Spring Break
The Daily OrangeProfessor receives grant to bring gaming to libraries, other campuses
By Michael Jiang
Posted: 2/11/08, 11:09 PM EST Section: News
The Library Game Lab project will occur in three main phases, depending on the availability of outside funding. Nicholson has been working on the first phase of the project for the past year, working with students to survey libraries and how they view gaming.
"We have learned that at least seven out of 10 public libraries support gaming in some way," Nicholson said.
The project's current phase, to create a portable library game lab, will be followed by the next phase, to increase awareness about the project.
"With this project, I will travel to library conferences and expose librarians to the spectrum of games, talk about what types of games are best for certain demographic groups with libraries and collect more data about what is happening," Nicholson said.
The third and final phase of the project will be to set up research projects, which will explore how the different types of games relate to different types of people.
"This will be the ongoing life of the lab - to analyze new games and game types, to recommend the best games for different goals and demographic groups and to work with industry to help them create gaming experiences more suited for a library/school setting," Nicholson said.
Nicholson said as soon as he is able to secure more funding to build the program, he hopes to start aggressively drawing in students to help with the project. So far he has relied heavily on volunteers to help with research and promoting the program. In addition, Nicholson is teaching a graduate-level iSchool class in May on gaming in libraries, and it has already received considerable student interest.
There has been both support and criticism from the Syracuse community at large regarding the Library Game Lab, but Nicholson said the key is getting people to understand that this is not about "first person shooters," but rather about "understanding how gaming works as a service and how libraries and schools can be engaged."
The first trip with the portable Library Game Lab will occur later this month. Depending on the amount of funding Nicholson is able to receive, he said he hopes to be able to develop and expand the project in the coming months.
myjiang@syr.edu
"We have learned that at least seven out of 10 public libraries support gaming in some way," Nicholson said.
The project's current phase, to create a portable library game lab, will be followed by the next phase, to increase awareness about the project.
"With this project, I will travel to library conferences and expose librarians to the spectrum of games, talk about what types of games are best for certain demographic groups with libraries and collect more data about what is happening," Nicholson said.
The third and final phase of the project will be to set up research projects, which will explore how the different types of games relate to different types of people.
"This will be the ongoing life of the lab - to analyze new games and game types, to recommend the best games for different goals and demographic groups and to work with industry to help them create gaming experiences more suited for a library/school setting," Nicholson said.
Nicholson said as soon as he is able to secure more funding to build the program, he hopes to start aggressively drawing in students to help with the project. So far he has relied heavily on volunteers to help with research and promoting the program. In addition, Nicholson is teaching a graduate-level iSchool class in May on gaming in libraries, and it has already received considerable student interest.
There has been both support and criticism from the Syracuse community at large regarding the Library Game Lab, but Nicholson said the key is getting people to understand that this is not about "first person shooters," but rather about "understanding how gaming works as a service and how libraries and schools can be engaged."
The first trip with the portable Library Game Lab will occur later this month. Depending on the amount of funding Nicholson is able to receive, he said he hopes to be able to develop and expand the project in the coming months.
myjiang@syr.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jack Roberts
posted 2/13/08 @ 1:39 PM EST
It's really refreshing to see libraries reaching out to the general public in new ways. The commercial world has to constantly update it's practices e. (Continued…)
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