Gamification: Groundwork for the future of the CU Independent

At long last, the report is complete and published for public consumption on the Digital Media Test Kitchen website . . . now for you all to go read it!

This research project involved a specialized Qrank quiz game and how it could be used to help boost the readership of the CU Independent. While this report details the process of getting the game up and running, boosting usage of the game and in turn, the opportunities developing a core user base presents to the CUI, we hope to proceed forward with the research and discover if such a game can increase the news literacy level of the players.

We had hoped to further explore the game's abilities to boost usage and news literacy rates, but a litany of obstacles impeded us from making further progress in the first year of work. This is not to say time was lost or wasted. The report details the impediments we have overcome and lays out a succinct strategy for avoiding similar problems in the future.

Simply put, the CUI has three essential tasks to accomplish to make the use of this quiz game a success:

• Establish strong newsroom buy-in. An engaged editor and social media editor are essential for pushing the rest of the newsroom to help generate content suitable for the game. Content compels attention and without quality news content, the questions in the game will in turn fail to hold the user's attention.
• Market the game to users. We thoroughly proved the common knowledge that without a marketing effort, even the best of products will not sell.
• Market the game to sponsors. Obtaining advertisers to sponsor the game will require presenting the new game to the potential sponsors and explaining all of the new avenues available to promote their product or work. No potential sponsor should be assumed to understand how the new game works and the benefit it can provide to them.

Yes, this is absolutely a clear cut path to financial salvation for the CU Independent and an impressively informed level of news literacy for the readers of the publication. Or it might just be a fun game. Not like there's anything wrong with fun and games riding along in a news publication. Remember the good old days of doing the crossword puzzle in the Daily Lobo in class? . . . I'm sure none of you ever read the comics, either.

What do you think? If I told you that if you did the best on a quiz game about current events you'd win $20 to your favorite local watering hole, would you go read the headlines? What if you were simply able to rub the results in your (inferior) friend's face and show the world who was the master of news trivia? 

Sharing My Content With the World

Here's my first test with Repost.us. Go check them out! They are making it easier for bloggers independent journalists to share their work across the web with the click of a button.

I'm excited to give it a shot and I boldly challenge you to do precisely what bunches the panties of the record labels - steal my content! Click the button, take my work and share it on your site. Enjoy it, let your audience enjoy it and hell, if you're really feeling up to it, expand upon it.

Repost takes care of keeping the formatting together, moves ads along with the content and will even let you track the usage of your work.

What do you think? Would you consider using Repost to expand your audience?

Newsgaming in Minnesota

I'd like to call everyone's attention to a brief post I shared on the Digital Media Test Kichen's website about my weekend spent newsgaming: Playing news games in Minnesota The gathering of scholars, game developers and journalists featured a lot of amazing projects that certainly left me a bit insecure about my puny little quiz game. 


But no, it's not a puny little quiz game! If you're in or around the Boulder, Colo. area, you should absolutely go test your knowledge of current events and pop culture. Play Qrank for CU on Facebook or load up the app on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad/iDon'tGiveARatsAss device. 


For more reading about the newsgames gathering in Minneapolis and insight into the potential of videogames to present news, I refer you to real journalist and San Jose Mercury News business reporter Chris O'Brien's write-up of the weekend: Why Are Newsroom Resistent to Creating Newsgames?

Ski with your friend

Yesterday, from the prompting of an article shared by @hhansman, I laid out my game plan for leading an enjoyable day of skiing from the perspective of a strong skier riding with a friend with less ability. Today, I offer the same advice but from the perspective of the rider seeking to keep up with their experienced friends.

Speak Up!

On the lift you will be roughly 6-60 inches from your friends. Take this time in close proximity to let them know what you're thinking and ask lots of questions (this will be repeated often as it's the best advice). Do you want to warm up with something easy? Tell them! Ask questions like: Do you know this mountain? Have you been here before? Figure out what your friend's game plan is and see how that aligns with your ideas.

Take the time while the snowboarders are strapping in to figure out a meeting point and know to which lift you are headed. If you rely on being able to visually follow your friends, you can easily be led into terrain more difficult than you desired, or worse, your friends can disappear out of sight and you will be left with no clue of where you're headed (and what trouble you're getting into).

Take advantage of your experienced friends' knowledge. Ask them what kind of terrain they are headed to and see if there are easier alternatives nearby. Odds are that your friends will have been to the mountain before and will be able to give you suggestions for trails that suit your level.

Eat shit!!!!!!!!

Do you remember seeing this yesterday in the advice to the shredders? Well, it's good advice for you too. To borrow a phrase from my grandfather, "A day you don't fall down is a day you didn't learn anything." The strongest riders amongst my friends are still working on plenty of aspects of their form. Make the most of riding with better skiers and let them lead you into something you've never tried before.

