Library Research Seminar V Alternate Reality Games Panel

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and 21st Century Literacies. Derek Hansen @shakmatt Kari 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 & Marketing
The Beast
I love bees
The Lost Experience
Cathy’s Book
“ Serious” Games
World without oil
Evoke
Pheon

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 Design characteristics 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 :: 21 st Century Skills
Mapping Sample activities to Literacy skills
Detailed Handout:
ARG Activities :: AASL Standards for 21 st Century Learner
ARG activities :: Content Area Standards

Learning Outcomes 21 st 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. 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." 1876 E. Gosse in Academy 9 Dec. 557 “Walking in the arcane world of wonder.”

Finding, Analyzing, managing Patent Searches and constructing a New Patent Model 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.

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

Library Research Seminar V Alternate Reality Games Panel

by Elizabeth Bonsignore on Oct 13, 2010

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Library Research Seminar V Alternate Reality Games Panel — Presentation Transcript