June 2009 Archives

There was a time not too long ago when, as a presenter, looking out on an audience and seeing this would have lead to the emotional equivalent of being hit in the face of a rotten tomato. 
Thankfully (or perhaps not so thankfully, depending on your view of human social evolution) seeing a crowd full of faces illuminated by the radioactive glow of their laptops or smart phones is no longer the symbol of disrespect that it once was.  It can be, in many cases, the new look of engagement, which I've discussed in this blog before.

Today, open laptops, prevalent wireless internet access, and highly functional smart phones have ushered in the era of the backchannel and increased the level of engagement and interaction at conferences by magnitudes inconceivable just a few years ago.  The speaker is now only part of the experience.  (For those not familiar with the term, back channel communication refers to the practice of using social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Ning, etc to communicate/ discuss the happenings of some event "behind the scenes", often in real time).  Hashtags (for aggregating social media contributions from conference participants) have become even more prevalent than printed conference guides. And from my own personal experience, I can say that the back channel has really added a welcome depth and connectedness my conference going experience over the past few years.

How conferences and individual presenters choose to embrace (or not) this phenomenon is widely varied. Some people pretend that there is no backchannel, and that people connecting with each other is a fad.  Thankfully I don't attend such conferences or associate with such individuals =)  Some will post a hashtag during a conference kickoff then stand back and let things ride.  Some will integrate backchannel artifacts such as tweets or fickr images into their conference websites, or bring the "back" to the "front" and address back channel conversations during presentations or Q&A sessions.  But at this years GLS conference, I happened across a use of the backchannel that I've never seen before - a game. 

The game was called "BackChatter" and it was put together by several GLS participants - Mike Edwards, Colleen Macklin, John Sharp, and Eric Zimmerman.  How does it work?  The full explanation can be found on the game's site but essentially it goes a little something like this.

• You try and guess which word will be tweeted most during a particular conference session block. 
  
• You can pick up to 3 words per session block, which are submitted by direct messaging the bcgame twitter account.
• You earn points based on the word frequency (more points for more uses) and based on the number of other people who picked that word as well (less points for each person that picked it).  So basically you are trying to guess what words will be frequently used that no one else will pick.  
• The top words are selected by pulling together every tweet with a particular hashtag (in the case of the Games Learning and Society conference, the tags were #GLS or #GLS09
• The person with the most points at the end of the conference or at the end of each session block wins (t shirts and a copy of Spore were the prizes).

Basically, BackChattter is a modified version of the board game Scattergories, where the categories (and the clues) are the conference sessions themselves. 

I didnt actually participate in BackChatter but I was a big fan of the idea for a few reasons.  First of all, it was a game and turning things into games = awesomesauce.  Secondly, it was a very non intrusive, and more importantly fun way to draw people into participating in the conference Twitter stream who might not have participated otherwise.  You didnt necessarily need to live-tweet the conference yourself, but you did need to pay attention to the people who were as well as the entire range of available sessions beyond those that you may personally have attended if you wanted the best chance of winning.  Third, there were very few barriers to entry.  As a bit of a hardcore gamer myself, I don't always like that, but in the case of a conference game its important to set the bar at a point where as many people as possible could participate.  BackChatter hit that mark beautifully.  The only things you needed were a Twitter account and a device that could let you send your picks.  The game mechanics themselves were easy to pick up.  The time commitment or pre-existing knowledge required to play was negligible.  There were no complicated controls to master or skills required to succeed.  And because prizes were awarded for the winner of every session block, you could even play if you missed some of the conference.

But the party doesnt end with the BackChatter game.

One of the game's developers, Mike Edwards, took the time to do some analysis of all the Twitter data that was being compiled for the game and he did some trend spotting of his own and even put together a pretty slick sociogram of twitter based connectedness (you can click the image for a bigger version if you really want to see how sweet I am ;-)

 
Obviously you can expect that to a certain degree, a crowd of folks dedicated to the exploration of educational gaming might be pretty open minded their willingness to embrace and promote phenomena like back channel communication, but I was impressed with the thoughtful integration that BackChatter had with the conversation, and the dedication of the GLS organizers to promote and share the goings on of what lie behind the curtain.  It might not have been the most progressive use of backchannel communication at a conference I've ever seen (we've got quite a few all stars in my own office) but it was certainly up there and I applaud the effort of everyone who made it happen.

