Ben Norskov and Mohini Dutta run Antidote Games, a play consultancy facilitating the work of journalists, scientists, and organizations around the world.

1. Playing
News
UsingPlaytoUnderstandthe.
ParticipatoryFutureofNews.
BenNorskov&MohiniDutta
AntidoteGames

2. We co-founded
.@helloAntidote..
Antidote
A design consultancy
.that uses play to.
.investigate &.
.intervene in.
.complex.systems..`..

3. We co-founded
.@helloAntidote..
Antidote
A design consultancy
.that uses play to.
.investigate &.
.intervene in.
.complex.systems..`..

4. Agency Mapping
What impact can an
individual have on a
system?
.@helloAntidote..

5. Agency Mapping
Visualizing the human in
systems allows us to
understand them
.@helloAntidote..

6. Participation

7. Participatory News
.@helloAntidote..
News is suffering from an
over-participation problem

8. Lessons for Participation
But Play is inherently
participatory
.@helloAntidote..

9. Lessons for Participation
.@helloAntidote..
But Play is inherently
participatory
Can Journalism learn
about participation
from Games?

10. Our Approach
We work with diverse groups of
players
.@helloAntidote..

11. Structured Participation
Creates a valuable experience
for participants and organizer
.@helloAntidote..

12. Unstructured Participation
Lack of structure gives
participants no Agency, and
organizers no value
.@helloAntidote..

13. Indonesia & Dice
Fun is subjective
.@helloAntidote..

14. Cultures of Play
.@helloAntidote..
Co Design solutions!
It’s more durable, communicates better,
and uses the player’s knowledge base,
instead of ignoring it

15. Participatory Spaces
Make sure people feel welcome
Fit your content to their culture,
not the other way around
Build a structure that allows for
Player Agency
Have a specific goal that’s clearly stated
.@helloAntidote..

16. Participatory Spaces
If your space isn’t valuable
to you or your participants,
then change the rules of
your space
.@helloAntidote..

17. Social Spaces

18. Reddit Boards
Some are fantastic,
they have kittens
.@helloAntidote..

19. Reddit Boards
... and some are terrible
.@helloAntidote..

20. Reddit Boards
.@helloAntidote..
How do you setup
societal norms in a
virtual space?

21. Games and Rules
Games use rules to
create a challenging
landscape for
players to extract
agency and meaning
.@helloAntidote..

22. Spaces of Engagement
● Referees?
● Demonstration
● Shill
● Explain Motivations
● Ask for Input
● Give Specific Prompts
.@helloAntidote..

23. Driving Force Story
Putting Managers in
Drivers’ and Drivers in
Managers’ roles allowed
them to flip scripts on
what their normal social
spaces are
.@helloAntidote..

24. Players

25. Playtests
.@helloAntidote..

26. Playtests and Barnyards
.@helloAntidote..

27. Player: Homo Interneticus
Internet Freedom
Radical Free Speech
Belief in a Techno-Meritocracy
Exposes Oppression!
.@helloAntidote..

28. Internet Freedom of Any Data
All Radical Free Speech
Belief in a [Libertarian]
....Techno-Meritocracy
Exposes Oppression [with
oppression]!
Playtesting Values
.@helloAntidote..

29. Good Intentions...
/r/FindBostonBombers
Kony 2012
Anonymous
etc...
.@helloAntidote..

30. Key Idea
How might we build platforms where the values
of Homo Interneticus and journalists align?
.@helloAntidote..

31. Truthmaking

32. Internet Origins
.@helloAntidote..

33. Internet Barnyard 2.0
.@helloAntidote..

34. Internet Barnyard 2.0
.@helloAntidote..

35. Repeat = Truth
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep
repeating it, people will eventually
come to believe it.”
– Josef Goebbels
.@helloAntidote..

36. Sharing = Truth
“If you share a lie big enough
and keep sharing it,
people will eventually come to
believe it.”
–Cyb3r Goebbel$
.@helloAntidote..

37. Journalism’s Goal?
Seek Truth and Report It*
.@helloAntidote..
* From the The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics

38. Homo Interneticus’s Goal?
Seek Find the Truth you
believe in and Report Share It
.@helloAntidote..

39. Control + the State = Truth
“...The lie can be maintained only for such time as
the State can shield the people from the political,
economic and/or military consequences of the lie.
It thus becomes vitally important for the State to
use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the
truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by
extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the
State.” –Goebbels, again
.@helloAntidote..

40. What Now?

41. Propublica: Free the Files
Leveraging user’s need to be a
part of the solution
.@helloAntidote..

42. New Models of Experience
You never change things by
fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a
new model that makes the
existing model obsolete.
—Buckminster Fuller
.@helloAntidote..

43. Thank You
playistheantidote.com | @helloAntidote
@bennorskov | @mohinidutta
.@helloAntidote..