some thoughts on the gaming articles...

I wish there was gaming in the library when I was young...of course we'd be playing Pac Man or Pitfall, but it would have been really fun!  Overall, I like the idea of gaming in the library just bringing people together.

In Suellen's article, "The case for video games in libraries," I was drawn to the fact that she mentions concrete connections to educational benefits as well as social benefits.  I do think that video games tend to get a bad rap among older generations that didn't grow up with any kind of video games.  I can see a librarian needing some ammunition in order to convince administration that gaming in the library is worthwhile, and I think this article provides those concrete examples needed.  I also really like the suggestion of matching up books to the game being played.  Of course, the books don't literally have to be able the game or characters within the game, but displaying books with a similar interest makes a lot of sense, and I would imagine people would be interested in the non-verbal recommendation if they saw the display being linked to a game that they really liked.

I found "Percolating the Power of Play" pretty interesting.  How fortunate Champlain College's library was to be able to recognize the skills that are prevalent in their students--gaming skills--and mixing that with the need for information literacy skills.  I can't imagine students wouldn't be interested in giving this a try.  I do, however, wonder if these games are really just a "gimmick?"


Now, for Howard Rheingold's Second Life...I was a bit confused.  Is his Second Life virtual world a space for his online courses?  He teaches social media at Stanford University, so does he throw his students into a virtual world to be part of social media too?  Curious...

Haven't used Facebook too much yet...still trying to understand it and gather some friends.  I have noticed that if people's privacy settings are as high as possible, you really can't find them.

Almost done the summer semester...had fun with this class...hope you did too!