UPDATE:

Two powerpoint presentations on my project with additional information. Also for those not interested in reading texts that are too long. :)

Presentation one - more wordy with explanation of project background

Presentation two - less words with more pretty pictures

For a video walk-through (with captions) of the visual storyboard for a game I am planning on developing (with the same conceptualization but taking on the subject case of my dissertation), please click here.

This project is conceptualized as a researcher’s simulator tool that tries to take metaphysical ideas and concretely visualizable. What I am doing here is to storyboard a game environment specifically targeted at expert users and researchers in order to help them (and therefore myself) to think reflexively about the constructs, processes and tools we use when constructing our methodologies and populating our research with information, documents and various other materials that contribute towards building our final research product. Sometimes, the ‘product’ may emerge as the beginnings of another process, the solution to an existing process or as an entity that can complicate what we thought was the right direction to take. Hence, the game is as non-directed as the research process itself, and one can possibly jump between levels, including bypassing the most fundamental level to go to the higher levels of the research processes. However, the implications of such jumps and choices could then be simulated within the game, with calculations of possibilities made from the decisions taken on by the  player/user. Hence, decision-making theory and AI-type algorithms would be needed to construct just such a game. What I have provided, at this stage, is a walk-through of the yet uncompleted game. As there is not enough time to port the models made on Google Sketchup to a Unity Gaming Engine and then doing all the necessary tweaking and coding to get it to work, what I could is to provide a video version with scene descriptions, as well as this document to point us to the larger picture. See also the original mind map for the project.

Epistemological Game 

THE STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

The game is made up of two sections. The first section consists of the graphical user interface where all the ‘live’ interactions between user and environment take place. This is represented by the Google Sketchup model of a building, the details of which I will discuss further in the next section. Then, there is the database, which will later be constructing using PHP and MYSQL in order to make it more feasible for one to enter or retrieve information that one requires at all time. This part of the database will always remain invisible to the users, though they can toggle its visibility in order to add new modules when required.  These modules are usually categories of information that one wants to deal with, though how one determines such categories hierarchically or according to importance is still open for discussion. See here for a discussion I have started in the process of building this project. For the purpose of this project, I have decided to use three generations of the Duke family members as specimens to demonstrate how this game environment is supposed to work.  Hence, the ‘storyboard’ database is demonstrated through the use of fundamental informational categories that are attached to the family. Here is an example of the database.

Despite its flexible structure, the game will have goals in which the user would need to achieve (since research itself is also a goal-oriented endeavor) and tasks that researchers may have to complete to gain access to certain levels or rooms, though this is itself open to contestations and further research, and thus would require the feedback and collaboration of other researchers. Hence, ‘unlocking’ access of levels is not as arbitrarily defined as in most games.

CONSTRUCTING THE USER INTERFACE OF THE GAME

For the façade of the building that represents the user interface (also informational architecture), I have constructed the front of the Washington Duke Mausoleum to serve as the entrance. As the project is built off a class that uses as its object of investigation, the history of the Maplewood Cemetery in relation to its neighborhood (and the general history of graveyards), I got interested in looking at the Duke family as an anchoring point for demonstrating the difference between canonical (thus an abundance of documented histories) and non-canonical (represented by the scarcity of available information). The canonical information is represented by members of the Duke family with strong ties to the Duke University (especially since the archival information I had been accessing comes from Duke’s Special Collections) and the non-canonical as represented by relationships that are situated in the margins. Sometimes, members that manage to make the news (and has higher profile in the media space, as represented by the abundance of newspaper records one could find) could leave enough pieces for us to reconstruct their profile, even if they may not be part of the dominant discourse. Those who do not leave behind a paper trail of their lives often get missed out in the narrative of the aftermath, however rich their lives might have been when they were alive. Hence, the actual richness of their lives are ill-represented by the blanks in the database that could only hold tangible information, rather than affective/phenomenal information that less orthodox researchers may be interested in (including paranormal investigators). How does one then visualize phenomenal and affective information when such information does not seem to exist? In the user interface will also be a toolbox, not yet built in this project but already envisioned for the completed version of this project, a toolbox by which one can ‘input’ absent information. Such information fall under categories such as:

1 Missing information – information that may have existed in actual documentary forms but were either destroyed, suppressed, buried or misplaced. These can be represented by icons such as fire, ruins, graves (which is an allusion to the idea of information that has to be excavated, sometimes at great cost) or fog and shadow.

