The document discusses using videogames in libraries as learning tools. It notes that gamers come from all age groups and that games can promote learning by encouraging experimentation, collaboration, problem-solving skills, and seeing the world as a designed system. The document argues that libraries should embrace gaming literacies and adopt principles from good games, such as opportunities for failure and design thinking, to promote learning.

1. Videogames at the Library?!
Using Games as Learning Tools
Alice J. Robison, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
alicerobison.org
ajr@mit.edu
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 1

2. photo of Eli Neiburger via Jenny Levine
How many of you are gamers?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 2

3. Define “Gamer”
• 90 million gamers up to age 35
• 77 million baby boomers--retirees largest growing
segment of gamers
• 2003 Pew Internet study of college student
gamers--70% play once in a while, 65% play
regularly
• Average gamer age is 31-33
the entertainment software association; pew internet & american life project
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 3

4. Games are
Changing
Music & Rhythm
Movement-Based (Wii)
Casual Games (Flash-based)
Sports Games (best-sellers)
Strategy Games (chess?)
Literature-themed (narratives)
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5. Where do Gamers Play?
• Home
• Hospitals
• School
• Online
• Offline
• Libraries!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 5

6. More than half of all
American teens--and 57% of
teens who could use the
internet--could be
considered media creators.
22% have their own homepages
55% protect their personal information online
33% share what they create online with others
32% report they’ve
85% use Facebook
experienced if available on their campus
“cyberbullying”
19% blog and 19% remix content they find online
55% use online social networking regularly
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6

7. Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7

8. This isn’t Just About Technology
technical stuff: we can now use cool stuff to do the
same kinds of things we have previously known; a
“physical-industrial” mindset--individualized,
enclosed, product-centered, hierarchical
ethos stuff: co-existence of physical space and
cyberspace; a “cyberspatial, post-industrial”
mindset--collective, distributed, decentered, process-
focused, change-based
Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; Jenkins, et. al, 2006
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 8

9. Good Games Can Be
Good for Learning
• Gamers see themselves as heroes on quests; series of ever-increasing
puzzles and problems
• They work toward an end-goal, a quantifiable outcome (school-like)
• They are willing to experiment and keep trying, to fix things, take
risks, failure is part of the objective
• They learn to see the world as a designed space, as a series of
systems
• They are willing to seek expertise and ask for help--also willing to
share expertise, tutor others
• Collaboration is crucial with both problem-solving and execution
• Thrive at fast decision-making and know how to prioritize
• Are good at multitasking and continuous partial attention
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 9

10. What Do Gamers Learn?
• See themselves as heroes
on a quest, identify with
protagonists
• Experimental identities,
strategies, solutions (guitar
player, drummer)
• Low-risk testing of living
in an immersive space,
role-playing (a bee in a
bee’s world)
flickr.com/photos/foreverdigital
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10

11. What Do Gamers Learn?
• Real-time, immediate
assessment and visual
feedback
• They work toward an end-
goal, a quantifiable
outcome (school-like)
• They are willing to
experiment and keep
trying, to fix things, take
risks, failure is part of the
flickr.com/photos/conexaogamer
objective
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 11

12. What Do Gamers Learn?
• They learn to see
the world as a
designed space, as
a series of systems
• Can synthesize
both macro- and
micro-data in order
for quick analysis
• Are good at
multitasking and
continuous partial
attention
Phase by Harmonix Studios, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 12

13. What Do Gamers Learn?
• They are willing to seek
expertise and ask for help--
also willing to share expertise,
tutor others (forums, boards)
• Collaboration is crucial with
both problem-solving and
execution (guilds)
• Thrive at fast decision-
making and know how to
prioritize in order to work
collectively toward a goal.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 13

14. What Do Gamers Learn?
Collaborative gameplay as
a designed objective:
• collective intelligence
• building networks of
trust
• ad-hoc committees,
cooperation
• synthesis of ideas
photo: josh bancroft via flickr.com
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 14

15. Good Games Can Be
Good for Learning
• Gamers see themselves as heroes on quests; series of ever-increasing
puzzles and problems
• They work toward an end-goal, a quantifiable outcome (school-like)
• They are willing to experiment and keep trying, to fix things, take
risks, failure is part of the objective
• They learn to see the world as a designed space, as a series of
systems
• They are willing to seek expertise and ask for help--also willing to
share expertise, tutor others
• Collaboration is crucial with both problem-solving and execution
• Thrive at fast decision-making and know how to prioritize
• Are good at multitasking and continuous partial attention
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 15

