Engagement through play? The relationship between video games and political engagement

The presented research is an investigation of politics in video games. This is done with two overarching goals in mind. The first is to further the understanding of an under-researched area in both political science and game studies as well as human computer interaction. The second and main aim is to consider how games can be used to promote political engagement and increase the interest of the players in real world politics. Both goals were pursued using an interdisciplinary approach, introducing insights, methods and literature of Political Science and Political Psychology, with Human Computer Interaction and Game Design studies. The first study sought to produce a clearer picture of the state of politics in games through a landscaping study among players. The study inquired into what players thought of as ‘politics’ and ‘political’ in games, what game titles were considered particularly political and how the presentation of politics in-game was perceived compared to real-world, everyday politics. However, it was not only games that were of interest to the study. It was also the players of such games themselves and how interested and engaged they were with politics. The study’s findings showed that politics were most often associated with elements of institutional politics, especially cases of Use of Force and Diplomacy or Negotiation. Politics in games were perceived to be not very likely to be realistic by study participants, though this varied greatly between games. Participants themselves showed an elevated level of interest in politics. Their general gaming habit and motivations were in line with what the literature would expect from a ‘typical’ gamer population. There was furthermore a positive relationship between playing political games and interest and engagement with politics. The study revealed the need for a common foundation and structure for debating and researching politics in games. This led to the development of the ‘Politics in Games’ framework, which sought to introduce and link political science and political psychology terms and concepts to the context of digital games, while also providing the ability to consider elements known to increase political engagement in games. The framework therefore was constructed as two variable sets, one specifically for political engagement and another for the general (political) environment in a game. The use of the framework was also two-fold: enabling the analysis of the politics within games, while also being applicable as a guide to develop and design games with political content and the potential for promoting positive political engagement. To test the framework’s ability to analyse games, both expert and non-expert users were asked to produce test analyses. The expert users’ case studies were consisted of in-depth reports, whereas the non-expert users were asked to analyse the games through an online survey. Both user groups were able to produce game analyses by using the framework as a foundation and produced comparable results. Using the framework also enabled users to consider areas of politics that were often forgotten or invisible in the previous study. Feedback and results from the online survey and case studies were incorporated into the framework and informed the following study. In order to evaluate the framework’s ability to be used as a tool for creative and design purposes a number of design workshops were held in which participants were asked to develop an idea for a political engaging game. In addition to the framework, a set of ideation cards based on the framework was developed. Participants used both framework and ideation cards, however for different tasks. While the ideation cards were used for creating ideas and discussions in group design sessions, the framework was found to be more useful for guiding the overall structure of game ideas and development. In addition, the ideation cards were considered to be especially good tools to convey political concepts. Participant groups tended to work according to one of two patterns. Their work was either ideation driven, starting with an idea or topic and then using the provided materials to build up on it, or alternatively it was material driven, using materials such as the framework or design cues to come up with an idea that was then further developed. The game design process itself was influenced by both internal and external factors. External factors included elements such as the framework and other provided materials as well as discussion in the workshop prior to the game designing exercise. Internal influences came from the participants’ backgrounds, prior knowledge, experiences and opinions. Nationality in particular proved to be an influential factor, while professional or educational backgrounds were less important. Participants in the workshops thus exhibited similar influences and biases such as those often found in professional game development. Overall, the workshop showed how the framework was a valid tool in designing political engagement promoting games. In summary, the research showed the importance of a common foundational language and terminology when talking about games in politics between different stakeholders. The user studies provided the ground to suggest that the Politics in Games framework is an effective tool to achieve this, both for analytical and creative purposes. These findings can furthermore have implications for the way we talk about games in politics and the media in general, as well as how we design games, both for education and entertainment. In politically uncertain times both understanding of, and participation in, politics and the democratic processes have become more crucial than ever before. This research thus hopes to contribute in its own way to a growing awareness of the importance of being politically informed and active

Data-inspired co-design for museum and gallery visitor experiences

The capture and analysis of diverse data is widely recognized as being vital to the design of new products and services across the digital economy. We focus on its use to inspire the co-design of visitor experiences in museums as a distinctive case that reveals opportunities and challenges for the use of personal data. We present a portfolio of data-inspired visiting experiences that emerged from a 3-year Research Through Design process. These include the overlay of virtual models on physical exhibits, a smartphone app for creating personalized tours as gifts, visualizations of emotional responses to exhibits, and the data-driven use of ideation cards. We reflect across our portfolio to articulate the diverse ways in which data can inspire design through the use of ambiguity, visualization, and inter-personalization; how data inspire co-design through the process of co-ideation, co-creation, and co-interpretation; and how its use must negotiate the challenges of privacy, ownership, and transparency. By adopting a human perspective on data, we are able to chart out the complex and rich information that can inform design activities and contribute to datasets that can drive creativity support systems

Understanding Trust and Changes in Use After a Year With the NHS COVID-19 Contact Tracing App in the United Kingdom: Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study