Now the question becomes, when will BackChatter be available for every conference?   
 




Image from http://www.bech.uni-c.dk/tnc2006/wednesday; Graph from http://onearmedman.com/research/glstweets

I'm still only a few days removed from the 2009 Games, Learning and Society conference - just enough time to begin reflecting, though not enough time to fully make sense of it all yet.  Be that as it may, I wanted to take a few minutes and at least recap some of the sessions/ ideas that were explored during my stay in Madison.  There are some bigger thoughts brewing as well, but they may still require a few more days of ripening before they are ready to pick off the vine.  So I'll try and keep this somewhat brief (or at least bite sized).  Stay tuned for slightly more reflective post or two. Now for some general thoughts/ recaps.  Stay tuned for more posts to come.

Augmented Reality
ARG/ Moble gaming experiences were well represented at this year's GLS.  Arizona State's SMALLab (video below) was a cool example of a game based non traditional learning space.  Who needs a Microsoft Surface when you can have an entire room?  The presenters, who I did not have a chance to speak to personally, stressed that it was a relatively low cost solution - but the specifics of that cost as well as the development demands associated with building for it were not covered in detail. 

SMALLab @ Arizona State University - 2009 from aisling kelliher on Vimeo.

Two other interesting examples were Re:Activism (a game out of Parsons' PETLab, which incorporates SMS and Amazing Race style challenges to  get people to visit the site of famous activist moments in Manhattan) and Mentira (a reality game out of the University of New Mexico, which used location aware mobile devices to encourage students to solve a mystery, while interacting with members of the locale community and learning Spanish in the city of Albuquerque).

Wheres the (Commercial Gaming) Beef?
Admittedly I'm biased since this is an area of particular interest to me, but I was a bit disappointed by the lack of sessions that dealt with the use of commercial games for educational purposes.  Or perhaps, more specifically, commercial games that are not titled "World of Warcraft".  I absolutely love the work that so many groups and institutions are doing with regard to custom built games.  But in many cases, these games are created to suit the needs of a specific demographic, often at the cost of substantial time or financial resources.  Some of these solutions are looking to position themselves as a platform upon which other educators can eventually build and add additional content.  Some, but not all.  The result was several, very interesting, extremely well thought out games ideas that can't really be applied outside of the context in which they were developed.

Bringing ideas back home to apply in your own way is a huge part of the conference experience and I most certainly don't attend GLS just to survey the tools that I can use. But it feels like a missed opportunity not to discuss the $60 off the shelf title that any teacher could purchase, for the x year, x hundred thousand dollar project that only a handful of institutions or groups could replicate. 

And , though I was excited about many of the games on display, I would be lying if I told you that my Stubby sense doesnt start to tingle when I hear educators talk about game design.  I say that being an educational game designer =)  I'm just saying.
 

The Reflecting Pool
One thing that really excited me to see was the degree to which teachers were using games as a means to inspire discussion and reflection.  Games are the means to a separate ends, and its fantastic to see so many educators understanding that.  I was particularly impressed with the Mission America team, who have built an RPG like experience with multiple decision points, meaning that two students might experience the game (and the events it portrays) from two totally different perspectives depending on their decisions.  Students are then brought together and given the opportunity to learn from each other. 

The idea that games must be paired with reflection and discussion is not a new one, but its often an under-appreciated principle, and it was good to see it out in full force at GLS.


Pecha What?
Pecha Kutcha, a micro presentation format which allows a presenter 20 slides (or images), which can be displayed for 20 seconds each (timed), was on display at GLS.  Its a wonderful, socially considerate way to shut down the long talkers, who seem to be multiplying in the age of the endless powerpoint presentation.

