Library Skills games

[Carl Cross]

Hi,

We are in the very early stages of putting together a game based
around libraries, literacy and information literacy.

We don't know what form it will take yet, it could be a webgame,
something made in Gamemaker, Second Life or similar or even a mod of a
commercial off the shelf (COTS) game like Half Life 2. Or maybe
something we haven't considered at all.

We have secured help with programming and design and also on the
artistic side (sorry, if I'm being rather coy about the details but as
I say, we're in the early stages yet!) and I'm just in the process of
putting together a focus group of videogame literate young people.

I've also been doing a mini-literature review of the subject and
looking at some similar projects which I thought you all might be
interested in. Links and a short review below.

Storygame

http://www.si.umich.edu/~ylime/storygame.html

A game based around researching a possible cure for the Black Death to
teach first year undergrads basic info retrieval skills. See the end
of this email for more details.

Information Literacy Game.

http://library.uncg.edu/game/

A Ludo/Trivial Pursuit type game teaching info retrieval and
bibliographic skills. Quite tough I thought for someone who left
University 7 years ago!

"Source code" is available which means graphics and questions can be
easily changed to support your own needs.

Fletcher Library Game Project

http://www.west.asu.edu/libcontrib/game/website/index.cfm

Another game used to teach undergrads. Sadly no playable game but lots
of information and interesting presentations.

And last but definitely not least,

Library Arcade

http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/etc/

My favourite so far. Two games, one a fairly boring shelve-em-up to
teach Library of Congress (which I can actually do! My formative years
in a library where spent shelving in a UK academic library which used
LoC, I knew it would come in useful at some point!). The second one,
"I'll Get It" is much more interesting, essentially a clone of Diner
Dash or even Tapper where the object is to satisfy library users
information skills from a variety of sources. Great geeky fun!

All from US libraries. The vast majority from Universities.

I know of one similar project in the UK from an FE/HE college but
sadly there are no details on the web to pass on. If anyone knows of
any similar projects I'd be really interested in hearing about them.

I'd also be interested to know what the list thinks about two issues:

Firstly, what skills could/should be taught by such a game and how? By
experimentation or repetition? Should there be a right answer at all
and not just different research styles.

Secondly, what form the game should take. As I said we don't yet know
what is possible so go crazy. Should it ape existing games like the
Sims or a First Person Shooter (FPS) or should it be something
entirely original? Should it be long and involved and short and sweet?

Your thoughts on this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Carl.









>>>>
Message from Karen Markey. Originally posted on Lib Gaming, a US based
list on 21st November, 2007.

I am a faculty member in the School of Information at the
University
of Michigan. Thanks to a small grant from the Delmas Foundation, my
research team has built a prototype online board game that teaches
students information-literacy skills. Specifically the game is
based
on the "search strategy" model that Tom Kirk and his Earlham
College
colleagues devised to teach undergraduates how to do library
research. We are testing the game now with a class of 75 incoming
freshmen and our evaluation begins after Thanksgiving.


I'm interested in expanding game play beyond Michigan in the years
to
come. Perhaps you and your fellow library colleagues would be
interested in hosting an instance of the game and developing a
questions-and-answers database on a topic that would appeal to your
students and library users generally. (We chose the "Black Death"
for
our prototype game's topic.) The deadline for IMLS "National
Leadership" grants is at the end of January 2008 and I am thinking
of
applying for funds to expand our games work. Are you interested?


Here are some links for you to check out:


1. Information on our Storygame Project generally: http://
www.si.umich.edu/~ylime/storygame.html


2. To play the game, please use the FIREFOX browser only. Please go
to: http://ics.umflint.edu:3904/team/login. Enter in one of the
names
and passwords below:


name = demo3, password = secret3
name = demo4, password = secret4
name = demo5, password = secret5
name = demo6, password = secret6
name = demo7, password = secret7
name = demo8, password = secret8
name = demo9, password = secret9


This signon information resets the game when you sign off so your
"work" is not saved. If you want to explore all the features of the
game, we can issue you one or more permanent passwords that would
allow you to issue "challenges" against others. Our questions-and-
answers database is based on the e-resources and books at the
University of Michigan so you might not be able to answer every
question with your library's collection.


If you have trouble signing on, it means someone else is using the
password. Wait a while or try another one. Please log out when you
are done so others can play using the password that worked for you.


3. Playing-the-game video at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=u76tW-ne-yY


4. Manual for playing the game: http://ics.umflint.edu:3904/manual/
manual.html


Please contact me if you are interested in collaborating or just
want
to talk about our game generally. Thanks for listening.


* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Karen Markey
Professor
School of Information, 304 West Hall, 1085 S. Univ. Ave.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107 USA
Voice: 1-734-763-3581; Fax: 1-734-764-2475
Email: yl...@umich.edu
Web site: http://www.si.umich.edu/~ylime/index.html