Tagged: Knight

Project report to the Knight Foundation: Indie games for libraries

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Follow the evolution of this project here: http://outfind.ca/tag/knight/

I am very happy to report that the project report for the indie games licensing project is now available on the Technoculture Art & Games research center’s blog. ecosystem

Indie Games Licensing for Libraries Presentation

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Follow the evolution of this project here: http://outfind.ca/tag/knight/

Panel_07
Here is the presentation I will be delivering to the Knight Foundation about the Indie Games Licensing for Libraries project.

This slide explains the main idea behind the project, namely connecting indie developers with libraries through a series of copyright contracts, also called licenses:
ecosystem

Meet Alice, the first digital gaming kit for libraries

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Follow the evolution of this project here: http://outfind.ca/tag/knight/

Alice is the codename for the first prototype digital gaming kit for libraries

Alice is the codename for the first prototype digital gaming kit for libraries

Above is a picture of our prototype, codename Alice for a few reasons:

  1. it is our “alpha” or A prototype;
  2. Alice, in encryption circles, tries to talk to Bob; and
  3. it is a “clin-d’oeil” to Lisa, Apple’s first computer with a graphical interface and my favorite character on the Simpsons

Many many thanks to the Knight Foundation for their wonderful support !!

My team of engineers are working hard on building a functioning prototype. We have selected a “stripped down” Linux distribution running Kodi as a platform. We picked some generic controllers, a hard plastic case and a mini-computers running on solid state memory (the Gygabyte Brix in fact).

They will hopefully deliver a first version of the device by late June. We will also deliver all our code via the usual open source venues (not sure which actually, but my team is keen on contributing their work back to the community quickly).

Afterwards, my team and I hope to visit with 2 public library systems: Montreal and Austin public libraries. We aim to discuss this project with library employees (administrators, professionals and staff), game developers and patrons. I have ethnographers working on our research instruments.

So, my team is busy with the work our grant has funded and we should have some tangible results in a month or so.

Please let me know if you have questions, ideas or comments, I am most interested in them! My email is: o.NOSPAMcharbonneau@concordia.ca (note to humans: please remove all capital letters from my email address to reach me).

What about games in academic libraries?

Reading up on the subject of games in academic institutions

Scholarly articles & papers (slightly disorganized)

News, blog posts & other documents (by date)

Library Research guides

Projects and initiatives (hat tip to Christy Caldwell)

DIY User feedback kit for the Indie games licensing for libraries project

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Follow the evolution of this project here: http://outfind.ca/tag/knight/

Last year’s Arcade 11 brought an interesting mix of librarians, indie games developers as well as games scholars. Through conversations and exchanges of views, it quickly emerged that libraries required alternative models to make independent games available through their digital collections.

Purchasing born-digital copyrighted materials is a strong and emerging trend in libraries worldwide, but “general public” methods of dissemination do not offer the licensing and technological terms libraries require (Libraries cannot acquire born-digital materials from iTunes, Google Play or Amazon as it contradicts the licensing terms of these systems).

In that sense, the TAG team have set out to devise various prototyping models for the licensing and circulation of independent video games at libraries. The Knight Foundation (thank you so much!!!) has funded the creation of a video game console, which the prototype will be devised using over-the-counter inexpensive micro-computer components (with assistance from District 3). We will tap into the pool of graduate studens to build a seed collection of games for libraries as well as articulate some key knowledge points all librarians should know about digital games. Finally, we expect to test whether libraries are open to the idea of having these consoles circulate to users of their library system.

One of our team members thought of getting on-the-fly feedback from parents & kids visiting Arcade 11, our TAG (games) research center open house today & tomorrow… This week is reading week in the Province of Québec, and most k-12 kids are on vacation, so parents scramble to find cool activities to do with their kids. This is the perfect opportunity to great feedback from people visiting our space at Concordia Univerisity in Montréal!

Here is the kit I scrambled together by raiding the supply cabinet…
DIY user feedback kit
Also a pic of our concept prototype (version 0.1 or pre-pre-pre alpha) …
(Indie games licensing for libraries project)
Prototype o.1 or version pre-pre-pre alpha
… some folks playing at Concordia U’s Arcade 11
Folks playing a great game at Arcade 11 at Concordia University

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Follow the evolution of this project here: http://outfind.ca/tag/knight/

Indie Games Licensing: first progress report

Aussi en français: http://www.culturelibre.ca/tag/knight/
Follow the evolution of this project here: http://outfind.ca/tag/knight/

I am very pleased to announce that our project, called Indie Games Licensing, was awarded a Prototype Grant as per the most recent Knight News Challenge. I am absolutely thrilled and thankful towards the Knight Foundation and all my partners for this incredible opportunity to “leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities.”

Without further ado, here is a short video presenting the initial prototype we will be delivering at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco:

UPDATE as of May 19th 2015: The Knight Foundation had originally planned to have us present our prototypes at the ALA Annual Conference in the Summer of 2015, but that is no longer the case.