For the Is 40630 Digital Curation: Core Concepts module at University College Dublin (UCD), postgraduate students complete a “game” assignment consisting of 3 deliverables:
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A presentation (Dragons Den style pitch) in which they enthusiastically share the central idea behind the game they designed to communicate/teach/explain one or more concepts
central to digital preservation. -
A three-page description of the game describing the rules of play, objective, central components of digital preservation that the game is meant to target.
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A one-page Ad summarizing the game, designed to generate excitement.
The assignment was designed to encourage students to think creatively about digital preservation, assess their understanding of key concepts via their ability to apply the concepts in a creative structure (any kind of game) and consider that digital preservation is not always approachable for the public and so outreach and public engagement are important components of digital preservation work. At the conclusion of the assignment, students are also enouraged to submit their game to the IPRES games session. This can encourage student participation in a professional conference which is often intimidating for students just starting their professional careers.
UCD Students Böse, Fanning & Keenan proposed Dungeons & Dragons to structure the process of digital preservation as a journey. Based on Settler of Catan and Snakes and Ladders, players undergo a journey to complete the quest of digital preservation to provide access to digital materials to the public.
Digital objects can have three lives tokens (representing that they can have primary and secondary values, which can be actions via digital preservation). Metadata tokens are collected during the journey, and the more metadata tokens collected, the more points a player received. Along the journey, players’ digital objects can be faced with threats (representing threats to digital data). Players can also face stroke of luck cards, which can also help a player add metadata to their digital objects.
The game relies on many concepts covered in the module including the concepts of value, metadata, threats to digital data and LOCKSS.
The use of metaphor, iconography and motif is particularly in this game as well as the visuals and there has been a lot of thought put into the game and its links to digital preservation.