2. Fragmentary information – information that were not properly documented or were only documented in spates. These could also included fragmentary information that were mixed up with all the other information. This can be represented by icons in the interface such as broken pieces of paper or parchment, a piece that stands out like a sore thumb in an otherwise uniform archive or a torn document.

3. Non-existing information – these were either information that were never there or which were never documented. The existence of such of information could only be determined when one tries to fit it into predetermined categorical molds, and thus its existence is contestable.  The best icon I could think of to represent this is a perforated outline of something we imagine to exist.

These information could be represented by iconic gestures that will be among the components placed within the toolbox. I will go into the details of this ‘toolbox’ in the next section.

Once one has entered through the front of the Mauseoleum, one is brought to face with a building that is built out of parts of the Crystal Palace, and thus gesture towards the structure of the Crystal Palace, though it is not specifically a model of the Crystal Palace itself. Although the concept of the Crystal Palace is more symptomatic of 19^th century Europe, particularly of Britain, the universality and all-encompassing temporality of its site as a momentary storage for all passing forms of knowledge that one is able to assemble in a space according to what is available allows the concept to transcend its historical location. The original Palace is the site for all forms of knowledge within the European empire and the site of its imperial largesse. The construction of the palace is controversial due to disagreement among those who were involved in the initiation of the project, from the civil servants and professional class who mooted the idea to the institution of a Royal Commission that was put charge of the project. I was attracted to the idea of the Crystal Palace because of the unconventionality of the building itself, one that was built to accommodate the site of its location and also the continuous increment of the exhibits. Moreover, the building was designed in such a way to minimize fire hazard and to ensure efficient circulation for visitors, air, and light. The building is interesting in that it was based on the concept of an open space and built completely from iron and glass.  Despite the several calls for tenders and the submission of different designs from designers from England and without, it is interesting to consider the motivation that drew the Commission to move towards a more unconventional design, despite the political criticism it had to face from businesses, the public and the government, and to approve a plan proposed by Joseph Paxton, a man who have designed botanical conservatoires and wanted to use his design concept from these buildings (which usually have to fit herbage of all shapes and sizes) to propose the design concept for the Crystal Palace.  The building materials were modular and could be easily recycled, and the color scheme was carefully chosen to fit well with the surroundings.  The Crystal Palace as a site for non-canonical displays of all forms of artifacts, inventions and exotic objects, as well as exhibits that represent the master narrative of the imperial world, is fitting for my own project of dealing with knowledge formations that are not yet established and are probably highly experimental, while juxtaposing these forms of knowledge next to the canons and established forms. Moreover, the modular structure of the building means that one can take apart and build in new wings and rooms as one incorporates more categories of things, and this is precisely some of the issues that researchers and scholars have to deal with in their everyday work (and even many working outside the scholarly world).  Hence, the building itself cannot be too solid that makes taking it apart difficult, but yet have gravitas and the affection of solidity. Look here for the full floor plans.

For the purpose of this project, I have constructed three stories with each level not having the exact same formation since each level would perform a different function. I put an arbitrary number (of 3) in order to coincide it with the three generations of Duke Family members that forms the focus of this project, even though the second and third levels look unfinished, and is meant to be unfinished at the present stage of this project.  The first level establishes the fundamentals relating to the individual persons of the selected members of the Duke family, with the most basic unit being on the left-most room just after the reception area and the rooms that will link us to both the inner and outer world of the individuals as represented by the library and the picture gallery. For a description of each of the scenes that had been scripted into the skp file of the complete user interface model, I would suggest looking at this and this. The scene descriptions provide an analytical take on the signification and hermeneutics of each scene, and also possibilities open to each room in a gaming environment. However, I will provide a detailed relationship between the room and what I had done in terms of the research specimens I have excavated. The second level would establish the members of the Duke family in relation to the communit(ies) they inhabit and their interests in the outside world. The third will try to connect these interests to all other aspects of the world space, and the impact of such interests in the world-space. This would necessitate more research than I can carry out within the time constraints of the class project. Even the recovery of information for LEVEL ONE was difficult as that included digging into many unpublished sources, as the most recent book on the Dukes was published in the 1980s.

Feminists interested in the recuperation of women’s history could also begin to demonstrate the gaps within the official records and how alternative sources have to be considered. Also, as my other study into book history has demonstrated, women’s documents are often mixed up with the papers of that of their husbands, fathers and brothers, and one could see that this is the case with women such as Sarah P Duke, the wife of Benjamin N Duke. However, his daughter and granddaughter had more agency in the public world, and thus maintained their own personal archives.

