The Future of Gaming
I am part of the original gaming generation. I can remember when I was six years old, my father bought my mom an Atari for her birthday. I can remember becoming one of the first players to be printed in Atari magazine’s 20,000 Pitfall club. The Christmas that I was eleven, Santa brought me a Nintendo and my brother a Sega… and I still consider Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out! one of the greatest and hardest games ever created.
And my 19 month-old daughter has followed in her father’s gaming footsteps already as she asks to sit and watch me play the Wii.
Video games are experiencing some of the greatest success since the Arcade days. And to call it a reborn fad for our kids would be greatly misunderstanding just how far the passion for gaming goes. According to the ESA’s 2006 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data report, the average age of gamers is 33. In fact, 25% of gamers are over the age of 50. As much as we like to portray games as a child’s play, there is little that is childish about it. Video games are a part of our society at all levels. Overall, video games took in just under $10 billion dollars last year. I have a guess that the overwhelming success that the Nintendo Wii has with casual gamers will put it over that milestone this year.
By the way, that $10 billion is just for the United States; worldwide is estimated around $38 billion (not including consoles).
And as a self-proclaimed First Generation Gamer, the changes we’ve already seen in games have been awesome to witness. Games have changed from running-to-the-right scrollers into entire virtual worlds, and there seems to be a virtual world for just about any enthusiast. The controllers have changed from a joystick and a single button into eight button and directionals that can control all three dimensions. And let’s not forget motion sensitive controllers, like the Wii, to specialized controllers like Guitar Hero and the upcoming Rock Band. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that a game’s storyline has changed from unbending objectives into flexible stories that allow the player to choose their own story lines, decisions and really make the character their own. Because of these developments, game manufacturers are finding renewed interest and new players in the gaming culture.
So where does it all go from here? I’m not sure, but I have some guesses.
Obviously, graphics and sound will continue to improve. The dropping prices of surround sound systems will influence how players and game developers use sound in the gaming experience. As TVs continue to move towards better picture quality, console makers will be sure to be on the cutting edge with them.
The casual gamer will continue to influence the development of console gaming, price and strategy-wise. If there is anything that Xbox and PS3 have learned from the current sales-war, it is that even the most passive gamer is willing to spend a little money for a couple hours of enjoyment.
Games will become more about buying the right to play rather than levels. What do I mean? Think in terms of World of Warcraft; you buy the software and the ability to create characters but the game itself is housed online. Game developers are going to start using this for console games as well, thus allowing them to continually add and improve the games as the characters grow. So your game is not limited to the hardware it is housed on. The advantage of doing this is that your story lines never have to end and, for all intents and purposes, the character will live as long as you do.
Social networks and support groups will continue to play major roles. World of Warcraft is as much about the people you play with as it is about the game. People join groups in the virtual world and it is like a sacred bond. Real world friendships and even marriages have resulted from WoW meetings. As games continue to allow players to flesh out their own characters, the socialization platforms that come with the games will be used in the same ways as Facebook and Myspace, perhaps stronger.
Games will continue to influence education and professional training. Games like Trauma Center are a lot of fun (the player is a surgeon who performs everything from removing cysts to heart surgery) but they have a greater potential if applied to the medical field. The military uses a gaming interface to help train their soldiers for life-or-death situations. From a marketing perspective this is a major yet-to-be-tapped resource but one with serious profits if they make the right games.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again; I love the age I am growing up in. It’s not just gaming revolution, it is evolution. We’re going from static to dynamic and creating games that are not just one-dimensional stories but true interactive experiences.
So, if you are not part of the gaming culture, I recommend you check it out… there is something for everyone. And if you are, I hope we meet in the virtual worlds.
Incidentally, if you are ever smitten by someone named Rex Libris in the virtual world, I apologize now.
Come Work with Me …
… and lots of other great people too! MPOW (aka Princeton Public Library) is seeking an Information Technology Director and we really want someone who is on board with all things 2.0 and can lead us forward. We have a tech savvy staff eager to implement new ideas, a great new building and an ideal location in the heart of downtown Princeton. Here is the official job posting.
Information Technology Director
The Princeton Public Library, located in the heart of downtown Princeton, two blocks from Princeton University, is seeking an experienced information technology professional to shape the future of technology and digital initiatives in its new Information Technology Director position.
