Chronicle of Higher Education Post

ProfHacker's blog, part of the Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting post today on games in the classroom. It's just the first part of a series. I look forward to the related upcoming posts. I also want to read Kurt Squire's new book that is referenced. I've read several of his articles and he is often cited in the articles I read.

I took advantage of the last few weeks of summer to write an article on online games in libraries. I included most of the links in the previous post. I asked for more on two library listservs and got one more good one to add to the article. I have submitted it to Reference Services Review, so please cross your fingers for me!

I recently learned that I got a scholarship to NASAGA this year. That covers registration. It's just over a month away and I can't wait. I may be going with a friend from high school who teaches game studies or game design (got to figure out which!). She recently moved to the broader region and is only an hour away from the conference. It's funny (and humbling) to "see" our primitive library games through her eyes.

I think I will be presenting at NASAGA, though that's not 100% sure yet. I will also be presenting at ALA in June. Pauline Shostack spent a sabbatical looking at games in libraries (not just online games) and asked if I would co-present with her and possibly one other person. It's hard to turn down such a great opportunity, and again I'm taking advantage of a professional conference to see some family I haven't seen in a while.

Now I just have to finalize the second game for NASAGA. It's the big game for our bicentennial. I'm meeting with the Web developer at our college to see if there's a simple way to use a single online map and smart phones for teams to compete to fill in a map of the present and past buildings on campus. We've even got a student worker hunting for cornerstones and plaques that show the years the present buildings were built.

I love that I get to do such fun things at my job.

Comprehensive List?

I have created a fairly comprehensive list of the ONLINE library games mentioned in the literature and thought I would share them. I may post this list on one of the library listservs to see what I'm missing.

• Benevolent Blue from the University of Calgary
• BiblioBouts from the University of Michigan
• Bioactive from the University of Florida, partially available to non-UF players at http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/games/bioactive/
• Blood in the Stacks from Trinity University
• Defense of Hidgeon: The Plague Years from the University of Michigan, fully available at http://www.storygameproject.org/, however it links to UM’s resources which are not available to non-UF players
• Dustin King in Locked & Literate, and Searchlight from Champlain College
• Find the Future from the New York Public Library, fully available at http://game.nypl.org/
• Goblin Threat from Lycoming College, fully available at http://www.lycoming.edu/library/instruction/tutorials/plagiarismGame.html
• Head Hunt from the Ohio State University, fully available at http://library.osu.edu/headhunt/
• Information Literacy at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, fully available at http://library.uncg.edu/game/
• Library Adventure Game from Appalachian State, fully available at http://www.library.appstate.edu/elearn/libraryadventure/traingame.html?cfg=imctrain2
• Nightmare on Vine Street from the University of Tennessee
• Planet in Peril from California University of Pennsylvania, fully available at http://www.coe.iup.edu/thinkingworldsgame/
• Project Velius from the University of Alabama, materials available at http://www.projectvelius.com/, however, it links to UA’s resources which are not available to non-UF players
• Quarantined: Axl Wise and the Information Outbreak from Arizona State University
• Secret Agents in the Library from Lycoming College, partially available at http://www.lycoming.edu/library/instruction/tutorials/secretAgent.html, however it links to Lycoming’s resources which are not available to non-Lycoming players

Library ARG using Social Media sites

I just read a really good article from the University of Alabama on how they used social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to create an alternate reality game that would require players to use the library resources. The citation is:

Battles, J., Glenn, V., & Shedd, L. (2011). Rethinking the library game: Creating an alternate reality with social media. Journal of Web Librarianship, 5(2), 114-131.

These people really did their research before designing their game and their assessment felt honest (a few articles I have read included more enthusiasm by the authors than the project seemed to merit). I hope they continue to do such projects. It sounds fascinating and I'm glad they shared their experiences with us.