library research seminar v alternate reality games panel
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and 21st Century
Literacies.
Derek Hansen @shakmattKari Kraus @karikraus
beth Bonsignore @ebonsign
Maryland’s iSchool
ARG Ingredients
• storytelling as archaeology• real world as medium• “this is not a game” or a hoax• malleable (puppetmasters & players
influence storyline)• mandatory collaboration• plays out over time
ARG Examples
Entertainment & MarketingThe BeastI love bees
The Lost ExperienceCathy’s Book
“Serious” GamesWorld without oil
EvokePheon
21st Century Literacies
• Gather: finding, accessing, & evaluating• Make sense: analyzing, synthesizing, &
reflecting• Solve: problem solving, experimenting, &
innovating• Create: creating, remixing, & modifying• Manage: managing, organizing, & preserving• Respect: acting ethically, respectfully, and
legally• Collaborate: collaborating & communicating
Research initiatives
• Interviews• Student Designers• Kidsteam (HCIL)• Creative Writer• ARG Design
ARG Designcharacteristics and Challenges
• Need for shared mythology among design partners
• Documentation that lags behind inspiration• retrofitted narrative elements• puzzles, activities, & history hacks embedded
into narrative fragments• Repeatability of ARG
The Counterfactual imagination“Reality shimmers with glimpses of counterfactual
alternatives” ~Ruth Byrne
• How to reconcile ARGs with abiding archival and library Values?
• Ruth Byrne: – joints or faultlines of reality– Cognitive Constraints on Counterfactual
Thinking
The Counterfactual Imagination
• Cognitive Functions of counterfactual thought (Ruth Byrne: The Rational Imagination)– Counterfactual possibilities help us understand our
personal histories– They help us understand notions of obligation and
responsibility– They help us plan for the future– They help us link pre-existing concepts together in
novel and imaginative ways– They help us invent new instances of concepts or
categories
What did we Learn?Mapping the activities
onto literacy and learning frameworks
• ARG activities :: 21st Century Skills
• Mapping Sample activities to Literacy skills
• Detailed Handout:• ARG Activities :: AASL Standards for 21st
Century Learner• ARG activities :: Content Area Standards
Learning Outcomes21st Century literacy skills applied
Gallery of Gadgetry document
(Design) Patent Search
Morse Code clues
“New” Patent Model
Make Sense: analyzing, synthesizing, reflecting
X X X
Gather: finding, accessing, evaluating X X
Solve: problem-solving, experimenting, innovating
X X
Manage: managing, organizing, preserving X X
Create: creating, remixing, modifying X
Collaborate: collaborating and communicating
X X X X
Analyzing the Arcane Gallery of Gadgetry document (Patent Office History)
NCTE: “Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate texts. . . . They draw upon other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).”
depositary, n. a person with whom anything is lodged in trust…one to whom anything is committed or confided.
depositary, n. a person with whom anything is lodged in trust…one to whom anything is committed or confided.
arcane, a. hidden, concealed, secret.
arcane, a. hidden, concealed, secret.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary online.
1853: Villette xviii, C. Bronte "I have never been the depositary of her plans and secrets."
1853: Villette xviii, C. Bronte "I have never been the depositary of her plans and secrets."
1876 E. Gosse in Academy 9 Dec. 557 “Walking in the arcane world of wonder.”
1876 E. Gosse in Academy 9 Dec. 557 “Walking in the arcane world of wonder.”
NCSS Theme 2: Time, Continuity and Change: include experiences that provide for the study of the past and its legacy.
NCSS Theme 8: Science, Technology, and Society: include experiences that provide for the study of relationships among science, technology and society.
Finding, Analyzing, managing Patent Searches and constructing a New Patent Model
Challenges & Opportunities
• Fictional narrative (but TINAG)• Game maleability• Puppetmasters• Replayability• Dealing with scale• Cross-institutional support• Budgets & resources
Come Join the Fun
http://thinktransmedia.org