The ideal candidate for this exciting new position is a strategic thinker able to anticipate upcoming technology needs and identify emerging solutions, while overseeing the daily operation of all library systems, including installations, maintenance, upgrades, troubleshooting and systems integration. The Information Technology Director will be responsible for forming and managing an IT support team, implementing, monitoring and maintaining operational standards and procedures, and ensuring a high level of service and functionality to library users and staff.
Our environment consists of
- Innovative Millenium Integrated Library System
- Two self checkout computers with RFID
- Over 100 public work stations with Microsoft Office Suite
- Computer & Wireless Network
- Over 70 staff work stations
- Mail Servers
- ·Technology Center with Smart Board
- Community Room with media equipment
- Phone Network
- Alarm & Security Systems
Experience and background
Extensive experience in systems administration along with demonstrated success in a leadership role is required. Experience with library applications and Web 2.0 is highly desired. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in computer science/information technology or a related field is required. Certification as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer is also desirable.
Qualified candidates are asked to email a cover letter and resume, including salary requirements (resumes without salary requirements will not be considered) to careers@princetonlibrary.org with IT Director listed in the subject line. No phone inquires, please.
We offer an excellent benefits package including 22 vacation days.
An Equal Opportunity Employer
The Bottom Line: Libraries Boost the Economy!
I love it when I come across articles that quantitatively prove the value of public libraries, and it seems like I have read several lately. The one I just finished reading is too good not to share!
Study: Libraries offer big returns.
In specific, it is facts such as the one quoted below that we all need to be able to call upon when our budgets are challenged:
The bottom-line conclusion: Pennsylvania public libraries provide a “return on investment” of $5.50 for every $1 of taxpayer funding.
If every state had a study where we could prove our worth in such a manner to the voting public it would be a wonderful world.
Enjoy the Smorgasborg!
Quote of the Day:
The library is like one big smorgasbord. It’s easy to pick up something and try it out.
Taken from the article “The value in your library may amaze y0u” that was posted today on Cincinnati.com
It is a short article that does an admirable job of pointing out the value of a library to a community — and it even includes a link the Maine State Library’s really great library calculator — a really useful tool that demonstrates how much money can be saved by using a public library.
I also love this marketing idea that the Kenton Public Library will rolling out shortly:
In September, the Library offers cardholders even more value. Libraries in Kenton, Boone, Campbell and Grant Counties have joined with local businesses to offer a discount to anyone who presents a library card. This partnership was formed to encourage residents to use of obtain a library card. More than 50 local businesses including Snappy Tomato Pizza, Golden Corral, Sherwin Williams, Mad Cup Café, and Pawsitively Perfect Grooming understand the value the library provides to the community and local businesses.
BookLovers Wiki: We hardly Knew Ye!
Summer Reading Clubs are well under way at public libraries across the country, including MPOW. I have had several emails and even some phone calls inquiring about the BookLovers Wiki and why we have not updated it. I finally had time to update today, but my update was merely to announce that the BookLovers Wiki is on a hiatus for this summer. I hope we can bring it back again next summer, but that will depend on a variety of factors (some of which are out of my control).
We fully intended to revive the wiki for this summers edition of the adult reading club. In fact, we had hopes of moving it to MediaWiki so that we could fully realize our original plan of creating cross indexes to the reviews (much like the TabWiki). We wanted to categorize the reviews by genre, author, title, reviewer, etc. this year. Even if we didn’t have time to migrate to MediaWiki, we were really excited to see if the addition of WYSIWYG editing to PBwiki would boost the number of reviews submitted by the public. Last year we had a few brave individuals who learned to submit reviews directly, but most (in the end) were still emailed to us and then entered by teen volunteers or staff — many of our bibioliphiles just couldn’t seem to grasp wiki code well enough to enter reviews on their own.
The BookLovers Wiki was a success in many ways, even if it had some shortcomings. We devised our plan to use a wiki for summer reading on a fairly short time frame, but it served its purpose amazingly well. It certainly raised awareness in the community about wikis in general and what they are (many atteneded classes about wikis, so even if they didn’t feel comfortable with the code at least they understood how they worked). It was an experiment, and (as far as experiments go) it was a good one.