Take your time, work your way through around the mountain and take an extra second to dust yourself off when you eat it. Whatever you do, just remember that the only way to do it wrong is to take the board(s) off and walk. There are plenty of ass-slide maneuvers that can get you down your poorest choices while keeping some of your dignity intact.

Don't eat too much

While I feel the best thing you could do for your day is to follow your friends into a slope you wouldn't normally select, there are limitations to this. As was suggested to the pros, when stepping it up to the next level, it is good to have outlets should the terrain become too overwhelming. Taking on a tough challenge earlier in the day before the legs are beaten up is a good way to avoid disasters. This being said, the first run of the day is not the time for the cliff jump.

Don't agree to do a slope just to try to keep up with your friends. If you aren't a strong enough rider, you won't keep up with your friends. They can quickly disappear and leave you alone to fight your way down the crusty bumps (unless they are heeding my advice).

Find other routes that reconnect with your friends after they jump off the cliff. The challenges you take should inspire you to do something even harder on your next day, not leave you with nightmares of the day you spent two hours crawling down one run. Feel like you’ve accomplished something, not that you’ve simply survived.

Ask more questions

Again, friends who are more experienced on the mountain possess knowledge that should be of use to you. Pry that knowledge out of them and try out some new techniques. They are probably already waiting to give you advice, but if they are following my suggestion from yesterday, they are politely withholding comment until it is requested.

For those most interested in learning a better technique for their riding, I encourage you to study the words of the great golf instructor Harvey Penick. Penick's Little Red Book provides very wise lessons not on the mechanics of the golf swing, but on the psychology of instruction and learning. Chief amongst his rules of instruction was to only use positive language in describing proper positions, targets and methods. The emphasis was on the goal and with proper focus upon doing things the right way, it led the golfer to focusing on where they wanted to go, rather than on where they feared they might end up.

Take the same careful approach when discussing skiing and snowboarding with your friends and ask them to be as precise as possible in presenting their tips and advice. Ask them to demonstrate the actions they describe.

Watch your friends and see if they do the things they suggest. Be sure to ask them afterward. If you watched me all day on the mountain, you’d see me make a lot of sloppy turns in a manner that I would recommend to no one. Ask your friends if they executed the maneuvers as they planned or if they cheated the turn and got lazy.

Be ready for more fun

As I told the experts, a swimming suit should be mandatory ski gear. Not for the mountain, but for the aprés ski. You never know who you’ll run into that wants to offer you a beer a soak. Have a suit handy so you don’t have to offend their senses.

Also, don’t be so tired that you’re capable of doing little more than fill space on the couch. Yes, you have the excuse of enduring all of your friend’s dumb ideas. No, they aren’t going to be all that sympathetic. Be prepared for the friend with endless energy to want to go party in Breck and rage all night.

Enjoy!

However you approach the slopes, I would hope you leave them with good memories of an awesome day. You’re skiing, not working after all.

What do you think? What other advice would you offer for either the beginner or the expert in playing nicely with others?

Ski like a friend

My friend @hhansman was quite annoyed by this article on the etiquette of skiing with a date: Romancing the Slopes - Heather Burke (for those having problems with Boston.com's paywall, try opening the link in an Incognito/Porn-Mode Window) In an extremely rare aberation, I actually tend to agree with @hhansman -- whether I'm chasing a cute ski bunny or helping a friend from the flatlands survive on the mountain, I would say this advice is minimally applicable. The women I have skied with have always enjoyed much more adventurous days than that article described.

Now, for skiers’ and boarders’ benefit, I offer you my simple guide for experts and beginners to co-exist in perfect harmony. As Singles Awareness Day has come and gone, this advice has all combinations of riders in mind and is not necessarily geared toward turning a roll down a mountain into a roll in the sack.

What is your role?

Are you just getting comfortable pointing both tips straight downhill or are you easily bored by most inbound terrain? More importantly, how does your ability compare to that of the friends with whom you will be riding? Some days I'm herding chickens down blue groomers waiting and other days I'm gasping for breath as I'm pulled through the trees by my most extreme friends. Depending on who I’m with, I’m pulling or being pulled.

Today's discussion assumes the role of the stronger skier. Tomorrow will provide advice to those that are stuck dealing with a friend full of dumb ideas.

While you're approaching the hill, see what you can learn from small talk about previous experiences on the slopes. Is your new ski buddy talking about that one extreme run he took down a blue groomer "without making any stops”? Take this as your first clue to not take that buddy straight into the back country. Do you feel your eyes getting wider and wider as your new friend describes "big cliff jumps”? This is very vivid foreshadowing of what could be your impending doom should you blindly follow this friend around the mountain.

So who are you on this day? Are you going to wear the "Follow Me!" Green Jacket and be the pack leader or will the focus of your day's mission be self-preservation?

Follow me!

