Liz Lawley’s closing keynote for the conference

wanted to rename her presentation “Girls Just Want to Have Fun!”
then tried “All Work and No Play….”
ended up with “All the world’s a game… and all the men and women merely players”

has seen a lot at this conference about games, gaming, and fun
almost titled it “all the library’s a game” but doesn’t think we’re there yet

her hosting provider deleted the last week of her posts, but she was able to get them back from Bloglines

started four blogs (mamamusings, many 2 many, misbehaving.net, and terra nova)
could talk about her professional life, social software, or gender inequality in the technology world, but wants to focus on gaming (terra nova)
finds herself talking about gaming the way she used to talk about blogging – it’s important, pay attention

showed Jeff Trzeciak’s post wanting a gaming librarian

showed Galataea (Liz) in World of Warcraft (was mentioned in Newsweek article recently)

got pulled into WoW by the person who first commented on her blog

found herself playing WoW with colleagues she knew in the real world

plays with her 12–year old son
in the game, everyone looks like an adult
she started getting IMs from a venture capitalist in Japan telling her that her son was ninja-ing loot in a game

was invited to start playing with a group of researchers

showed Michael Stephens’ avatar
“one of the topics in the closing keynote was his tight jeans”

Jane McGonigal and Cory Ondrejka playing “oof!” at O’Reilly’s Foo Camp
a reverse scavenger hunt
your team is told to go gather 10 items in 10 minutes
then you get the list of the things you’re supposed to find
each time has to justify how each thing they got matches the list

of all the things she did at Foo Camp, the game was the most engaging and is what she remembers the most

games are a very powerful way to build an emotional connection between the people that play them and the place where they play them
this is relevant to libraries

showed the game Werewolf
each person around the table is given a card telling them if they are a werewolf, a villager, or a seer (there are 2 werewolfs and 1 seer)
everybody closes their eyes and goes to sleep
werewolves open their eyes and make visual contact with each other
then they pick somebody to kill (can’t make noise doing this)
closes their eyes and seer opens her eyes
guesses who are the werewolves and gamemaster answers yes or no
villagers than guess who the werewolves are

it’s such an engaging game that alpha geeks don’t pine for their computers

games: rules, structure, attempt to pursue a goal

showed Helene Blowers “Learning 2.0” initiative and asked how is this not a game?
rules, structure, pursuing a goal
gave staff motivation

it’s extraordinary what people will do for a free piece of Tupperware
motivation – think about this in the context of a library
what are the incentives for people?
what can you do to make it fun? to pull them in?

mentioned “I Love Bees” game (ubiquitous game – also known as an alternate reality game - for Halo)
how to reclaim public spaces that have fallen into disuse (libraries?!)

Jane McGonigal’s “Cruel 2 B Kind” game?
each person is given a weapon of kindness (“a game of benevolent assassination”)
each also has a weakness – one particular nice act will knock you out of the game
to kill someone with your serenade, you have to serenade everyone
in the process of killing people off, you’re doing nice things for everyone around you
what’s not nice about this?
how could we use something like this in libraries? how can we help people and make it a game?

Jane’s game “Tombstone Hold ‘Em Poker” about cemeteries
tombstones have four different kinds of tops (pointed, rounded, diamonds, decoration) plus a numbering system
all of a sudden, every tombstone is a unique card
have to be touching a tombstone at the same time in order for two to have the same card
people go to cemeteries to play this

Liz talked to Jane about how they could reclaim public schools (via gaming)
summer reading program is really a game for kids (rules, guidelines, goal, prize) and it’s a game that really works
it works for more than just kids

showed Stephen Abram – “context is king, not content,” “”it’s about unfettered experience,” “what’s the immersive experience we’re creating in public libraries”

remarkably similar to Jane McGonigal’s game development theory – http://www.42entertainment.com/see.html
this is a convergence

same URL – three types of gamers
– casual (they seek a guide to help them through an experience)
– active
– enthusiastic

librarians are guides!