So, why no wiki this summer? The wiki’s furlough status was made at the same time the decision was made to upgrade our III catalog to include ratings and reviews. Essentially, we want to get our community involved with adding reviews and ratings to our online catalog and, since we went live with the upgrade on June 1st, the summer reading club was the perfect vehicle to raise awareness about our catalogs newest features.
Also, we had been doing the BookLovers theme for a few years and we wanted a change of pace for the club. This year we have gone with a theme of “Read Around the World: Your Passport to Summer Reading” and it has been a hit. We have integrated our summer programming to the theme, have generated many interesting reading lists which we are now putting on our web site and will be having a Book Brunch at the end of the summer for participants.
I really do encourage other libraries to get involved with wiki projects for their communities, whether it is for book reviews or another program/project. The staff and patrons at PPL both learned much more than we anticipated from running the BookLovers Wiki and I am sure other communities would have a similar experience. I am always willing to talk about the project with those considering a wiki, so please do not hesitate to drop me a line or give me a call.
Precursors to the Universal Digital Library?–Maybe so.
Out of town for a few days, I got back and while reading my RSS feeds, I saw mentions of the Open Content Alliance and Open Library project and the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine from Search Engine Watch and the ResourceShelf posts. I was very interested and happy to see more people talk about what the Internet Archive has been and is currently doing in regard to their free digital library collections and their efforts with the Open Library initiative.
Back last year, I published an article within MultiMedia & Internet@Schools magazine entitled “The Changing Face of the Scholarly Web” about the free quality full text resources that were available to us then. I have since presented on the topic (mid-April 2007) and updated my Filamentality site on the topic, providing over 25 resources for full text articles, books, and other multimedia content, to include the IA and Open Content Alliance sites mentioned above. I hope you check these sites out (see excerpts from my article below), as well as others within my article and/or site and that you find these useful to explore and share.
* The Internet Archive (IA) [http://www.archive.org/]. The Internet Archive, mentioned several times earlier in this article, is widely known for its Wayback
Machine service, allowing us to “visit” older versions of Web sites by typing in a URL. However, IA offers so much more, such as moving images, live music, audio, and text archives. The site truly is “building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.” Like a paper library, the site provides “free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.” You really should take the time to browse this site, and fairly often—I love it!* The Open Content Alliance [http://www.opencontentalliance.org/]. “The Open Content Alliance represents the collaborative efforts of a group of cultural, technology, nonprofit, and governmental organizations from around the world that will help build a permanent archive of multilingual digitized text and multimedia content. The OCA was conceived by the Internet Archive and Yahoo! in early 2005 as a way to offer broad, public access to a rich panorama of world culture.” Right now, other partners include Adobe, HP, MSN, the European Archive, O’Reilly Media, RLG, the University of California, the University of Toronto, and many others—and the list keeps growing!
What is mentioned in my article, hinted at within my Filamentality site, is that we all need to stay alert to and share the results of the search leaders and digitization entrepreneurs who continually provide us with free digital materials and improved means of locating, storing, and sharing this info. My clear favorite is the Internet Archive, and I know that with them leading the efforts working behind the scenes, the Open Content Alliance will produce fruit. The Internet Archive site and the Open Content Alliance may even become the precursors to the universal digital library, freely available to all. Below is an except from my article’s conclusion which I still believe holds true today:
In his May 18, 2006, SearchDay article “Building the Universal Library,” Chris Sherman noted that “building a Universal Library is a huge undertaking, and not just because the physical effort of scanning tens of millions of books is in itself such a massive task. Once scanned, the books must be indexed and made searchable, all the while respecting the copyrights of books not yet in the public domain” (#1314). Obviously, we have a long way to go before we have anything even resembling a “universal library” of books, articles, and/or even multimedia content. However, Kelly quotes Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive, who believes that “this is our chance to one-up the Greeks [i.e., Royal Library of Alexandria, 3rd century B.C.]! It is really possible with the technology of today, not tomorrow. We can provide all the works of humankind to all the people of the world. It will be an achievement remembered for all time, like putting a man on the moon.”
