Dan Hood Information Literacy Fellow

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Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
Dan HoodInformation Literacy Fellow LOEX of the
West 2008 Las Vegas, NV
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"..don't use force in training the children in
the subjects, but rather games.Plato, The
Republic (421 BCE)
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Why Games
Project Overview
Play!
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Why Games?
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2 Distinct Uses

• Public Libraries
• Marketing
• Academic Libraries
• Teaching

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Other Library Gaming Projects

• UNC Greensboro
• The Information Literacy Game

• Arizona State
• Quarantined

• University of Calgary
• Hardplay (Future)

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Everyones a Gamer
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Average Game Player Age is
25 -- 50 yrs. 44 -- 18-49 yrs. 31 --
under 18 yrs
From Entertainment Software Assocation, 2007.
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Is This Our Audience?
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Why (not) Edu-gaming?

• Cons
• Integration
• Traditional assessment is boring
• Development tools
• The "Lame Factor
• Pros
• Learning Fun?!
• No consequence for failure
• Master skills in demand by todays employers
• Games offer attributes important for learning

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Gaming Culture

• History
• Progress
• New Audiences

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• As Easy as Pong

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• World of Information

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• Virtually Physical

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• Mental Health

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33.html
http//media.ds.ign.com/media/899/899492/img_48190
84.html
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• Arcade _at_ Home

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• What About the Web?

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The Library Arcade Project
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The Grant

• 50,000
• to develop and promote engaging, web-based
  information literacy tutorials for students
  throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond
• Build on momentum from Eden Hall 168,000 grant
• Stipulations
• Must be an Outreach Component
• Open Source/Customizable/Easily Modded

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The Team

• Librarians
• Biomedical, Chemical, Materials Engineering
• Software Engineering
• Information Literacy
• ETC Faculty Advisor
• ETC Students
• Computer Science
• Electronics/Communication
• Fine Art
• Psychology
• Journalism

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ETC

• Entertainment Technologies Center
• Masters of Entertainment Technology, 2 year
  degree
• Semester-long project
• Team is design firm

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Project Timeline
March 2006 to Present
Phase 1 Decide to make games/team forms
(March 2006 August 2006) Phase 2 Design
and Production of Games (September 2006
February 2007) Phase 3 Testing and Marketing
Begins (March 2007 August 2007)
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User Testing Feedback

• In Library and Student Union
• Assessment
• Survey Monkey

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Game One
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Game Two
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Game Three
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Game Four
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Problems

• Library Centricity!
• Working with an inexperienced team
• META Problem ACRL Standards
• Bandwidthhave some on hand

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Future Directions

• Get more
• Complete games 3 4
• Track players progress
• Add storyline (wrapper)
• Create a new team
• Marketing plan

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Recommendations

• Overestimate budget
• Overestimate time investment
• Have a champion (project manager, leader)
• If outsourcing, be strict with designers
• Learn Flash?!

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Our Sites
Library Arcade www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/etc

• Play the games
• Learn about the developers
• Take the survey

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U Haz Questions?
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References

• Game Player Data- Fact Sheet, Entertainment
  Software Association, http//www.theesa.com/facts/
  gamer_data.php (Accessed November 5, 2007).
• UNC Greensboro, The Information Literacy Game
  (2004).
• Arizona State, Quarantined (2005).
• University of Calgary, Hardplay (2007).
• Pong Screenshot, http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikip
  edia/en/f/f8/Pong.png , (2007).
• Pokemon Trading Card image taken from Ebay sale
  reference, http//mollybol.50megs.com/Mollyweb/Boo
  k/Diary20Pics/pokthur.JPG , (2007).
• Big Brain Academy Screenshot, IGN.com,
  http//wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/795/7951
  26/big-brain-academy-wii-degree-20070608011557637.
  jpg , (Accessed 11/05/2007).
• Flash Focus Screenshot, IGN.com,
  http//media.ds.ign.com/media/899/899492/img_48190
  84.html , (Accessed November 5, 2007).
• Brain Age Screenshot, IGN.com, http//media.ds.ign
  .com/media/740/740437/img_3448533.html ,
  (Accessed November 5, 2007).
• All other images taken from their respective
  Wikipedia.com entries