One might think this easy access to information would lead to a more informed citizenry, but as a 2007 report by the Pew Research Center demonstrates, this is not necessarily the case. In the report, Pew asked respondents questions that tested their public affairs knowledge in 1989 and then again in 2007, and despite the many changes in mass communication that have occurred over the almost two-decade span of time, public affairs knowledge changed little. In some instances, it decreased: 74% of respondents could name the vice-president in 1989, but in 2007 that number dropped to 69%.
This Pew report suggests that although there have been many changes in the way public affairs information is distributed and consumed, these changes have not necessarily translated into major increases in public affairs knowledge. Easy access to information is not by itself an incentive to become educated on public affairs, but perhaps if news content was framed in the correct way, people may be more encouraged to engage that content and come away with new and lasting knowledge. This will require an exploration of new platforms for content distribution, and a new web-based game may point us towards one possible structure a new platform could take.
Shuffletime.com, currently in its alpha testing stage, lets users "play the internet" by turning internet content into the game's content. Players choose "cards" which contain links to various web content (videos, images, articles, etc). Clicking on the card sends the user to the web page containing the content, and on a top frame the user is presented a timer and a question pertaining to the content. If the user answers the question within the time limit, the user is awarded coins, which can later be used for "power-ups" (extra time added to your timer), to participate in raffles for kitsch-y gifts (bacon bandages, anyone?) or even stranger things, such as putting an image of your head in the logo of the website for 24 hours.
The company which runs Shuffletime, "Join the Company, LLC," has a simple website, and the only way to contact whoever is behind the company is through a web-based form (my submitted questions went unanswered). Join the Company's other websites are self-proclaimed parody websites, such as Woofer, which functions like Twitter but requires at least 1400 characters, and Google I'm Feeling Unlucky, which gives you a different user's search results in response to a query. The company's portfolio, combined with the kitsch rewards, undermine the legitimacy of the site, but if this type of platform were adopted by an existing news organization, the legitimacy already attached to the organization could extend to the game (much in the way the current company undermines it).
The design of the game itself, essentially a series of reading comprehension questions, would not lead to synthetic learning. Answering the questions does not necessarily require any deep understanding of the subject matter and oftentimes the questions have very little to do with the overall content, such as one question which requires the user to identify the license plate number of a car within a video clip. The way in which the content is chosen and ordered is also problematic. Each card has a fictional personality attached to it that helps players decide which card they will pick.
Depending on the target audience, this format might still be viable with news content, but because these content providers are not real, the site misses an opportunity to establish trust. One could easily imagine these personalities replaced with real editors that actively interact with the playing community and in doing so, help establish trust.
It also might be too hard to trust any organization that provides a material reward for consuming its content, however journalistic it may appear, but more benign incentives, like the leaderboards on the front page of Shuffletime or the gratification of playing the game itself, might be a workable solution that keeps players returning to the website and accessing content. And if the questions were tweaked in such a way that they encouraged a deeper understanding of the content, the players could come away with a deeper understanding of current affairs, even if their main purpose for returning to the site was to play the game.
If a news organization were able to overcome the concerns listed above, then Shuffletime could provide a new model for online news distribution that increases viewership and maintains that viewership, while at the same time creating a more educated and engaged citizenry.
The company which runs Shuffletime, "Join the Company, LLC," has a simple website, and the only way to contact whoever is behind the company is through a web-based form (my submitted questions went unanswered). Join the Company's other websites are self-proclaimed parody websites, such as Woofer, which functions like Twitter but requires at least 1400 characters, and Google I'm Feeling Unlucky, which gives you a different user's search results in response to a query. The company's portfolio, combined with the kitsch rewards, undermine the legitimacy of the site, but if this type of platform were adopted by an existing news organization, the legitimacy already attached to the organization could extend to the game (much in the way the current company undermines it).
The design of the game itself, essentially a series of reading comprehension questions, would not lead to synthetic learning. Answering the questions does not necessarily require any deep understanding of the subject matter and oftentimes the questions have very little to do with the overall content, such as one question which requires the user to identify the license plate number of a car within a video clip. The way in which the content is chosen and ordered is also problematic. Each card has a fictional personality attached to it that helps players decide which card they will pick.
Depending on the target audience, this format might still be viable with news content, but because these content providers are not real, the site misses an opportunity to establish trust. One could easily imagine these personalities replaced with real editors that actively interact with the playing community and in doing so, help establish trust.It also might be too hard to trust any organization that provides a material reward for consuming its content, however journalistic it may appear, but more benign incentives, like the leaderboards on the front page of Shuffletime or the gratification of playing the game itself, might be a workable solution that keeps players returning to the website and accessing content. And if the questions were tweaked in such a way that they encouraged a deeper understanding of the content, the players could come away with a deeper understanding of current affairs, even if their main purpose for returning to the site was to play the game.
If a news organization were able to overcome the concerns listed above, then Shuffletime could provide a new model for online news distribution that increases viewership and maintains that viewership, while at the same time creating a more educated and engaged citizenry.
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