16. information
literacy->
gaming literacy
identity play
affiliations
affinity spaces
collaborative problem-solving
circulating information & data
surfing with others
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 16

17. What do we mean by “literacies?”
encoded texts that can be retrieved, worked
with, and made available independent of
the physical presence of another person
(Lankshear & Knobel, 2006 - newliteracies.com)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 17

18. What do we mean by “new literacies?”
blogging, fanfic writing, manga-producing,
meme-ing, photoshopping, podcasting,
vodcasting, gaming, html-ing
(Lankshear & Knobel, 2006 - newliteracies.com)
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19. newest gamer cultures
http://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel negatendo.net
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 19

20. online social
networks
xkcd.com
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 20

21. alternate reality games
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 21

22. passive gaming
PMOG “adds an element
of score-keeping, gentle
competition, cooperation
and self-reflection
through scorekeeping
and game dynamics
added to web-
browsing” (Justin Hall, 2007)
It opens our eyes to what
the web really holds, to
expand our grasp of
meaning-making
experiences with the web
pmog.com
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 22

23. Diner Dash, gamelab.com/game/diner_dash
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 23

24. “Gamers...in the Library?”
--Eli Neiburger
“WHY?! For the love of dear old Melville
Dewey, why would we take our hallowed
houses of learning and sully them with these
vile, prurient, mind-rotting entertainments?
Well, it’s a fair question, so long as you
remember that they were saying exactly the
same thing about Pride and Prejudice not that
long ago. Minus the Dewey part, of course.”
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 24

25. “Gamers...in the Library?”
--Eli Neiburger
“We’ve also learned that content is not just
about text, and that media doesn’t have to be
socially redeeming, or even any good, for our
patrons to want to consume it....
...If we were supposed to restrict ourselves to
offering materials with purely redeeming
social qualities and educational value, we’d
have to throw out half the collection.”
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 25

26. Gaming Literacy Ethos
• Kodak Picture Gallery --> • stickiness--> syndication
Flickr • demographics--> identity
• Britannica Online --> play
Wikipedia • developer-written-->
• personal websites --> players co-writing
blogging • individual competencies
• evite -->upcoming.org --> collaborative questing
• publishing--> • value dependent on
participation scarcity of products-->
• content management value dependent on
systems --> wikis behavior choices
• directories (taxonomy)--> • surfing alone--> surfing
tagging (quot;folksonomyquot;) with others
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 26

27. What Does it Mean if...
• Gaming is the new golf?
• You’re not making connections in WoW, etc., or you
have no reference for it?
• You don’t know how to visualize data, problem-
solve with others, know how to think with systems
• You don’t know how to interact online and socialize
in games, virtual worlds, or interactive sites?
• You don’t know how to present yourself online?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 27

28. Adopt the Ethos of
Gaming Literacies
Use design principles of good games
• Low-risk opportunities for failure
• Encourage design-system thinking
• Reappropriate, circulate, visualize data
• Legitimate peripheral participation
• Don’t erase judgment, ethical decision-making
• Problem-based learning
• Information literacy
• Go outside the game: transmedia, fan cultures
• Identity play
• Affinity spaces
PLAY GAMES--failure is part of the game, remember?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 28

29. References, Further Reading
• “Meet the Gamers” -- Squire & Steinkuehler,
Libraryjournal.com, 2005
• Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services-- Jenny
Levine, ALA (theshiftedlibrarian.com)
• Henry Jenkins’ ALA Keynote (TechSource, Gaming,
Learning, and Libraries Symposium), 2007
• What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and
Literacy-- James Paul Gee (2003)
• Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping
Business Forever-- Beck & Wade (2005)
• How Computer Games Help Children Learn-- David
Williamson Shaffer (2006)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 29

30. References, Further Reading
• http://del.icio.us/ajrobison/calc08
• Bibliographic Gaming-- bibliogaming.blogspot.com
• Game On: Games in Libraries--
libgaming.blogspot.com
• Pop Goes the Library--popgoesthelibrary.com
• http://www.eye4youalliance.youthtech.info/
• Global Kids Digital Media Initiative (NYC)--
holymeatballs.org
• Project New Media Literacies (MIT): projectnml.org
• Goodplay Project (Harvard): goodworkproject.org/
research/digital.htm
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 30

31. Videogames at the Library?!
Using Games as Learning Tools
Alice J. Robison, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
alicerobison.org
ajr@mit.edu
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 31