Identity, Safety, and Information Management within Communities of Practice in Location-based Augmented Reality Games: A Case Study of Ingress

This research examines play communities of the location-based AR game Ingress to identify and describe community practices specific to these kinds of games. The unique features of location-based AR gameplay result in several novel community standards, behaviors, and practices that impact player safety, privacy, and information security in the Ingress community. We discuss practices related to preserving physical safety and privacy, addressing bullying and harassment, information and operational security, and player apprenticeship. In addition, we identify critical ways that individuals’ real-world identity impacts their play behavior in public spaces, resulting in self-imposed play limitations

The Style of Tetris is…Possibly Tetris?: Creative Professionals’ Description of Video Game Visual Styles

Despite the increasing importance of video games in both cultural and commercial aspects, typically they can only be accessed and browsed through limited metadata such as platform or genre. We explore visual styles of games as a complementary approach for providing access to games. In particular, we aimed to test and evaluate the existing visual style taxonomy developed in prior research with video game professionals and creatives. User data were collected from video game art and design students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology to gain insight into the relevance of the existing taxonomy to a professional audience. Using a think-aloud card sort method, we observed their thought process for describing and categorizing visual styles of video games, and also collected candidate terms for revising the taxonomy. The results of this research will inform ongoing metadata work in the field to develop a standard for cataloging video games and interactive media, and will be useful to information systems that sort and classify games for users and cultural preservation

Understanding appeals of video games for readers’ advisory and recommendation

Information for original publication: Lee, Jin Ha et al. Understanding Appeals of Video Games for Readers' Advisory and Recommendation. Reference & User Services Quarterly, [S.l.], v. 57, n. 2, p. 127-139, dec. 2017. ISSN 1094-9054. Available at: . doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/rusq.57.2.6529.Despite their increasing popularity and inclusion in library collections, video games are rarely suggested in library advisory or recommendation services. In this work, we use the concept of appeals from existing literature in readers' advisory and media studies to understand what attracts people to play certain games. Based on 1,257 survey responses, we identify sixteen different appeals of video games and elaborate how these appeals are expressed in users' terms. We envision these appeals can serve as an additional access point for video games and will be particularly useful for recommendation and advisory services. In addition, we also examined the correlation between appeals and common game genres. The relationships between appeals and genres observed from our data support our argument that appeals can serve as a complementary access point to result in more diversified sets of recommendations across genres. In our future work, we plan to further investigate individual appeals such as mood and narrative across multiple types of media

More than Crowdsourcing Science: The Reasons for Museum Citizen Science Programs and how and why they Change

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2013This exploratory research study seeks to identify reasons why museums begin citizen science programming, why they continue to do citizen science, and how and why their programs have changed over time. Citizen science is a growing program area for museums, and yet there is little research examining the role and purpose of these programs from the perspective of museums. Within the context of a purposive sample of eight diverse science museums, three methods were employed to collect data including surveys, interviews, and document analysis. Results suggest three major conclusions. First, the museums studied here reported various institutional benefits from offering citizen science programs, for example museums now use these programs to appeal to donors, to seek grant funding, to build relationships with professional scientists, and to raise awareness of the museum and its mission. Second, the citizen science programs in this sample were highly adaptable. Museums used these programs to meet local needs such as environmental monitoring and resource protection. Third, results suggest that citizen science programs in museums are situated at the intersection of research and education, and as such may have the potential to unite disparate efforts to achieve larger institutional goals

Sensors, Students, and Self: Exploring Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Interest Impact of Ocean Sensor Learning on High School Marine Science Students

This study examined the effect of online technical lessons of how ocean sensors function on student interest in ocean science technology, as well as knowledge gain outcomes. Additionally, the study contributes novel findings to sensor-based learning literature by measuring changes to self-efficacy and confidence gains stemming from sensor-based learning, as well as changes in interest in ocean careers. The area of educational focus was also novel—focusing on how the sensors themselves function, not just what they do. Precipitated by COVID-19 pandemic constraints, the team used a remote learning approach to provide lessons on sensors at a distance, providing an additional opportunity to contrast this approach with previously studied hands-on learning modes. A sample of students from four high school marine science classes completed two assessments both before and after a series of lessons on ocean sensors. This included a self-reported survey (N = 48), and an open-ended knowledge assessment (N = 40). Results showed modest gains in knowledge assessments, and students experienced statistically significant gains in confidence in their ability to explain what sensors are, confidence in their ability to use sensors and understand resulting data, and confidence in accuracy of sensor data (p < 0.05). No changes were observed for several measures of interest in ocean technology, nor were there changes in an already high belief that understanding these sensors is important to marine science careers. Notably, these findings measure a positive shift in several measures of self-efficacy and confidence, which is a new finding for sensor-based learning. The findings also contrast with prior related work that included hands-on activities with sensors, which reported an increase in interest after working with sensors, whereas this intervention did not. This suggests a hands-on component is key to increasing interest in ocean technology