I am thrilled, as you can see, with the efforts of the Internet Archive with its captured Webpage archive, as well as its moving images, live music, audio recordings, and full text documents archives. Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive are on the right track. Check out the Archive and their initiatives–you will be amazed.
Technorati Tags: full text, Internet Archive, Library Garden, Open Content Alliance, Open Library, universal digital library
Wikipedia and Wikis–Content Creation and Analysis Leads to Learning
While presenting at and attending several teacher conferences and workshops recently, I noticed quite a bit of negativity surrounding the issues of wikis in general and, specifically, Wikipedia. Mostly, I believe from my conversations, it seems that many still do not understand much about wikis or enough about Wikipedia. Certainly, there has been a lot published about Wikipedia and comparing it to other encyclopedias, with the Searcher article from early 2006 often cited, but I am still surprised by the strong reactions I receive from teachers, professors, and school librarians when I talk about Wikipedia as a positive example of Web 2.0.
Yes, I understand the downsides of the Wikipedia model, but I also recognize the positive aspects. For instance, I have never seen my undergraduate or graduate students in courses I have taught at Rider University and Rutgers University work harder at ensuring that the information they were providing or revising on their class wikis and/or Wikipedia was extremely accurate, up-to-date, and thoroughly-cited with academic resources! See, they knew that they were authoring information and placing their content into a vehicle which would automatically receive criticisms/comments by many, not just from their professor. This is a good thing, as they knew they were creating or revising global content, seeing themselves as members in a community of learners. Not allowing the use of Wikipedia whatsoever, or evening totally blocking it at schools with blocking software, is not the answer to our problems with it.
In my quest to better learn about and educate others on Web 2.0 collaborative tools, including wikis and Wikipedia, I must say that I have enjoyed the conversations and even some of the strong debates about their usefulness and appropriateness. But since I have not been blogging about Wikipedia itself, I thought it was time to do so. In a very recent email to a conference participant, I mentioned several older and recent postings and publications about Wikipedia in general that I would like to share more widely.
My favorite, now, is the 7 things you should know about Wikipedia from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative that came out last month. I think anyone who wants to learn more about Wikipedia will find this 2-page article quite enlightening. EDUCAUSE provides an interesting scenario of a student using Wikipedia as a source for his paper, followed by a concise explanation of what Wikipedia is, who’s using it, how it works, why it is significant, its downsides, its future, and, finally, a short paragraph on its implications for teaching and learning, which ends by stating that “some theorists contend that content creation and analysis is a necessary component of learning. Wikipedia can encourage students to analyze what they read, ask questions, and engage in reflective, creative learning.” I wholeheartedly agree. Let’s learn both sides of this issue, and please, take the time to read and distribute this in your schools and libraries. Other articles and links I have led questioners to besides those mentioned/linked to above are these:
1) Middlebury College post in Mar. 2007, with almost a dozen other links.
2) A Business Week article in Dec. 2005. Check out the question and paragraph dealing with students citing a Wikipedia article.
3) Wikipedia’s own criticism article. Check out the references, as well as the critical article itself. Do a “Edit” and “Find on this page” search of “Wales” and you will see some of his comments here.
And you might also like Wikipedia’s other articles on itself with links:
1) Researching with Wikipedia.
2) Why Wikipedia is not so great.
3) Why Wikipedia is so great.
I hope this helps everyone better understand Wikipedia, and I welcome your thoughts and contributions to this post.
Help Shape the Future of Libraries in NJ!
From an e-mail from Peggy Cadigan, Consultant for Innovation and Communication, at the New Jersey State Library. (I’m so happy to see this come out of the futures conference that was held – my app is already in!)
Subject: Participation in NJSL Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future – applications needed by August 15, 2007
Norma Blake, State Librarian, has instituted a “Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future” to continue the groundbreaking work begun by the Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference. The State Library recognizes that it is imperative to have input from the people who are shaping the future of New Jersey’s libraries.
This is an open invitation to anyone currently working in a New Jersey library who has an interest in the future of libraries to apply for a possible appointment to the Task Force. The Task Force will comprise members from different types of libraries and from different job titles. Applications will be reviewed by a panel selected by the State Librarian and appointments made following the review process. The goal of the Task Force will be to make recommendations about how libraries can respond in the future to the information received at the conference and the challenges presented. How can local libraries and the State Library respond to projected demographic changes, growing diversity, an aging population, and technological advances?
