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Games versus Gamification in the Design of Systems for Social or Civic Action
In designing a game to address social or civic problems, there are always two parallel or conflicting goals: the goal of the game and the civic goal. The goal of the game is the prelusory goal, it...
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Why We Engage: How Theories of Human Behavior Contribute to Our Understanding...
For the last several years, the Engagement Game Lab has been doing research on the civic impacts of digital tools for democracy and community engagement. We have developed several games and tools and...
View ArticleEngagement Games
Serious games are sometimes defined as games that have purposeful design – games that aim to teach, motivate, or persuade its players. They are mostly used in classrooms, for teaching content ranging...
View ArticleGoals of Play
Over the last year, we have discovered quite a lot about play. In our Community PlanIt research, in particular, we have seen that the simple framing of an “official process” as a game provides players...
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Playful Civics
Last weekend, I had the honor of being on a plenary panel at MIT8 talking about publics and counterpublics in a networked context. My remarks focused on the idea of playful civics – or, how play can be...
View ArticleWhat are civic actions?
In 2000, the sociologist Robert Putnam was unambiguous in his concern that the new World Wide Web was leading to the decay of civic engagement. People were simply spending too much time online and...
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Door-touching and civic virtue
Recently I spent a lot of time watching people walk in and out of the doors of the Forest Hills subway station in Boston. As people rushed out of the station during the afternoon commute, motivated by...
View ArticleDesign Action Research for Government (DARG) project (part 2 of 2)
In addition to research oriented around projects, DARG is also engaged in some context-setting research on the changing face of government. Perceptions of new media amongst government officials The...
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Design Action Research for Government (DARG) Project (part 1 of 2)
I’m excited to talk about a new project. This description was written with my colleague Jesse Baldwin-Philippi. The Design Action Research for Government (DARG) project is a partnership between the...
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Social Media for Everyday Democracy
Social media does not democracy make. While there are extraordinary examples during the Arab Spring, for example, of Facebook and Twitter enabling mass assembly and connecting local movements to the...
View ArticleImagined Publics in an Online Civic Game
In May 2012, we ran a Community PlanIt game in the City of Detroit. The game was designed to solicit public feedback on the city’s master planning process. The game lasted for three weeks and attracted...
View ArticleMeaningful Inefficiencies in the “Smart City”
Information communication technologies (ICTs) hold considerable promise for cities. Sometimes framed as “smart cities,” technologically enhanced urban spaces create efficiencies through streamlined...
View ArticleA Direct to Consumer Democracy?
Getting involved in something takes trust. Whether it’s attending a neighborhood cleanup, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or showing up to a community meeting, people do these things not simply out...
View ArticleExploring New Modalities of Public Engagement – a White Paper
Engagement_Game_Lab_CPI Eval_6.11.12 We’re proud to share the white paper about Community PlanIt with the Boston Public Schools.
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Gaming City Planning: Community PlanIt in Detroit
Community PlanIt is an online game platform for local, community planning. It is a time-delimited, mission-based game, where players earn points and complete missions by answering questions and...
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Civic Framing
Mission 3 of the Detroit 24/7 game on Community PlanIt We are nearly at the end of a Community PlanIt game in the City of Detroit. Organized by Detroit Works Project Long Term Planning, 1000 players...
View ArticleCommunity PlanIt in Boston Public Schools
How do you convince people to take time out of their busy schedules, leave their home around dinner time, perhaps get a babysitter, all in order to participate in a slow-moving conversation about...
View ArticleExperience is Trying
In thinking about the game design work we are doing, I have previously made the distinction between participation and engagement. Loosely, I have defined engagement as sustained attention to a driver...
View ArticlePreparing for Launch
The summer is nearing an end and we are actively trying to get Community PlanIt ready for launch. While the goal is to get the game ready for a national launch, on September 9th, we will start a...
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