Transforming Museums: Learning from Games and Play

Transforming
Museums
Can Museums Learn From Games?

Ken Eklund
Writerguy
writerguy@writerguy.com

Monday, June 22, 2009

Learn
Play
Join
Quilt
Ken Eklund

Save
Writerguy
writerguy@writerguy.com


Learn

by SARA RIMER http://tiny.cc/nytmit



Declining attendance

Rising failure rate

Lecturing perceived as irrelevant,
dissonant with learning style



“Technology-Enhanced Active Learning”
(TEAL)


“pioneering
teaching
methods”


“hands-on, interactive,
collaborative learning”

“pioneering
teaching
methods”


“striking change”

“hands-on, interactive,
collaborative learning”

“pioneering
teaching
methods”


“striking change”

“hands-on, interactive, “attendance up,
collaborative learning” failure rate down”

“pioneering
teaching
methods”


More people learn better by
collaborative, active play


Play

Play is
common
ground


Play is personal
Play is and social
common
ground


Play is is personal
Play
healthy and social
Play is
common
ground


Play is is personal
Play
healthy and social
Play is
common
ground

Play is fun


A state of play is the goal;
a game is the device

Join

Alice will teach us to play
“World Without Oil,”
an Alternate Reality Game


Alice will teach us to play
“World Without Oil,”
an Alternate Reality Game
Alice is not a gamer and
has no idea what an
Alternate Reality Game is


ALTERNATE REALITY
GAMES

Not a ‘virtual world’

Game is embedded
in the real world

‘Augmented Reality’

Collaborative

‘What if?’ play


“Wow, has the next
oil crisis started?
Take a look:
worldwithoutoil.org”


Alice is getting “in game”


Real life


Real life Alternate reality


Alice is playing our game

Alice sends her story to us


Alice sends her story to us
We read it and link to it

1500 personal chronicles from all over the globe


EASY TO PLAY

Just play ‘what if’

Just tell your story

Use tools you
already know

Just join in


Quilt

Interwoven narrative


Player progression



Player progression


The wisdom of crowds


Player progression


Collective imagination


Collective intelligence
Player progression




Player progression



Citizen journalism


Mythology

Player progression



Citizen journalism


Game design makes it active, participatory

This experience has been just incredible
for me. I've learned so much and started to
think about even small things in my daily
life in a new way... You show me that many
really great people are out there… and that
we will lead the way.

– Epaxson

What people said

I really mean it when I say
World Without Oil changed my
life. My friends, family and
coworkers have all noticed the
difference. In all seriousness,
this entire thing has made me
a different person.

– FallingIntoSin

What people said

Here there's no upper limit on the
game play. Everyone can have
some, and every piece actually
matters, because the game play is
shaping the story yourself through
your writing, and carrying the
lessons learned into your life.

– KSG

What people said

Act as if. Live it. Weave us
into a possible future, let us
picture ourselves in the
middle of a plotline, rather
than just spout out more
statistics in a news item.

– Evelyn Rodriguez

What people said

It was real to me.
– OrganizedChaos


Save

Señor Codo

Correcting the overshoot

Señor Codo

Correcting the overshoot

Rebooting our operating system

Señor Codo

What we need is
open, massively
democratic,
social, fun and
collaborative
collective action

Señor Codo

“If you want Play it – beforefuture, play with it ﬁrst”
to change the you live it.

Señor Codo

Play it – before you live it.

Señor Codo

www.herecomeseverybody.org


People come to museums
ready to play.

Let’s let them.


Thanks

PHOTO CREDITS: Norbert Rosing, Sukanto Debnath, Señor Codo, doryexmachina, Web 2.0

Ken Eklund, writerguy • writerguy@writerguy.com


QUESTION

Why do you call World
Without Oil a game? As
opposed to an activity or
an exercise?


QUESTION

Did World Without Oil owe
anything to Dungeons and
Dragons and other
roleplaying games?


QUESTION

Did all the people
participating in World
Without Oil play
themselves, or did some
play characters?


QUESTION

What games have
museums done?
Especially online games.


QUESTION

Flash games and the like
seem to me to be closed
systems, with inherent
biases.


QUESTION

How did you know how to
position the role for
players, to put them in
charge of the story? Why
weren’t you in charge?


QUESTION

Looking at the game, it
seems like art, in a way.


QUESTION

How did you get wide
participation? Especially
from non-web people.


QUESTION

How did you advertise or
alert people that the game
was going to happen? How
would museums get
attention if they did a game?


QUESTION

You got 1500 stories. How
do you get around the cost
of curating all that material?
How do you synthesize the
material to make it
accessible to viewers?


QUESTION

Is the World Without Oil
approach being considered
for other issues and
subjects?


QUESTION

How do you work with
the game form to suit a
particular subject or issue?


( BREAK TIME – CONCLUDING REMARKS )


Transforming Museums: Learning from Games and Play

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