So you've told some stories and it sounds like your friend is about on your same level. See if you're right. When you get off the lift, find something reasonable to warm up on and let your friend ski in front of you. Take a look at what they're doing. See what decisions they make. Are you struggling to keep up with them or are you worrying that they won't have enough speed to make it across the catwalk? What slope do they choose?

If you are the better skier, you should consider it your duty to help your friend have the best day possible as they improve their ability. Yes, I'm saying you can convince your friend to attempt a new slope or two. This is not to be misconstrued to mean you have permission to head straight to the Outback and take your favorite runs through the woods.

Keep in mind: one poor decision can quickly erode all faith your skiing companion has in your selection of terrain and may turn an educational experience into a painful memory.

Find runs that offer terrain slightly more challenging than what your friend usually skis and see if they are interested in being a bit adventurous. Ideally, find runs with an easy way out. I grew up skiing Santa Fe and my favorite part about the mountain was that you were never pushed into anything you were uninterested in or unable to ski. The mountain had access points to slide into tough terrain and also bail out to easier runs.

In the terms of skiing with a new friend in Colorado, this means the Pallavicini Bowl at A-Basin is not the best place for a blue cruiser to take their first mogul turns. Find tough runs with easier stuff right next to them that can be quickly accessible should your friend tire of the more difficult terrain. Skip the top-to-bottom commitments like Pali and Keystone's Black Forest until your friend has proven they are really ready for such a beating.

Proper Pacing

The article on Romancing the Slopes suggested slowing down for your female companion. Better advice: keep your ski buddy in sight and stay in sight of them. My first day at Beaver Creek would have been ruined before completing the first run had I guessed incorrectly as to which direction my friends went. Luckily I chose the correct fork in the road and found my friends (impatiently) waiting at the lift.  

Even if you're skiing with your normal group, having a plan of where to reconvene helps reduce the stress of losing one's group and attempting to hunt them down for the rest of the day.

In terms of stopping for breaks, lunch and calling it a day, be observant of how much endurance your friend has. Are they starting to fall a lot more often? Are they steering to the easiest parts of the runs and minimizing the work? It might be time to get some lunch or throw in the towel for the day.

Bring a bag of tricks

Nothing warms up a wind-blown ride to the top of the mountain like busting out a tasty snack. Chocolate is all the things Burke described and also an awesome source of instant energy. Oranges are good way to freeze the hell out of your fingers while you peel the fruit. And any snack served on a lift is washed down well with a hoot from a flask of green chile tequila.

Eat shit!

Take that sugar high from the chocolate and the fearlessness from the tequila and go do something stupid and eat shit (and don't die)! If you're spending a day teaching a friend to ride, nothing helps their frustration pass like watching "the expert" go rolling down the hill. To begin a weekend with nine friends at Wolf Creek, I executed a flawless swan dive leaving both skis behind as I planted my face into the snow. The crowd went wild.

Extra points if you detach a ski along the way. No points if your fall is broken by another patron.

Don't teach them too much

Don't try to teach them everything. Better yet, don't try to teach them anything. Respond to questions and wait for them to be asked. No sports are better at turning friends against each other than golf and skiing as friends become the coach and coached. Despite the coach's best intentions, advice is often poorly received. Comments like "Maybe don't cross your tips on the icy traverse next time" can easily be interpreted as "You committed a basic error on the easiest part of the run, you idiot!"

In my one day of skiing Missouri, I went with two friends for their first days on the mountain of their career. One took off and was good to go. He didn't grasp the turning concept so firmly and found that rolling was the best way to reduce speed. The other struggled. I've never seen more brutal tumbles from a stand-still before in my life. He never ventured past the bunny hill while the other friend rode everything on the mountain.

What do these two guys have in common? Neither of them were interested in receiving any pointers from the veteran skiers. They both enjoyed their day and collected the lumps to prove it.

Finish strong

Packing in a few extra runs to catch last chair and leave yourself with a four-hour fight down I-70 is a great way to turn an awesome day into never-ending misery. If you're journeying back to the front range, beat the traffic and find a hot tub to sneak into while you wait for the roads to clear. Consider a swimming suit mandatory for every ski day, unless your friends (not you) are comfortable with you sneaking into their hot tub naked. You never know who you’ll run into and what friend will invite you for aprés ski.

Another reason to pass on the extra victory lap is so you're not a worthless blob after a good day on the hill. It's easy to ride hard all day, pour a drink, slip into the hot tub and say nothing intelligible for the rest of the evening. Don't be that bum! You know how you work. If you aren't going to have the energy at the end of the day to cook dinner, you better bring something up that is pre-made or be ready to drain the wallet. And don't forget to tip - it's expensive living in ski towns and the wait staff has to survive too!

See you tomorrow for an approach from the other perspective -- skiing with your expert friends.