ARGs in Education

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.

An Introduction to ARGS is a simple presentation I put together for my employers, so it may be useful for the uninitiated. Comments, as always, welcomed.

Aleks Krotoski rocks. She used to present the show Bits about games, which although on late, was good stuff. Luckily got to see her at the Dana Centre last month when I went to thier web 2.0 event. Anyhows – she writes a games blog for the guardian and has a number of posts on ARGs. Coolness. I see she’s mentioned a company called Blast Theory, who make ARGs and are also based in Brighton. Awesome. Will check them out and keep you updated.

This thing here is amazing. 

My SL name is Morgana Foxley. Check me out:

I’ve recently joined Facebook, after being sent a link to see something funny someone had posted on it about three weeks ago.

Since, then I have been hooked. The pleasure is not *really* gained from presenting yourself, like MySpace or a blog, but rather getting in contact with old friends, and networking with other, like-minded people (in my case, people who enjoy Bear Grylls and Labyrinth) and letting the world know what you’re up to now, and in the future. I’ve noticed that there is an element of competition in getting friends – indeed, a colleague and I compare numbers every morning.

It is a very public way of communicating, and a function known as the wall displays public conversations, which left unchecked could cause problems, say for example, if a prospective employer want to find out more about you. I don’t know if this is an urban myth or not, but I know its something I would do, if I was in that position.

So, Facebook and educational resources…I’m not sure. It would be good to use some of the functionality in a controlled setting for a relevant subject, but using the software as it stands throws up issues of ownership and control. While it’s fun, I don’t think it would necessarily add any more value a blog would. It doesn’t mean it isn’t good fun, and doesn’t have a place in education at all. It would be quite interesting if each school had a site, but what would be different to a specialised VLE? Not much.

Subj: Thanx for joining the fanclub

 Hi Sharna,

Thanks for signing up to Jamierules Welcoming new members used to be the best part of running this site, but ever since Jamie’s death, it’s been…well, kinda depressing.

Sorry, what a dreadful start! I don’t mean to sound so glum – it’s actually really nice to have someone new on-board. A load of so-called fans have deserted the site over the last few weeks, so the messageboard is mostly down to a few regulars: Kal, Greta, Cochrane and me (Jess!).

You can check out the board at:

http://www.jamierules.co.uk/mb/index.html?iJi47D9vsXGzXifW4ym7iQ

When you’re done reading, click on the flashing ‘launch messenger’ button at the bottom of the page so we can have a chat (I always like to natter with newbies).

speak soon

Jess
xxxx

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the more of us that hold on to his memory, the stronger his light will burn
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A few things to note that are particulary target audience appropriate:

1) The spelling of Thanx in the subject heading
2) The use of the emoticon (which appeared as text in my email)
3) The frequency of kisses used to sign off
4) The ‘deep thinking’, cliched signature

I think this is an effective piece of communication, in that none of the techniques listed above have been overused, in the main, the content it is appropriate to the mode. When addressing teenagers, there could be an attempt to speak their language, by overusing text speak. That would smack too hard of desperation.

From a technical and organisational perspective, this intial communication appeared in my Spam folder of my email system. If ARGs are to be used in an educational context, perhaps dedicated email addresses should be set up for this purpose (does using a dedicated address negate the ‘real’?) or somehow ensure that all email address are in the address books of the participants. Conversely, perhaps the email going into the Spam folder is realistic, so could be just something the teacher/parent would have to manage in the learning environment, rather than the puppetmasters finding a technological solution during development.

The official Jamie Kane site works as a typical, record company designed fansite would.

Built in Flash, players can stream audio tracks and view artwork from three phases of JKs musical career- ‘boyband’, ‘boyband member goes solo (ie cheesy pop)’ and then ’serious-solo-artist-phase’.

The songs, while not to my taste, are professionally produced and the attention to detail and charaterisation is astounding. If you were to were to come across the site randomly, you would never guess it was part of a game, and that’s why it works -it is so slick,  the alternate reality is maintained. Also, buying the correct domains is imperative – if Jamie’s offical site stemmed from bbc.co.uk, its realness, would be instantly negated.

It again demonstrates the puppetmasters‘ through understanding of its intended audience, and their technological expectations. A basic HTML based site, would have shattered the illusion.

The only thing that is missing from a site of this ilk is a ‘contact us’ function, which is uncessary here – if players could contact the site, it would add another ludic layer that doesn’t really add anything to the overall game, and would result in lots of unnecessary behind-the-scenes work.