ARGs in Education

We got some coverage in NMA late 2007.

Happy New Year to all. This year is MA dissertation year, so I will be ARGing it up in 2008. I’m guessing you all got the Argnet email about new/restarting games, but if not, you can see it here.

I’m also still mulling over ideas for a Tate Kids ARG in the Jamie Kane-vein and hoping our friends at BT will sponsor us, so if anyone has any thoughts on this, get in touch.

Also, Mind Candy have released their Beta of Moshi Monsters which is shaping up well, methinks, and we’ll be thinking of ways we can work together this year. All very exciting.

I’ve been invited to speak at the Media Network conference at St Hilda’s college in Oxford in a session about educational writing. Saturday 12th April 2008. Details sketchy at the moment, but once I know more, I’ll be back.

These games are hilarious - viral marketeers take note!

Check this out, friends. This was the not-for-profit game Adrian was cryptically talking about when he emailed me all those months ago. If you are simply too lazy to click the link, basically it’s a competition to create a game that helps the work of Cancer Research. If you win, you get funding to design your game and Hon et al will support you.

 How freaking wicked is this - arrgh, simply too cool.

 Who wants to help me come up with an idea…I will obviously share the kudos - and I need a team of three people…

My course buddy (and sometime colleague) Sai very helpfully sent me the link this article today from Futurelab about the potential of ARGs in an educational context. How very apt, I here you all cry. I concur. Especially as I have firmly decided to do it for my dissertation. Actually, its not a dissertation any more, it’s a report of between 9,000 - 10,000 words. In case you are interested this academic year I’m also doing Children’s Media Culture and Learning in Galleries: Engaging with Visual Culture.  Should be a good way to end the MA methinks.

This is the National Curriculum frame work for Art and Design at KS1 and KS2. To be used when thinking of topics for activities for TK

For future reference:

“Kids aspire to be older than they are at whatever age because, early in life, they recognize their position on the lower rungs of the social ladder. Hence retailers, like Borders, design spaces that encode both aspiration to older, more autonomous identities and distance from younger, undesirable selves. Any savvy package designer knows that a child’s product, if it is to have any chance on the market, must appear to appeal to the age group just older than the intended end-user. Something intended for a six-year-old boy will probably not do well if a six-year-old is pictured on it—better an eight-year-old.”

Source

Yeah that is so true - I was reading Just 17 when I was 11 and was reading 19 at 13.

BBC has relaunched its online Children’s offering - to some pretty negative comments from the kids, who are saying its too green (trying to hard to be gender-neutral), the logo is a wack (one commenter asked if it was responsible for the BBC to have a graffit tag-esque logo - i don’t see the graffiti ness myself, but it’s a valid and intelligent point) and its generally too busy - the users can’t find the content they like, and the fact you can click some of the wallpaper elements is too much.

Although I know people tend to hate change, I have to agree, and I think there is a danger of bombarding children with interactivity when it’s not totally necessary as it assumed their attention spans are so short they need to have things flashing and moving in all directions to keep them entertained. I was also very impressed by some of their comments - children aren’t stupid (but yeah they are precocious - The question asked was: Have you seen the brand new CBBC website? What do you think of the homepage? Do you like the new logo? What hidden items have you found? Have you tried clicking on the background images? [That's really covert, btw BBC])

“well ovbiously i have seen the new cbbc site, i would’ve had too, to even get to the message board. The homepage is cool, but there is way less buttons and too much flashy stuff and its harder to find things then on the old website. As to your question ‘Do you like the new logo?’ yes i do, its very nice, probably one of the best things out of everything. Also the background pictures are alright, but quickly get boring and unintresting and what are the coins for. CBBC needs to have a rethink about the site, keep everything the same but make it easier to find things. I hope my message gave you something to think about and hopefully it caused a bit of contreversy. (By the way i’m 12)”

…for not being clear/posting for so long. The reason has been trifold.

1) I got a new job. An amazing new job, at Tate. Yes Tate Tate. From September 24th I’m going to be the Editor of Tate Kids. You know what that means people…yes ARG time, bitches. As part of the interview, I had to put together a proposal of what I would do to the site (as I have to revamp it completely - see the job description) and of course, an ARG was an idea mooted. Think - galleries are great places to hide clues and be great fun for kids (6-12) to go tearing round them, pissing off stuffy types. I can’t go into to much detail on the ideas, because I don’t want other galleries ripping it off, but I think I could tie it into an event they do called Secret Tate. Loves it. Would probably make the game very short - just lasting an afternoon, and we would provide all the technology - possibly PDAs. God. I’ve said too much, haven’t I? I can see it being a distant relative of Hotrocket’s CIE. Sort of.

Anyway, the plan is to ‘Web 2.0′ the whole site, so keep checking it please. Actually don’t worry, as I will no doubt be posting all details here. So yes, I couldn’t go public with the news, EdComs forbade (is that a word?) me. Embargo lifted, mofos.

2) From the previous post, you can see I went to the Mind Candy offices. Whoop. How privelliged am I? Basically Michael Smith had been reading this very blog (!), and was thinking of ways I could possible get involved with their work. I was beyond flattered - to the point to of puking actually. I was the archetypal dickhead hammy fan, but it rocked. Spookily I had the Tate interview just an hour before I met them, so I felt properly in demand. Thanks for your time MC - I’ll be back.

3) This blog was created as part of a my MA, and I am now no longer obligated to maintain it. However - I love it too much to ditch, it rocks.

 So yeah, a new chapter all, and a real chance to get this ARG made.