http://www.macfound.org/education – Macarthur Foundation on Digital Media, Learning, & Education
expanded it by $50 million to focus on informal learning in games

big gaming in education community, but less so in libraries
huge opportunity for librarians to think about how games play a role in informal learning

the interesting and innovative stuff happening in libraries right now is in gaming
the more she poked around, the more heartened she became
wants to encourage everyone, including those that think they aren’t gamers or who think that gamers aren’t part of their audience
seven and a half million people play WoW – that’s a really big number

this is really, really big
this is going to change the way people use your tools and think about what they want in an information environment

audience question: comments about Second Life Library?
Liz: doesn’t believe that Second Life is a game but with that caveat, thinks Second Life is a really interesting starting point; absolutely applauds what they’re doing with the Library there, but it’s not the end point; has some big flaws (kids can’t get in), classes in SL that excludes 17–year old freshmen troubles her, requires a credit card even if they don’t charge you, which troubles her; thinks SL gets a pass on this stuff because they’re the only game in town; thinks SL is like AOL ten years ago, but won’t end up there; will be more distributed; she doesn’t find it particularly compelling, but her son loves the teen grid; feels like she spends too much time trying to figure out what’s going on, as opposed to WoW sandbox levels (the first five-minute experience); it’s a great experience for the first-time user in WoW, and too often we forget how hard/overwhelming it is to be a new user (used the example of University of Michigan Library as an example of being lost; eventually she was hired there, which gave her motivation and a prize – a paycheck – which changed her perspective)

audience question: familiar with Project Croquet?
Liz: not familiar with it

audience question: is there a researchers guild in Guild Wars?
Liz: doesn’t know, but is about to start a wiki about this

il2006

Syndication and Website Content: Suggestions for Blogs, RSS, and Internal Syndication by Walter Nelson

wanted a graphic of a hammer and a nail with a pistol to illustrate this topic
using blog-related tools in other ways

RSS - the "I don't get it" factor
very few customers understand RSS
you have to meet your customers where they areÖ
-not where you want them to be

simplifying RSS - everyone gets "web pages"

uses Movable Type for blogging and Feed2JS for parsing feeds

showed the "announcements" section in the RAND intranet displaying RSS feed from a blog
"library tips" section is also a feed

the blog creates a searchable archive
when click on title to go the full entry, doesnít look like a blog post because they've edited the template

using static feeds to maintain resource lists or menus

"only a fraction of empowered users use the power"

Using Blogs for Internal Communications by Karen Coombs

they have committee blogs, blogs for service points, and for working groups

committee blogs are used to make announcements, post minutes and other committee documents, and to gather feedback on what the committee is working on

unresolved issues
- feed subscription issues because the blogs are private for viewing
- how does this fit within their existing intranet? not sure
- integration with existing authentication and authorization systems (yet another password to remember right now)
- keeping up with changes to blog permissions

No One Cares that You Have a Blog ñ Aaron Schmidt

it isn't about the technology
it is about connecting
it's about what they can contribute to your website and what kind of relationship they can have with you on the web

showed:
WPopac by Casey Bisson at Plymouth State University
list of DVDs at Thomas Ford Memorial Library done as a blog; posts link to the DVD in the catalog, but it allows for comments
Western Springs History site - showed a reference transaction in the comments of one house

tips and tricks:
- use Flickr Uploader to send photos to your Flickr site
- use "blog this" from Flickr to show your pictures on your library's blog
- recommended libraries use Flickr badges to display pictures on their sites

showed Westmont Public Libraryís new books shelf in Flickr :-)

showed spell check in Firefox 2.0

mentioned Meebo Me widget for library blogs/sites

blog elsewhere
- get your content out into other pieces of the blogosphere and elsewhere
- contribute to blogs in your community, not just on your own blogs
- wants a nationwide project to spend even just a half-hour a week contributing to social websites under the login "library"; would be amazing PR for us

follow through
- a little bit of planning goes a long way for this

thinks libraries are at a sink or swim point with blogging
it's mainstream and there are many libraries are doing this

il2006

Learning Objects - Shu Liu

a learning object is an online tool that includes a learning objective, a learning process, and a means of assessment to help learns digest a specific piece of knowledge, or master how to complete a specific task

charactersistics of learning objects - digital, individual, interactive, reusable

teaching as a pyramid
courses on the bottom
units
lessons
learning activities
learning objects ó> objective, process, assessment circle

