GLLS2007: Games Without Borders

As I wait for the closing keynote to begin, I have a Peter Gabriel lyric stuck in my head: “…games without frontiers, war without tears…”

After many thanks to Jenny Levine and everyone who put together this first Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, Liz Lawley spoke about Games Without Borders: Gaming Beyond Consoles and Screens. The projection from her not-a-Mac-laptop computer is flickering so I’m going to try not to look at the screen too much. I’ll just keep my eyes fixed on the sleek, silver beauty on my lap.

Liz’s life in blogs:

• mamamusings
• many2many
• misbehaving.net
• Terra Nova

What is a game?

• A form of play with goals and structure
• A form of art in which participants make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal

Activities that we usually don’t think of as games:

• Summer reading clubs
• Super Sleuth research activities
• Learning 2.0
  • has goals, objectives, steps, prizes

What is the immersive experience we are creating in public libraries? — Stephen Abram

Examples of immersive game play…

• Reverse Scavenger Hunt
• Tombstone Hold ‘Em Poker
• Cruel to Be Kind
• Passively Multiplayer Online Games

Liz recommends Book Burro Firefox extension for finding books at local libraries and bookstores. Uses ISBN to find items by ZIP code. (I tried it… very cool!)

Help others understand gaming in ways that help make it real. Use pictures, stories, etc.

GLLS2007: Library as Laboratory

The presentrio of Matt Gullett (PLCMC), Kelly Czarnecki (ImaginOn/PLCMC), and Craig Davis (Youth Digital Arts Cyberschool) talked really fast about Supporting Culture with Creative and Participative Digital Learning.

PLCMC Game Lab:

• Collaboration with customers and community; schools, colleges, and universities; organizations, corporations
• Partner with other organizations for support

ImaginOn

• Animation Station
• Podcast booth
• Video gaming club

Youth Digital Arts Cyberschool

• If kids could create their own video games, what would they create?
• If libraries could easily offer a game development program, would they?
• What if a techno-phobic librarian could facilitate a program?

• Philosophy: Every student from 3rd grade through high school can create professional level digital art immediately!
• Mission: to research and develop innovative online courses at the intersection of pedagogy, art, and technology

• Participatory culture and no age hierarchy
  • Entrepeneurism and no age hierarchy
  • Kids work as student interns. They are assigned two courses each and answer student questions.
• Provication for self learning
  • Students”jump off” to new areas from what they were taught in the cyberschool
• Video games are a digital art form that contains many others
  • Image
  • Music
  • Animations
• The Cyberschool also teaches…
  • Digital painting
  • Digital music
  • Digitaal animation
  • Other courses in development
    • Comics/manga, rotoscoping
    • Partnership wiht NASA’s JPL Imagine Mars Program

GLLS2007: We Got Game!

I just returned from a healthy 15-mile bike ride to kickstart my day. Now if I could just get myself dressed and fed, then I’ll be headed to the 1:00pm opening of the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium here in Chicago. I’ve transferred my Mii into my Wii-mote for tonight’s open gaming doubles tennis match with Jenn. I practiced yesterday and found that I have a mean serve (although I’m much better at baseball). I was signed up for the DDR tournament, but Eli Neiburger’s conference record scared me off and I went running like a girl to the GH2 co-op tourney instead. I’ve never even met Eli, but he’s a legend in the library gaming community and he has a tattoo.

OK. Here I go. More later…

______________________________

Made it! Now read what it’s all about…

• What Libraries Need to Know About Games, Media Literacy, and Participatory Culture
• The State of Gaming in Libraries
• The Payoff: Up Close and Personal
• Gaming, Intellectual Freedom, and the Law
• Getting Gaming on the Table, in the Conversation, and Running at Locations
• Building a Gaming Community
• Supporting Culture with Creative and Participative Digital Learning
• Tournament Games for Any Occasion: Choosing the Right Games for Your Audience
• Big Fun, Big Learning: Transforming the World Through Play
• Digital Downloads for Gamers
• Gaming for Adults
• Games Without Borders: Gaming Beyond Consoles and Screens

…and follow the symposium in pictures, too, through the flickrpics shared by several GLLS2007 attendees.