Knowledge Games

✍ Scribed by Karen Schrier

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Tongue: English
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Imagine if new knowledge and insights came not just from research centers, think tanks, and universities but also from games, of all things. Video games have been viewed as causing social problems, but what if they actually helped solve them? This question drives Karen Schrier's Knowledge Games, which seeks to uncover the potentials and pitfalls of using games to make discoveries, solve real-world problems, and better understand our world. For example, so-called knowledge gamessuch as Foldit, a protein folding puzzle game, SchoolLife, which crowdsources bullying interventions, and Reverse the Odds, in which mobile game players analyze breast cancer dataare already being used by researchers to gain scientific, psychological, and humanistic insights.

Schrier argues that knowledge games are potentially powerful because of their ability to motivate a crowd of problem solvers within a dynamic system while also tapping into the innovative data...

✦ Table of Contents

PrefaceIntroduction1. The Automotive Salvage Business in America, 1900-20102. Parts, Parts Cars, and Car Enthusiasts3. Arizona Gold4. Junkyard Jamboree5. Not in My Neighbor's Backyard, Either6. Of Clunkers and CamarosCodaNotesEssay on SourcesIndex