Mental Models, Meaning, & Games: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Player Meaning Making in a Complex STEM Themed Video Game

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2021This research addressed increasing understanding of how players make meaning during play of a complex STEM game and explores to what extent player mental models of STEM concepts shift as a result of interacting with the game simulation. Game based learning is attracting increased attention and interest as a novel platform for experiential learning, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The affordances of real-time interactive simulations in video games are being leveraged to create complex games for learning, designed with components arranged to reflect models of real-world systems in physical, biological, and social sciences. To build these models, designers use the complex multimedia nature of video games to encode and represent information in an array of game components with key attributes and relationships with one another, to provide a system that players can interact with to achieve game goals. Much work has been done to study outcomes of learning games in terms of post-intervention knowledge assessments, but relatively little has been done to explore the process of player mental model construction and adaptation at the level of specific interactions with components over time. This research aims to expand understanding of how players make meaning during gameplay in the STEM themed game Oxygen not Included, specifically through their interaction with game objects and their relationships. Using the approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis, in conjunction with formal analysis of gameplay and continuous think-aloud interview techniques, this work endeavored to collect rich qualitative data on player meaning-making processes during gameplay to address the following research questions: What major themes of interpretation can be identified for youth meaning making of knowledge structures in games for learning? To what extent do player mental models of STEM phenomena that are modeled in game shift during play? What are design implications and recommendations for learning game designers based on these results

Sensors, Students, and Self: Exploring Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Interest Impact of Ocean Sensor Learning on High School Marine Science Students

This study examined the effect of online technical lessons of how ocean sensors function on student interest in ocean science technology, as well as knowledge gain outcomes. Additionally, the study contributes novel findings to sensor-based learning literature by measuring changes to self-efficacy and confidence gains stemming from sensor-based learning, as well as changes in interest in ocean careers. The area of educational focus was also novel—focusing on how the sensors themselves function, not just what they do. Precipitated by COVID-19 pandemic constraints, the team used a remote learning approach to provide lessons on sensors at a distance, providing an additional opportunity to contrast this approach with previously studied hands-on learning modes. A sample of students from four high school marine science classes completed two assessments both before and after a series of lessons on ocean sensors. This included a self-reported survey (N = 48), and an open-ended knowledge assessment (N = 40). Results showed modest gains in knowledge assessments, and students experienced statistically significant gains in confidence in their ability to explain what sensors are, confidence in their ability to use sensors and understand resulting data, and confidence in accuracy of sensor data (p < 0.05). No changes were observed for several measures of interest in ocean technology, nor were there changes in an already high belief that understanding these sensors is important to marine science careers. Notably, these findings measure a positive shift in several measures of self-efficacy and confidence, which is a new finding for sensor-based learning. The findings also contrast with prior related work that included hands-on activities with sensors, which reported an increase in interest after working with sensors, whereas this intervention did not. This suggests a hands-on component is key to increasing interest in ocean technology

Impact of location-based augmented reality games on people’s information behavior: A case study of Pokémon Go

Location-based augmented reality games that blend the real-world experience with virtual world gameplay are becoming increasingly popular. We aim to improve our understanding of how these new types of games will impact people’s information behaviors in both physical and virtual places, specifically investigating the case of Pokémon GO. We conducted over 100 hours of field observation of Pokémon GO players in numerous public places and also monitored over 200 online communities related to the game, in addition to conducting interviews of 30 players. Our key findings include observation of the emergence of ad-hoc information grounds in physical spaces where much of the information sharing occurred, as well as a crowdsourced data-driven approach in problem solving and information sharing in online environments. We discuss the common types of information sharing that occur in both of these environments in detail, and identify areas for future research