Wisc-Online (Wisconsin Online Resource Center) free repository of learning objects
showed her favorite exampleexample ñ ì12 cranial nervesî about the human brain
animated learning with a quiz at the end

MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resrouce for Learning and Online Teaching)
a continually growing catalog of online learning materials to help faculty enhance instruction
showed example of ìphotography through the eyes of immigrantsî

Microsoft Office Online Training (would have shown example ìGet to know Excel: Enter formulas)

Apple Learning Interchange 2006

Game On! : Developing a Game for Library Instruction - Tammy Allgood

"Quarantined" game

discussed the numbers behind ìwhy gamesî

learning objectives for freshmen (who the university just started serving five years ago)
ñ library as a physical and virtual place
- liubrary srevices
ñ types of resources

started the project with a board games, even though they wanted to start with a video game
wanted to take a step back and do something they could do easily
the board game has become really, really popular
doing this was very successful and was a great way to start
introduced fall 2005
helped them with introducing gaming as an instructional tool

"Information Pursuit" is the name of the board game
lots of interactive, question squares, which ask about library resources or services
if you land at ASU, you have to spin ìthe wheel of fateî
ìbook wormholesî
experimented a lot with this game

student comments:
- "it was fun! I didnít fall asleep or anything"

professors liked it because the students were interacting with each other

tried to work assessment into it, but just used basic assessment "what did you learn from the game"
learned from this, too, though, so will try to measure more based on task

computer game development began spring 2006
group of five people
web development, flash development, databvase design, lower division instruction expertise, extensive research in gaming as an educational tool
had funding from library dean to hire an outside programmer
used flash as their platform because itís fairly universal with no extra downloads, no blocked ports

documentation
- project plan
ñ high concept document "Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design" book
- game treatment document
- game script

example game script at http://www.designersnotebook.com/Wanna-be/ctaylordesign.zip

timeline applications
- game play design, storyline decisions, documentation = 5 months
- design = 2 months
- character interactions = one month
- information retrieval = 2 weeks
- sound creation = 2 weeks
- animations = 2 weeks
- bug tracking and documentation = 1 month

make sure you get documentation from your programmer

finding programmers
- consulted with Game Design Instructor at the Art Institute International in Phoenix - possible student project? decided no
- posted on local Tech ListServ
- Flash Game Programming Wiki
- game creation websites

hiring programmers
- asked for portfolios from top 3 candidates
- chose candidate with the most edugaming experience
- top candidate was able to recommend game designer

deliverables
- game logo
- game design (map, isometric tiles, building interiors, characters, icons)
- game skeleton (character walking paths)
- character interactions
- information retrieval systems
- animations

story is that a virus is loose on Any State University (ASU) and the campus has been quarantined because of this
canít use any external resources/websites - only internal resources
"virus outbreak agents" who capture you moving around campus and put you in a holding cell
have to save your friend, a computer geek hacker; he has contracted the virus and he has 30 minutes to live
talked to the students and the violence didnít both them at all
administration wanted them to cut it down a little bit, but people do die in the game
interaction screens pop up when you need to talk to a character

essential sources
- "Games, Learning, and Society Conference" (JL - yay!)
- 3 other titles

http://www.west.asu.edu/libcontribgame/website/

words of wisdom:
- do your research
- think about starting small
- don't underestimate time needed for design
- keep the development group small
- project manager should have some understanding of game development
- follow document requirements found in Rollings and Adams on Game Design
- don't underestimate time needed for design
- hire a professional

game is still under development

to win the game, you have to get the right combination of three books, two articles, and a tissue sample from the dead mule at the dig on campus that you ultimately find out is causing the outbreak

can bribe VOA agents to get out of the holding cell with candy bars you can accumulate
get candy bars in the lunch room at the vending machine
will be able to walk up to terminals in the library to do your research

il2006