First post - Scoping an academically-based plan for gaming and gamification in libraries. Bonus storytime.

I am sitting down to write this in the middle of a crowded library. I have music going through headphones, because for a library, it's fairly noisy; people are chatting away and laughing with each other. The librarians are pottering about, as much stacking books on shelves as they are helping out my fellow students with the printers and self-serve kiosks. There's nary a 'shhhh' to be heard, and you know what?

I like it like this.

The changing technological landscape has become more advanced and pervasive ever since the Gutenberg managed to figure out his printing press. In a lot of ways, libraries have managed to keep up with this, and even lead the way in a lot of things. These organizations have changed over the last few decades into something entirely different to the stuffy old book despositories that they were in times long gone; now they're vibrant community hubs, offering so much more than just a place to get a good book.

I wonder though - could we be doing more?

It hasn't all been trailblazing and mobility for libraries though - quite the contrary. Along with problems with how to redesign metadata to properly organize kinds of multimedia that hadn't even been accessible ten years ago, there's an aging workforce and the 'Google Generation' to contend with. Librarians, once seen as gatekeepers of knowledge, are becoming more facilitators for an educated clientele that is precocious and hungry for more.

The problem then becomes a question of what else we can do to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge between the monolithic entities of libraries and this new breed of learners and information seekers.

There's more to my little story; the music that I've got on is a series of classical pieces set against rainstorms and the sound of water lapping the shore. They're all predetermined lengths, and on top of that, I've got a Pomodoro timer running to keep track of larger sections of time. Every now and again the timer gives me a break, and when that happens I get to take a rest and get a drink, and on a longer break I'll go get a can of coke and reward myself for completing a good block of work. It's a good little game that I like to play with myself in order to get things done, because as an independent person I often find that without that reward motivation, I'm dragging myself through study periods and assignments with the enthusiasm one reserves for visiting the dentist. Making a game out of it has created a desire to get things done that wasn't there before, it hasn't cost anything (beyond the coke), and above every other benefit, it's fun. I am thoroughly enjoying myself right now, and before I created my little game, I wasn't.

Long story short, I think this same thing can work on a larger scope with libraries.

But, it's here that I'm going to put the brakes on this train of thought. The field of gaming, gamification, and the library sector is a vast ecosystem that someone of my limited knowledge and experience can't hope to navigate properly. It'd be very easy to go off on a tangent, or lose my way with all of the pretty lights from the games I love flashing in my eyes constantly. With that in mind, I decided to mind map something of a career trajectory with a few of the issues that I want to address at each step along the way. This is an overall map of how I'm going to get from where I am, to where I want to go - bear with it and don't get too freaked out yet, though, please. This is a thesis/Ph.D/lifelong scope of work, here, but we're only looking at one or two select parts of it for now.

The mindmap:

Please note for the time being, I am ONLY CONCENTRATING ON THE BOXES COLOURED YELLOW. This will constitute the entirety of the project that I am currently undertaking in my university studies. The rest - hopefully - will come later, either on my own time of once I've found gainful employ. As we can see, there's quite a bit there to look at - but for now, the journey of a million miles starts with a single step, and it helps to compartmentalize. I don't even know if the things above are relevant or if they'll get looked at down the track - that map was mainly done as an initial brainstorm for personal reasons. I hope that this helps demonstrate the sort of scope I'm starting with, and where I want to end up.

For the purposes of the project I am undertaking, I intend to post at least weekly over the next couple of months with findings from academic reports, personal reflections, and other tidbits of information that I hope will be useful to turning my interest (passion?) into a well grounded and considered approach to the idea of gaming in libraries.

I hope this works. Timer just went off, time for that coke.

Bodie