Gamification - Week 10

At the beginning of this week I was unaware of the extent of gamification within the library world, but after doing some research and reading a couple of articles I think that gamification definitely has its place within the library community. Gamification is defined as bringing elements of game design into a non-game context to help improve user experience. Ultimately I would like to work in an academic or public library and I can see the benefits of gamification in both settings.

Initially I was having a difficult time trying to relate gaming to a library environment. An article by Bohyun Kim discussed the applications of applying game dynamics to library services. An interesting point was made about creating a game that taps into people’s creativity and diligence. Games traditionally get harder as you progress to various levels. A person needs to utilise their creativity to pass these levels, but also use diligence to keep getting better. This article asserts that this type of interaction does not need to remain solely in the game world and can be transfered into the ‘real’ world, or even library environment.

Some brilliant suggestions are made in the article as to how to incorporate gaming within the library. While I wont state all the suggestions here, I will talk about one suggestion I found particularly interesting. With the rise of social media and libraries adapting their catalogues to incorporate social interaction with users ie. ratings, book reviews, etc. the idea of awarding ‘status points’ for posting something about the library to Facebook, or borrowing out a large number of books. Of course, the awarding of an essentially arbitrary points system is a form of extrinsic motivation which hopefully begin to trigger the intrinsic rewards of interest, peer acknowledgement and motivation, and pride. The idea of using status points is a small and simple way of adding gaming elements into the library setting to hopefully motivate users. Librarygame is a unique tool to help libraries modify their discovery interface and engage users. I'm looking forward to reading about other examples of gamification in libraries, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

Some personal apps I have used with elements of gamification are:

Duolingo - A free language learning tool (Manzana means apple in Spanish!)

Zombies Run! - I'm almost at 5k!

Cookie Clicker - I found this on Reddit. I don't understand the point of this game, but it definitely uses extrinsic motivation!

Mobile - Week 9

For the PLAY activity this week we were asked to create our own QR code and post it to our blog. A QR code is something like a barcode which allows mobile users to scan it and then receive information on their smart phone. The activity this week was my first experience with QR codes and I found it quite enjoyable!

Participating in this activity and previous activities (Instagram comes to mind) has made me come to realise how important smart phones have become in our world. I am a new smart phone user, it was actually starting my Masters that prompted me to update from my Nokia "brick" to Samsung Galaxy. One of the reasons I opted for Samsung over the iPhone was that it had a bigger screen which I find perfect for reading material on the go. I can check my emails, message my friends internationally, take a photo if I see something interesting, and call my family... all from one device. It's like having my own personal computer in my pocket.

I think the point of going mobile is to create more opportunities for yourself with a small gadget. When I found out that many librarians use Twitter as a form of keeping up with industry knowledge I was pleasantly surprised. I can keep up now too from my phone! I can't say enough about the benefits of my smart phone both in my personal and professional life. The only downside to having a phone constantly by my side is that... it is constantly by my side. I find myself checking my email or Facebook or Twitter absently when I am waiting for the train to Brisbane.

QR Code - Week 9

This week we were asked to play with QR codes! I have seen them around but never interacted with them, this week was the perfect opportunity to see how they worked.

If you have a QR scanner on your phone, see where my code takes you!

P.S. It's not that interesting... haha

Screencast-O-Matic - Week 8

Here is the video for Week 8 PLAY.

I enjoyed making this video, Screencast-O-matic was simple and easy to use. What a fun way to share information!

Instagram - Week 7

This week we were required to use Instagram for our PLAY activity. We were asked to post a photo for 7 days and add the hashtag #inn333

I used Statigram to search for our class hashtag when I was not using my phone. I have only posted some of my photos on this blog, the rest of my photos can be viewed, along with the rest of the class photos, on Statigram.



I enjoyed this activity because it allowed me to take advantage of a program that I had installed on my phone, but forgot about. I believe Instagram to be a useful tool for connecting with friends and complete strangers. I like seeing what interests other people and how they choose to portray that interest.



I will definitely be using Instagram in the future.



(Tenby didn't feature on the #inn333 page, but he looks so cute I can't resist putting him up here!)

Creative Commons - Week 7

This week's play and reflect activities required us to explore Creative Commons. Creative Commons exists to “skip the intermediaries” when it comes to Copyright. As soon as something is created, whether it be a piece of writing, a photograph, or a piece of music, the owner automatically has copyright of the material. Creative commons aims to break the boundaries of copyright and allow users to decide whether or not they want their material to be used by the public. Users can do this by creating a license on the Creative Commons website, they do this simply by answering a number of questions as to which rights they want to keep for themselves and which rights they want to waive for public use. Their website can be found HERE.

I like the concept of open collaboration for materials online however, it seems a little too idealistic for me. If I licensed the content I produced under creative commons I would still like to be acknowledged as the owner of the material, I would not be comfortable reserving only some of my rights as the producer of the content. What if the newly produced work became famous and made a lot of money? What if by some chance I had neglected to stipulate my rights in that regard? The legal battles that ensue would diminish the initial idea of collaboration. Copyright, at least, is fairly black and white.

For this week's PLAY activity we were required to post photos to Instagram. I enjoyed the process and will continue using Instagram in my daily life. It helps create and preserve memories, I can take a picture of something small and send it to friends across the world and it only takes a minute. I love photo sharing, a picture is sometimes worth a thousand words!

For more information on the implications Creative Commons has for libraries, please look at a link I found from the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) Conference in Gothenburg, 2010. HERE.