An interesting take on the lightning talk that, as you can probably imagine, has both strengths and weakness.  I happened to experience a well planned presentation.  But I could also see how it could quickly spiral into a rushed, panicked disaster in the hands of the wrong presenter.


The Remix
One of the more interesting concepts to come out of GLS (though I hesitate to call it a game) was on display with Young American Heroes - a history experienced designed to help students build empathy with famous characters or human moments from America's past.  Dramatized historical clips are used to set the scene for key historical moments, then paused during key cliffhanger moments.  Students must then consult primary stories in order to finish the story, by building out a graphic novel scene.  When finished, they compare their comic interpretation to how the actual scene turned out.

As I said, not exactly a game, but still a pretty slick way to get students engaging content.


Contrary To Popular Belief
Lawrence Kutner, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games, gave an excellent closing keynote which touched our America's history of trying to ban and condemn new media which it perceived as potentially detrimental to the public good (to the point of absurdity).  He also, as one would expect, shared the findings explained in his book - namely that the effects of video game violence are more a product of the political/ media hype machine than real science.  And Kutner should know - he's done the research (with more than 1200 kids) and serves as director of Harvard Medical School's Center for Mental Health and Media.

Kutner's keynote was as clearly articulated as his book - which I highly recommend to anyone concerned with violent video games and children.  There are a few risks - but they probably arent the ones you think.  Kutner also offered up the quotes of the conference. "People never let data interfere with their preconceived notions" and "What we hear depends on what we're listening for".





Sessions Attended

• Embodying, Designing, and Learning Multimodally with SMALLab
• In Retrospect: Outcomes of Cosmos Chaos
• The Best of Both Worlds? Design Challenges for Developing Playable Historical Games for Classroom Learning
• Re:Activism NYC: Urban Interactions and Learning
  

• Designing Ethical Dilemmas
• Following Basic Directions In the Land of Destructible Delights: Learning and Exploration Patterns in the Virtual World
• Funeral Games: Ethics, Immersion, and Culture in MMO Games
• Need or Greed: An Analysis of Ethical Issues Across In Game and Out of Game Contexts
• Happiness if Mandatory: Emergent Ethics in Massive Online Environments
  

• Soft Modding

• Against Education: Understanding the New Culture of Learning

• Games (Through) Theories of Language, Learning, and Mediated Social Practice
• Reading Performance and Literacy Practice in the Context of MMO Games
• It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Developing Place-Based, Augmented Reality Games for Language Learning
  

• Mobile Games and Education: Current Projects and State of the Practice

• For the Lulz: How 9000 Internet Jackasses Took on the Church of Scientology and Redefined the Politics of Play

• History Games Go to School: Research Insights From the American History and Civics Initiative

• Grand Theft Childhood? Making Sense of Teenagers's Responses to Violent Videogames

Last weekend, Jenn and I found ourselves at the wedding of a high school buddy of mine.  Amidst the many conversations with quite a few old friends (as well as some new ones), we mentioned that we would each be headed off to conferences this week. 

"Where are you guys headed?, one of my friends asked.

"Las Vegas!" Jenn said with a smile.

"Madison, Wisconsin," I added.

"Well I think we know who got the short end of that stick", another friend chimed in.  We all had a good laugh.  Though as I thought about what awaited me in Madison, I felt a little bad.  Jenn sure did get the raw deal =)

Because come tomorrow, I'm on my way back to the Games, Learning, and Society - a conference that was, without question, a 2008 Stub highlight and the most inspiring, thought provoking, and rewarding conference I've ever attended.  This years lineup looks even better than last, even after you subtract points for them giving me a chance to speak ;-)  Last year power/ wireless problems limited my level of live blogging/ tweeting, but hopefully a new venue (not to mention an iPhone) will give me an opportunity to up the ante a bit. 

Hope you're ready to hear what an inspired Stub sounds like, because its go time ladies and gents.  Stay tuned to the blog or the twitter stream for updates/ incredible amounts of spam.  Game on!