I'm a librarian on Second Life, a librarian on reference chat, a librarian on Facebook, a librarian on Twitter, and even a librarian on World of Warcraft! And yes, I am a librarian in real life! (that last one is easy to forget sometimes) :)
Posted on November 6, 2009 by Librarian in Real Life
Hi there!
Hey! Y’know what I just realized? That I can actually make BLOG posts on this site without having to stammer my way through a video every time! That’s special!
My boss just sent me an article about the various ways that academic libraries attract freshman into their library space. Showing here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6703840.html?nid=2673&source=title&rid=2048373597& Although this article mentions a few different ways to get users into the library, I’m going to focus on the briefly mentioned “ARGs”.
When I was younger, I used to write out these complicated ‘Dventures (because leaving off the initial “a” makes it cooler) in which I’d leave clues to a “treasure” all over the neighborhood and force my brother to begrudgingly find it. I got my idea from movies like “Midnight Madness” and “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World”. (and one episode of The Incredible Hulk which ripped off The Most Dangerous Game) I’m told that nowadays, people construct byzantine scavenger-hunt-type “Alternate Reality Games” which throws roleplay into the mix by getting people to imagine that they’re international spies, super-sleuths, or even Hitchcockian “Ordinary Men” who must uncover a fiendish plot by following clues.
This is pretty much the kind of thing that I was BORN to do. Getting a bunch of people to do something silly and immature in the name of gaming is kind of my forte. Making it LIBRARY-based only sweetens the deal. There’s only two things that make me nervous about this. 1) Getting a bunch of jaded college kids excited about library research, and 2) organizing an event that requires people to sneak around campus acting suspiciously and leaving unattended packages all over the place in our paranoid post 9/11 world.
Has anyone out there had any experience in playing/organizing ARGs? I’m afraid that this would either be a project far too complicated for me to accomplish, or else I’d wind up with some pitiful little exercise where students go on a boring little scavenger hunt for books. (or, that the first person to go through the game will muck up the clues for others)
If I knew that actual GAMERS were going to play with this, I’d know exactly how to handle it, but these are [gasp!!] … students. I guess one alternative would be to do some kind of tabletop gaming session where people are forced to perform library searches while at the game table. The article up there even shows kids seated at a table with maps and other print resources spread out before them. So that might work, too. Maybe a weekly game throughout the semester where students have to get me the answer by each week for the “story” to continue. At the end of the semester we give out a prize? That would be great if we get a bunch of people playing, but if there are only two or three students involved, it loses something.
Yes, I know that I’ve been back from Computers in Libraries 2009 for almost a week now, and that I probably could have done a cool rockin’ vlog entry “from the road”, but it’s been kinda crazy since I got back. Here’s the new video blog in which I bring the depressing news that everything we know is wrong.
You’d think that the Penny Arcade guys were paying me for all of this fannish promotion of their strip. It’s just that they’ve had a lot of library-relevant stuff. Here’s their latest:
Yesterday, I made a Vlog post which explored the idea of the computer gaming geek as the new “Macho”. The video suggested that since tech-savvy nerds have become more capable providers than the stereotypical athletic manly men.
After watching the video, my friend Lori sent me an e-mail which explained that it wasn’t so much that geeks were the new “macho”, but that people in general were becoming geekier. In our society, many young people grow up playing video games. The wall between “geek” and “jock” is disappearing. That big, manly, athletic jock superstar is probably JUST as likely as our computer geek to get on his Xbox and throw down with his buddies on Halo for an hour or so. The mild-mannered housewife who kisses her husband goodbye and sends her kids to school is probably going to be pwning n00bs in the Arathi Basin later that afternoon. It’s not just that geeks are the new paradigm for masculinity, it’s that everyone has acquired the “geek” template, and uses those geektacular skills in their daily routine.
Lori then sent me this video. It’s for a new Mercedes concept car. Watch the full video, and tell me what that says about our new culture of high geekery.
Posted on February 25, 2009 by Librarian in Real Life
Newest VideoBlog (Vlog) entry:
In which I review the book: “I was told there’d be cake” by the lovely lovely lovely Sloane Crosley.
Much longer and less meticulously scripted than the last entry. (Clocks in at 6 min. exactly)
I am convinced that by this time next year, I will be doing off-the-cuff, unscripted, masteful Vlog entries with all the aplomb of a professional TV talk show host, but until then … [cringe]
