Narrative & Games for public’s engagement
Even though nowadays science is an integral part of our lives, it is still felt distant and somehow difficult to interpret by the general public. Many online education platforms dedicated to science popularization and communication, aim at bridging this gap, using different methodologies, such as comics, animations and other visual storytelling techniques to engage with their audience.
In the past decades, comics have emerged as an increasingly popular form of communication, to engage readers of different age groups and cultural backgrounds.
Comics often make use of characters and situation models, which provide the basis for emotional attachment and self-reference, facilitating the creation of new memories.
Comics offer almost endless design possibilities, and many authors have praised the ability of comics to organise information in innovative ways.
Following this line, aimed at improving outreach, a graphic novel “Bye, Bye Robot” was conceived by the JRC as an output of the “Science and Technology for Pollinating Insects” project, which included piloting citizen engagement processes on the topic of pollinators decline across Europe.
Another methodology for people’s engagement on biodiversity issues is through Gamification, i.e. the use of game mechanics to promote engagement and enjoyment of problem-solving in non-game situations. Gamification has been used widely in recent years in industry and academia as a tool for training and education.
Game dynamics are the narrative and aesthetic elements that can make a lesson or a presentation feel like a game. These include a narrative, with different characters, roles, and emotions, and a progression or storyline. These elements capture the imagination - and thus, the attention - of people, and engage them emotionally. Game mechanics, on the other hand, define the structure of how the game is played. These can include the game rules, scoring, and levels. By combining both interesting dynamics and useful mechanics, games are uniquely positioned to teach more engagingly.
Gamification uses design and mechanics, such as badges, leaderboards, points and rewards, to encourage active participation and makes tasks fun and enjoyable. Various game contexts and design elements create immersive and interactive experiences for users.
Gamification can help involving people in research through Citizen science games (CSG). Citizen science games may be perceived as laborious playgrounds, placed between the two poles of ludus (fun) and labora (work).
The CSGs enable the public to contribute to scientific research by collecting and/or processing scientific data and/or learning and applying a domain skill complementary to the scientists’ abilities. CSGs are an effective means of co-creating knowledge. Being gameful, CSGs draw on the motivational power of games to engage a wider audience.
In this context, game-based approaches are a powerful tool for raising public’s awareness about the impact of invasive alien species and their management. “Raccoon Rampage” conceived with this objective, is a family-friendly negotiation game featuring gorgeous, humorous raccoon-themed cards that challenges players to play as a team as well as to compete against each other in an attempt to stop raccoons from invading Europe.
Sources & Further Reading:
https://jcom.sissa.it/article/pubid/JCOM_1701_2018_Y01/
https://futuclass.com/blog/gamification-in-science-education/
https://www.techtarget.com/searchhrsoftware/definition/gamification
https://theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/articles/10.5334/cstp.500