Scott Nicholson, associate professor and director of the Syracuse University School of
Information Studies' M.S. in Library and Information Science program, is used to
taking his Library Game Lab on the road. However, Nicholson recently took his
knowledge of gaming a bit farther than usual-to Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Nicholson's trip was part of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam's International Game
Week (March 9-13); a program of the game design and game technology minors in
the information technology department of the school. The two game minors are
designed to give information technology students more specialized training and a
narrower focus toward a specific field of employment. International Game Week
features guest speakers from many countries, as well as seminars, workshops and
lectures.
Nicholson participated in the Games Can Change project. This project was designed
to open up the educational and instructional aspects of gaming- a field where
Nicholson has had much experience. One of Nicholson's primary research areas is
the intersection of gaming and libraries. He created the Library Game Lab of
Syracuse in order to further study the role of gaming in libraries and to introduce
local libraries to the benefits of gaming. He and a group of student volunteers also
give game demonstrations and presentations to library staff at conferences and
workshops.
In the Games Can Change project in Amsterdam, Nicholson was in charge of leading
20 students to create an educational game in five days. The purpose of the game
would be to teach library users how to use services at the Amsterdam Public Library
(OBA). "Students created an alternate reality game for 12-16-year-olds to help them
see all relevant parts of the physical library, as well as learn about some of the
databases," Nicholson says.
"I met the students on a Monday morning and gave them a lecture on Alternate
Reality Games and Locative games to set the stage," says Nicholson in a blog post
about his experience. He then led the students to the library and allowed them to get
to work creating their games. The students took charge of their game projects, but
turned to Nicholson for guidance or with questions. Nicholson noted that most
students used a mystery theme in their games and that the games used a
combination of digital and analog elements.
One of Nicholson's student teams created a game involving an alien trapped in the
library. This game won the people's choice award at the final game fair, and the team
was invited to present its work at an upcoming U Play U Learn conference. Another
of his teams developed a story about a missing book and created a well-thought-out
series of games to lead the player toward solving the mystery.
Nicholson also gave several lectures during his time in Amsterdam, including an
overview of the past, present and future of games in libraries and a gaming lecture to
a youth and media class.
To read more about the Library Game Lab, as well as Nicholson's time in
Amsterdam, visit his blog at http://gamelab.syr.edu/.
