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Games-playing
While looking for a good social innovator to follow, I noticed that where my expertise lies -- research and libraries -- and where most social innovators expertises lie do not intersect. True, research skills and knowledge management are important to any field, but someone studying cheap, sustainable desalination would need engineers and environmentalists much more than a librarian.
Then, I saw Derek Lomas and Playpower. They're trying to design instructional, educational games for a home-brewed $10 computer. A package to teach the children of the world through games.
"Ah!" I said. "There's what I need. There's an idea that I can get behind."
Think of it. He wants to train children in interesting ways, using simple, baseline technology. I want to train children and young adults in interesting ways, using whatever means necessary. The only difference in our missions, really, is what we're teaching. His goal is immeasurably more important. Basic literacy and math skills are the first step, certainly, to educating the world.
Mine, however, is the logical next step. We, in the US, have a fairly educated populace. What we lack, though, is a real conversation. Scholars are taught that all information can be useful, some is just procedurally different. A peer-reviewed, scientific article is a good objective source, as it has been approached in an objective manner and reviewed by experts. However, a vitriol-filled blog post can be just as useful, depending on your information need.
Somewhere, however, there was a disconnect. Somewhere, students didn't realize that they are part of the process, or can be part of the process. That's my goal, to teach the art of research, then to teach that the next logical step is sharing that research, either through publication, open source publication, or simple blogging. After all, their information can be just as useful as anyone else's.
First we educate. We give them knowledge. Then, through these inexpensive computers, we give them a means to communicate. Finally, we have to give them a voice.
Hopefully, I'll be able to contact Mr. Lomas, and learn a few things from his initiative. Hopefully I can marry game-playing, outreach, and information literacy.
Views: 18
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Comment by Rowan Fairgrove on March 18, 2010 at 4:06pm
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As a fellow librarian I heartily endorse your desire to spread the ability to research!
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Comment by Thomas Pinkerton on March 18, 2010 at 4:29pm
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I was starting to wonder if I was the only one!
But yes, ever since I did my first bibliographic instruction session, and had to struggle to convince people that 45 minutes in a database was better than 4 hours on google... since then, I've decided that info. literacy was my biggest fight.
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Thank you for the comment.
Well, since I'm here, I think games are certainly a way to innovate for the future. (I actually found this site because I follow the TED talks, if you don't, I'll gladly plug them, because they are fantastic).
I think the reason I'm looking to games is because first, I'm a sim-gamer at heart. I've always loved them, and there are so many skills that you can pick up through a sim-game that make it so much more than just a pasttime. Think of teaching kids basic budgeting with a cheatcode-locked version of "The Sims"? It's a concept that's been in educational theory for decades, I found out: problem-based learning. Medical schools have been the best users of it -- you learn to solve patient problems early as pre-med. Business schools now use it as well, people running mock companies. Why not apply it across the board?
To teach research, librarians should be expert searchers themselves, but not lecturers. Actually show students what it means to fail in a search, since even I do regularly, then how to salvage that bad search. Show them how to use words within the results to expand a search. Information overload is so easy to fix, with just a few, simple tools. More games like this one -- ones that present problems that it takes vision and skills to solve -- those will be the best trainers for the next generation.
And you, as a technology-specialist, will be our best allies, I think. We've seen an explosion of realism in physics engines and graphics. AI is catching up, with things like L4D's Director AI. If we can create real problem-solving scenario games that can take into account many real-world factors, I think that's a real future of gaming: a permanent spot in the classroom.
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Comment by Jen Shaffer on March 21, 2010 at 5:45pm
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Information access is so important. If you can figure out how to get research skills into a game, I will promote it in the university cla**** I teach.
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Comment by Shakwei Mbindyo on March 21, 2010 at 6:14pm
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Hey Agent Pinkerton - really appropriate name for an agent :). Great blog and proof that social innovation does not have to come from the usual suspects. I posted somthing on Cliff Schmidt who is implementing a totally simple, totally innovative literacy program in Ghana.
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Comment by PJE on March 25, 2010 at 4:36pm
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Research skills into a game? Isn't that happening here? An example on Murray Sterley's blog he put up an interesting video about burning salt water and other people checked out how good the information was and come back with more information around the topic etc.
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You're right. I'm seeing mroe and more people come in with some good, sound research as they discuss ideas. I had forgotten that when a game like this is started, it begins with much more soft, testing-the-water discussion, then moves onto robust exchanging of ideas. When this was posted, I hadn't seen all that much real research -- and in a week that has changed dramatically.
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