Staff and students in the Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, were treated to a festive game of DigCurV’s CURATE! on Friday 7th December, 2012. Around 15 staff and postgrad students as well as staff from cultural heritage institutions in Dublin, sat down with mulled wine and mince pies to play the game, and discuss the issues surrounding Digital Curation.
The session wasn’t all for fun, however. Prof. Susan Schreibman and Vicky Garnett used this as an exercise to gather feedback on the game for further improvement within the DigCurV project. The comments they received proved useful.
‘Until you actually sit down and play the game, it’s difficult to know where it’s best to make improvements’, says Vicky. ‘The response to the game so far has been hugely positive, and I found it very useful to sit down with colleagues and play the game, see where the glitches may be, and also see what really works.’
The CURATE! Game was developed in 2011 by Katie McCadden and Prof. Susan Schreibman at Trinity College Dublin through their work with DigCurV, and has since been translated into several EU languages. The game has been played at Cultural Heritage institutions around the world, such as Dartmouth College.
“(The game) does well to foster discussion” says MPhil in Digital Humanities and Culture student, Stephen Flavin.
Roisin Burke, Assistant Coordinator for the Dublinia Cultural and Heritage Studies Programme agreed: “I thought the DigCurv game was a great way to get people interested in Digital Curation and Training. I was not aware about all the different issues that affect the curation of digital archives and the problems that curators face. The Dig Curv game highlighted those issues and provided a forum for discussion and ultimately resolution of those issues. “
The overall response to the game was positive, and feedback gathered has already proved useful in its development. The team is now looking into increasing the number of questions and scenarios for discussion, as well as modifying the rules slightly to give the players an optimum playing time.
If you’re interested in trying the DigCurV CURATE! game for yourself, you can download it from the DigCurV website here (registration required)