We expect that this task force will require a short-term commitment. It is expected that the task force will meet once a month for six months, beginning September 2007, culminating in a report to the State Librarian by March 2008. The report will be presented at the April 2008 NJLA Conference.
If you are interested in serving on this panel, please complete page two of the application which can be found at https://mail01.palsplus.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.njstatelib.org/News/Blue%2520Ribbon%2520Panel.pdf and return it by August 15, 2007 to:
Peggy Cadigan
Consultant for Innovation and Communication
New Jersey State Library
185 West State Street
P.O. Box 520
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0520
You may send the application as a word document e-mail attachment or fax it to: 609-633-3963.
Contact Peggy Cadigan with any questions. 609-278-2640, Ext. 113 or 609-292-4161, pcadigan@njstatelib.org
What the RIAA can learn from They Might Be Giants
I just picked up They Might Be Giants new album, The Else, and got a neat surprise, a bonus CD. The disc contained 23 songs they previously released on their podcast site, and almost all were never previously released on any of their other CDs.
And as excited as I was to receive more music than I anticipated from my favorite band, my initial reaction was “Finally, someone gets it!”
Suing fans is a bad incentive for buying the album, especially when the laws are somewhat contradictory, you can legally copy an analog tape but not on a digital CD. It’s no wonder that many people who get their music from p2p networks don’t believe they are doing anything terribly wrong. After all, how can copying be legal in one format and not another?
Y’know, I’ve always wondered how much money the actual artists get when the RIAA wins a lawsuit for pirating. If anyone has information on this, I would love to know.
They Might Be Giants tried a different approach (as are other musicians)… give the fans something in exchange for their support. A bonus CD of already recorded songs might have cost them a dollar a piece to manufacture but in doing so, they will start a buzz around the official CD and bonus tracks which will creates an interest for people to want to buy it. And even jump their sales a bit.
On a semi-tangent, some Nintendo products are trying the same approach. When I bought Pokemon’s Battle Revolution for Wii (please don’t judge me) a card fell out asking me to register the game. The reward for doing this was extra pictures, wallpapers and tips for the game. Imagine what more powerful systems like Xbox or PS3 could do with registration; give the registrants extra levels more characters, unique weapons, etc.
Pimp Yourself
Please don’t be offended or turned-off by the title.
I know there have been a few occasions where “pimp” this or that has been a problem, but just try to get past that for a moment and consider this ….
The other day I attended a wonderful workshop and one of the suggestions in that workshop was that as librarians we need to stop being so quiet and shy about ourselves and start boasting about ourselves, our libraries, our profession, etc.!
Well, I have heard this before and embrace it wholeheartedly!
However, the group attending this particular workshop seemed especially uncomfortable with this suggestion.
The specific suggestion made that really got them squirming was to “use your credentials on everything.”
I personally LOVE this and started doing it as soon as I had heard it.
I put my MLIS on everything I can – in my e-mail signatures, when I sign things, on my business cards, etc…. Some may think it is even excessive, but I don’t care! I paid for the MILS, I earned the MILS, I have an MLIS and it does mean something!
(I was in the first class of students who graduated from SCILS at Rutgers with the additional vowel “I” – it stands for Master of Library and INFORMATION Science – boy, do I LOVE having that extra “I”!)
Several attendees really seemed aghast about this and I was sort of surprised. I can understand that it may go “outside your comfort zone” to boast about yourself or your library, but adding a few letters to the end of your name!?
Other professions do it all the time and no one thinks anything of it! Or, they have a prefix to designate their qualifications and/or professionalism, i.e,. “Dr.”, “Esq.”, etc.
We as librarians need to do this as well!
Sometimes this suggestion is met with, “Well, no one knows what that stands for anyway!”
GREAT! That gives you the chance to TELL THEM what it stands for, what it means, why you have it and what it means YOU CAN DO!
C’mon, as far as “pimping things” goes, this really is one of the easier ones (and free too!)
I challenge everyone who doesn’t use their credentials to make a commitment to doing so as a “first step” toward becoming more comfortable BOASTING about how awesome we are! (Cuz we are!)
Library Garden 