Background: Digital contact tracing (DCT) apps have been implemented as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has focused on understanding acceptance and adoption of these apps, but more work is needed to understand the factors that may contribute to their sustained use. This is key to public health because DCT apps require a high uptake rate to decrease the transmission of the virus within the general population. Objective: This study aimed to understand changes in the use of the National Health Service Test & Trace (T&T) COVID-19 DCT app and explore how public trust in the app evolved over a 1-year period. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal mixed methods study consisting of a digital survey in December 2020 followed by another digital survey and interview in November 2021, in which responses from 9 participants were explored in detail. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts. This paper focuses on the thematic analysis to unpack the reasoning behind participants' answers. Results: In this paper, 5 themes generated through thematic analysis are discussed: flaws in the T&T app, usefulness and functionality affecting trust in the app, low trust in the UK government, varying degrees of trust in other stakeholders, and public consciousness and compliance dropping over time. Mistrust evolved from participants experiencing sociotechnical flaws in the app and led to concerns about the app's usefulness. Similarly, mistrust in the government was linked to perceived poor pandemic handling and the creation and procurement of the app. However, more variability in trust in other stakeholders was highlighted depending on perceived competence and intentions. For example, Big Tech companies (ie, Apple and Google), large hospitality venues, and private contractors were seen as more capable, but participants mistrust their intentions, and small hospitality venues, local councils, and the National Health Service (ie, public health system) were seen as well-intentioned but there is mistrust in their ability to handle pandemic matters. Participants reported complying, or not, with T&T and pandemic guidance to different degrees but, overall, observed a drop in compliance over time. Conclusions: These findings contribute to the wider implications of changes in DCT app use over time for public health. Findings suggest that trust in the wider T&T app ecosystem could be linked to changes in the use of the app; however, further empirical and theoretical work needs to be done to generalize the results because of the small, homogeneous sample. Initial novelty effects occurred with the app, which lessened over time as public concern and media representation of the pandemic decreased and normalization occurred. Trust in the sociotechnical capabilities of the app, stakeholders involved, and salience maintenance of the T&T app in conjunction with other measures are needed for sustained use

Implementing responsible innovation: the role of the meso-level(s) between project and organisation

Much of academic discussion of responsible innovation (RI) has focused on RI integration into research projects. In addition, significant attention has also been paid to RI structures and policies at the research policy and institutional level. This article reports experiences of RI implementation with a focus on the intermediate i.e. meso-level. The research described here included a series of interviews that aimed to clarify researchers' perspectives on RI as well as barriers to and benefits of RI implementation. Two cases of engagement with research projects, with the aim of promoting RI, were undertaken. The analysis of the data demonstrates the crucial contribution that the meso-level of a research programme can make in interpreting, implementing and perpetuating RI across related activities. The article provides strong evidence that the scholarly debate surrounding RI should pay more explicit attention to this meso-level, ultimately strengthening RI theory and practice

GrassPlot v. 2.00 – first update on the database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands

Abstract: GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). Following a previous Long Database Report (Dengler et al. 2018, Phyto- coenologia 48, 331–347), we provide here the first update on content and functionality of GrassPlot. The current version (GrassPlot v. 2.00) contains a total of 190,673 plots of different grain sizes across 28,171 independent plots, with 4,654 nested-plot series including at least four grain sizes. The database has improved its content as well as its functionality, including addition and harmonization of header data (land use, information on nestedness, structure and ecology) and preparation of species composition data. Currently, GrassPlot data are intensively used for broad-scale analyses of different aspects of alpha and beta diversity in grassland ecosystems

The relationship between trust and attitudes towards the COVID-19 digital contact-tracing app in the UK

During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital contact-tracing has been employed in many countries to monitor and manage the spread of the disease. However, to be effective such a system must be adopted by a substantial proportion of the population; therefore, public trust plays a key role. This paper examines the NHS COVID-19 smartphone app, the digital contact-tracing solution in the UK. A series of interviews were carried out prior to the app’s release (n = 12) and a large scale survey examining attitudes towards the app (n = 1,001) was carried out after release. Extending previous work reporting high level attitudes towards the app, this paper shows that prevailing negative attitudes prior to release persisted, and affected the subsequent use of the app. They also show significant relationships between trust, app features, and the wider social and societal context. There is lower trust amongst non-users of the app and trust correlates to many other aspects of the app, a lack of trust could hinder adoption and effectiveness of digital contact-tracing. The design of technology requiring wide uptake, e.g., for public health, should embed considerations of the complexities of trust and the context in which the technology will be used

The CHEK2 1100delC mutation identifies families with a hereditary breast and colorectal cancer phenotype

Because of genetic heterogeneity, the identification of breast cancer-susceptibility genes has proven to be exceedingly difficult. Here, we define a new subset of families with breast cancer characterized by the presence of colorectal cancer cases. The 1100delC variant of the cell cycle checkpoint kinase CHEK2 gene was present in 18% of 55 families with hereditary breast and colorectal cancer (HBCC) as compared with 4% of 380 families with non-HBCC (P<.001), thus providing genetic evidence for the HBCC phenotype. The CHEK2 1100delC mutation was, however, not the major predisposing factor for the HBCC phenotype but appeared to act in synergy with another, as-yet-unknown susceptibility gene(s). The unequivocal definition of the HBCC phenotype opens new avenues to search for thi