Simulating History

Since posting the 60-second “Simulating History” video on Youtube and our website, I have turned my attention to exploring the manner in which our work may be expressed through a short documentary. Having generated some questions with our brief “teaser”, I am now focusing more on the ideas and the practices of The Simulating History Research Lab.

Simply put, our work in the lab is to employ technology for the purposes of learning and teaching, and our way to reach others with this message is shaped by my understanding of technology as inherently liberating (McClean, 2007)[1]. For example, working with a high-performance nonlinear editing system such as Final Cut Pro and its Motion application is indeed liberating in the sense of gaining more audiovisual eloquence. McClean rightly describes the technological power of visual effects in filmmaking as liberating — the virtual camera (computer generated camera effect) opens the door for different ways of expression. Another example that I have experienced closely is connected to Final Cut Motion, with its wide array of options available for controlling and combining layers of different media into one video segment.

motion

Having the ability to restructure media components in real time and virtual space augments the message’s communicative power, rather than just increasing the levels of interaction. These new, liberating tools help us release our imagination, and communicate our thoughts more compellingly.

[1] McClean, Schilo. T. (2007) Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects in Film. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

My current research at Brock University centers around the ability of computers and games to simulate and represent how systems work in the context of history. Many historians have used agent-based simulations to represent battle scenarios or migration patterns. But these simulations have limited interaction: essentially the researcher interacts (or plays) with the system to test his scenarios. In contrast, games can allow historians and their audience the opportunity to explore counter-factual scenarios. Games are also ‘persuasive’; they can represent how an argument about how a system works (see Ian Bogost). I am using Benjamin Franklin as a case study of the spreading of enlightened and revolutionary ideas. My research project describe a game based on this case study where the main game mechanic is the spreading of ideas. In this way, I am looking to the past to find new forms of interaction and game play.

(cross-posted from Electric Archaeology: Digital Media for Learning and Research)

This is a game you play while browsing the internet, going about your daily internet related tasks… think webquest with mines, treasure chests, and quests.

You play the game by adding an extension to your Firefox browser. This browser lets you ‘sense’ the game world, the activities overlaid on the plain old mundane net. Then, in the words of the game’s creators:

“This unconventional massively multiplayer online game merges your web life with an alternate, hidden reality. The mundane takes on a layer of fantastic achievement. Player behavior generates characters and alliances, triggers interactions in the environment and earns the player points to spend online beefing up their inventory. Suddenly the Internet is not a series of untouchable exhibits, but rather a hackable, rewarding environment!”

So what does this have to do with internet research skills? Well, it occurred to me that I can tell my students over and over again what constitutes a ‘good’ site versus a ‘bad’ site, but if I’m not there watching them, it never sinks in. Given that a lot of my teaching is done via distance, this is a problem.

But what if, as a class, we were all PMOGing? I could imagining setting a question the students would need to research in order to write an answer – maybe leaving their responses on a wiki somewhere – and then sending them out into the net with PMOGed enabled browsers. The game’s stats would instantly record how much work online the students were putting in, and if I set mines on all of the lousy sites I can find – the ones they typically go to, like the wikipedia page on Julius Caesar – and treasure chests on the good ones (like say a page from the British School at Rome, or from an online journal) they’d soon learn the difference. I could also set up quests that would take them to a number of good sites, or sites with opposing points of view, and require them to go to pages supporting or contesting the views… and of course, students could leave their own mines and treasures, and so hindering/helping their peers…

It would be quite neat, actually. Almost like laser tag in the library, capturing-the-flag…

For the past several months I have been exploring different ways to promote the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 in Niagara. To date, my research has been largely devoted to academic articles investigating hybrid and virtual reality along with historical research aimed at key people and places in Niagara during the War of 1812. The greatest challenge has been finding a way to bridge Niagara’s rich historical background to the digital world so that visitors can explore and learn about Niagara’s history in an immersive and entertaining way.

My research has led me to focus on hybrid reality, which would take key historical sites in Niagara and combine them with relevant digital content. The goal is to encourage travelers to discover Niagara’s historical sites in a traditional fashion while employing the latest virtual technologies to make it a rewarding and enjoyable experience.