Educational Game Technology Try Out

The South Carolina State Library has recently purchased a selection of educational game technology that may be loaned to South Carolina public libraries. This is a great opportunity to get your “feet wet” before purchasing gaming equipment for your library. Below is a list of the games and the consoles (updated 11/6/07):

Equipment & Software:

PlayStation 2 with controller with two guitars for PS2 Guitar Hero with Guitar Hero game. (Suitable for tournaments) Guitar Hero Kit

• PlayStation 2 with controller Two Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) Pads with DDR Supervnova game (Suitable for tournaments).DDR Kit
• Tony Hawk’s Underground Game (Suitable for tournaments with additional controllers for larger group, 1 controller for smaller group.) Request PlayStation 2 separately. Tony Hawk Game
• One Nintendo Wii comes with Wii Sports Game with Call of Duty 3 (suitable for tournaments) and Big Brain Academy (suitable for tournaments or individuals). Wii Kit
• Three Nintendo DS Lite (bundled together for loan) with MarioKart DS, yoshi’s Island DS and Big Brain Academy DS games (individual play only). Nintendo DS Lite KitEach bullet indicates a kit that may be borrowed. We are suggesting that that items go out for no longer than two weeks, but that is dependent on demand.

To borrow these items, contact Deborah Hotchkiss, Library Development Consultant at dhotchkiss@statelibrary.sc.gov or 803-734-8646.

Searching for Program Ideas?

The Gaming Zone is designed for people who want to come to gaming programs at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg Counties. In addition to highlighting programs at ImaginOn, there are a number of gaming nights hosted by branch libraries in the system.

List of libraries providing gaming programs around the US with contact names comes from Library Success – A Best Practices Wiki.

Go also to Game On: Games in Libraries! Game On strives to keep librarians up to date on gaming with convenient one-stop shopping for all your gaming news and information.

Outagamie Waupaca Library System has a list of additional sites on education game programming and collection development for teens.

Best Book on Educational Gaming Programs in Public Libraries. Even if you are just thinking about teen programming for your library and believe that gaming will be part of your future, you need this book!!

Gamers … in the Library?! The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages. Eli Neiburger. American Library Association, 2007. Cost $42 / ALA members $37 and available at SC State Library for loan.

Need Research on Gaming Technology & Education go here! and here!

 

 

No more Harry Potter….now what?

I finished Harry Potter last night. (Don’t worry…you won’t get any spoilers out of me.) So the question is…if JK Rowling doesn’t write more HP books, where will I satisfy my craving for new spells, Quidditch, Harry’s burning scar, and bickering between Hermione and Ron? How about over at LiveJournal?

I had the good fortune to attend the TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium a couple of weeks ago. Great conference! (You’ll be hearing more about it in future blog posts.) One session I attended was We’re in Ur Library Bein’ Ur Books: Making and Using Book-Based RPG’s with Middle Schoolers. RPG’s are role playing games, and in this case, I’m talking about a role-playing game, using LiveJournal, a popular blogging site, where players write in the voices of book characters.  I did a keyword search of LiveJournal and found about 30 active Harry Potter RPG’s.

What a fascinating idea! How many times have you sat down with a book and imagined the story that isn’t written on the pages in your hand? I feel that way all the time, especially with a series like Harry Potter, where there are so many interesting characters that go somewhat undeveloped. Think of the great play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, the story of two minor characters from Hamlet.

Why not try something like this for a library program? I think it would be great for kids and teens, but my bet is that you’d get interest from adults too.

Kit Ward-Crixell, the speaker at the symposium session gave these tips for setting a program:

• Set up a LiveJournal account for the game (or some other environment, like Ning or Yahoo Groups, where you can easily create a community)
• Create the community, with settings and backstory, and rules
  • Some rules to start:
    • Only write for your own character
    • No posts that involve other characters without that character’s permission
    • No killing off characters that aren’t yours
• Establish a “rating range” for posts—G, PG, PG-13?
• Establish a time period. How long will the game run? Don’t let it go on indefinitely.
• The moderator should make the first post and set up everything for the other players
• Players do introduction posts to start, laying out there characters
• Moderator decides how much to control the plot
• Create another community that is the “backstage” area where only members can post and read other posts. Players can use this area to share ideas without interfering with the storyline.

If you’re concerned about copyright, start with a folk tale and its characters or perhaps use historical figures in fictional situations.  The point is to get your players to be creative, to write and to read other writing.  In order to participate successfully, they have to read the posts of the other players and be more than a little familiar with the original work that inspired the game.  Who knows, you may be able to foster the talent of the next JK Rowling.

 

TV on the Web

Television and the Internet are slowly creeping toward each other as these technologies merge.  Eventually you’ll be able to watch mainstream broadcast TV and Internet content on a single monitor.  While you’re waiting, there are some pretty cool bleed-over technologies to tune into:

 

Blip.tv  is a video sharing/social networking service that does YouTube one better.  Where YouTube collects single, simple video clips, Blip.tv videos are mini “ TV series.”  Anyone can create a show, post it, and advertise it to others through a “trailer.” You can search for shows by popular tags, and subscribe to favorite shows via an RSS-feed-like process. 

In a model more familiar to library audiences, “MyLibraryDV” offers existing TV programs as downloadable video for patrons to watch on a home computer.  This video-on-demand service from Recorded Books is in partnership with public libraries.  Here in South Carolina, Anderson County Public Library  is offering this service.  DVD-quality popular programs such as America’s Test Kitchen, Rick Steves’ Europe, Antiques Roadshow, and some feature-length films are offered.  Programming is somewhat limited – no prime time shows and few current movies are available – but it’s a start and may be of interest to your community.For either of these services, a broadband connection and a fast graphics processor are needed for optimum viewing at home.

Finally, just so you’ll be in the know about another video development that your patrons will be following:  “Machinima” animated films are made by taking graphic characters and elements from online games and virtual worlds, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, and creating story lines and video content around them.     Here’s an explanation of machinima.   Wikipedia also has a good article which includes a listing of current Machinima offerings.

 

“Current” soon becomes “yesterday” in this new world of video.  Catch on soon!

 

Create a Snowman!

If, like us, you are spending the last few days of 2006 frantically preparing for 2007, you will appreciate a little break. Here’s some holiday fun for snowless South Carolina, courtesy of the equally snow-free Orange County (Florida) public library.

Create a snowman here!

Take a look at the features on this library’s holiday web page that make it an interesting, fun place to visit as well as an information stop. Library programs, web links on holiday topics, and library resources are all mingled. Snowbound or sunbathed, libraries can offer it all on the web!

 

MySpace for Parents

Matt Gullett, blogging at Youth Tech, makes a great argument for providing MySpace classes for parents.  He also includes a link to the brochure he uses for the classes.  Don’t you love folks who share??  Check it out:  http://youthtech.wordpress.com/2006/10/15/myspace-for-parents-pt-2/

–Felicia