There are interesting new alliances being formed these days, and one of the most interesting that we’ve come across is the recently concluded “Picture the Impossible,” created by the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, a Gannet newspaper, and the Lab for Social Computing at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Libraries. Their collaboration resulted in a community-based game that sent teams of players to historic sites in Rochester to collect points that would win them invitations to a big Halloween party, and, not coincidentally, to learn more about the city. Rochester is the home of Eastman-Kodak, Xerox, Bausch and Lomb, and Susan B. Anthony, so there was no lack of sites to involve.
A promotional trailer was released on YouTube shortly before the game began in September. Clues were published in the newspaper and on its web site, and parts of the game were managed by regional distribution of different editions of the paper. In the words of editor Traci Bauer, “In community-based games, we’re showing that there’s an achievement based on people showing up at the same place and solving a problem together…This time the achievement is a lot of points, but the next time it might be to do something as a community to improve the dropout rate.” An interview with Ms. Bauer and Liz Lawley, the director of the Lab, is available from Nieman Journalism Lab.
There are so many lessons for libraries here. RIT Libraries and the newspaper, despite being neighbors for decades, had never worked on anything at this scale together. They both saw benefits: for the paper, it was interesting a younger, tech-savvy community in print; for the university, it was giving the students an opportunity to address a real-world project. There was the challenge of finding common ground for vastly different cultures. And there was a sense of adventure in trying something unprecedented.
This project is an excellent demonstration of something we’ve been talking about a lot recently, augmented reality. Living separate physical and virtual lives seems so hopelessly 2007! People want the best of as many worlds as they can mash up. This game brought together the traditional world of newspapers and the world of online gaming. It allowed people to get together to use their brains and solve puzzles in both virtual and physical settings. It was educational, sociable, and way fun. Librarians, take note!
–George and Joan