading

• http://del.icio.us/ajrobison/calc08• Bibliographic Gaming-- bibliogaming.blogspot.com• Game On: Games in Libraries--

libgaming.blogspot.com• Pop Goes the Library--popgoesthelibrary.com• http://www.eye4youalliance.youthtech.info/• Global Kids Digital Media Initiative (NYC)--

holymeatballs.org• Project New Media Literacies (MIT): projectnml.org• Goodplay Project (Harvard): goodworkproject.org/

research/digital.htm


http://del.icio.us/ajrobison/calc08

http://del.icio.us/ajrobison/calc08

http://www.eye4youalliance.youthtech.info

http://www.eye4youalliance.youthtech.info

Videogames at the Library?!Using Games as Learning Tools

Alice J. Robison, PhDMassachusetts Institute of Technology

[email protected]