The creation of this game serves a multidisciplinary purpose and I hope to be able to create a structure that would make it useful to all researchers in different disciplines and also in interdisciplinary scholarship. Hence, the researcher will be able to input their findings, discoveries and ideas into the database of the game. The larger goal of this game is also to help researchers in the construction of a document of their research, whether in the form of a paper, book, manual or any other media presentation.

LEVEL 1: THE CHAMBERS

Reception Chamber: This is where the user first enters into the space, not just merely viewing the overall building from the outside. At this space, the user is introduced to the larger goals and purpose of the game, as well as background of some of the research materials that have already been built into the game by previous users, if there were to be previous materials and users. Hence, in this room, the user can do a survey, or also indulge in a bit of leisure (such as listening to a selection of previously downloaded and stored tracks, or watch videos that are relevant to their areas of interest, though this aspect of the game may have to come at a much later stage) and also decide on which course of action they would like to do next (a programmable menu for them to access levels will also be available here). There is a stairway in this area that allows the user to completely bypass this level and move on to the next level, though novice users who have not build a sufficient amount of the most fundamental level of their research may do so at their own risk, since their choice will have future repercussions on their overall ‘game’ and research experience. In the game environment, there will be a receptionist avatar that the user can choose to speak to in order to obtain help and advice. This is probably where the age-old wisdom of experienced researchers can be stored and programmed into an AI.

Family Tree Chamber: As I’ve mentioned earlier, this game is build for all disciplines and I have specifically chosen to work on the history of three generations of Duke Family here. So, in this room, I will be working on building a big picture, outlining the coverage of my research at this level.  The user can pick up two family albums left on the floor, and look at the extended information relating to each of the family member on the genealogical chart as well as a directory of all the other family members that could be traced as far back as is possible or which existed beyond the third generation. The album will provide links to the other rooms containing other interesting informational nuggets about the family members. Then, the user moves towards the tree and then touches the tree to pull out the genealogical chart (I couldn’t replicate this within Sketchup itself but this is what would happen in a real game environment).

Cause-of-Death Chamber: This is where one will be able to access the medical histories of each of the family members, should they be available up to the point of death. This may require special permissions for access to medical records and coroner reports. However, certain public documents can be obtained that may describe the biological narrative of each member. At this point, I have only included whatever causes of deaths I was able to unearth from the public archive. See the column “Cause of Death” in the database. In a game environment, this room will be a mixture of a crypt (not unlike the Mausoleum mentioned earlier) and graveyard, with clickable hotspots containing retrievable information, including even the geolocation of the graves of the family members.

Personal Profile Chamber

This is where we go to find personal characteristics, social status (and relationships) and the professional identities of each of the individuals covered. These could either come from actual statements of fact in census or newspaper reports, first person testimonials or indirect conclusions drawn from other existing documents. This is covered under two columns of the database though they are intricately linked, hence their inclusion into one chamber. One can also find out more by linking this room to the library or picture gallery.

Library: This contains the “Other Histories” as marked up in the database as well as graphic versions of the archival materials (a fuller representative of what I have can be found here).  In a real game environment, the individual books in the library can be turned into actual hotspots that the user can ‘pull out,’ take to the table and open up for examination, as is demonstrated in the scenes showing a table with archival sources that had been laid out for examination. Of course, in a real game, the material would look a lot more realistic and be manipulable but that would require high level of rendering not unlike the digital manuscripts produced by the library.

Picture Gallery: If one is to navigate through this gallery, one can see all the portraits and other pictures that are directly and indirectly related to the three generations of the family members that I am considering here. This is supposed to be a library of portraits, paintings, photographs and ephemera (including postcards) that are related to the family members that the user can examine and make notes on. There will be an actual menu, probably rendered in the form of a ‘guidebook’ that will tell the user what they can do in this room, as they will have a catalog of materials to draw from. They could either look in depth into one, look at a multiplicity of materials that are related to each other or look at a few materials at random. They can also leave behind their reactions and comments that would be filed away and even processed to produce a critical report for future users (there will be a function for that). All the movements of the user will be recorded and saved under his/her profile. See here for some of the photographs relating to the family that I have been able to collect.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STORYBOARD NARRATIVE AND CURRENT RATIONALE

The project is never completed, not only because of technological limitations and the skill-sets of the people involved, but also because research itself can never reach completion (one may see completion only of a phase). Moreover, categories of information evolve and change over time according to how we manipulate them, and also because forms of 'absent' information do not themselves remain static, even if they are invisible to us.

A game environment is the best way to present these ideas because of not only its flexible and interactive possibilities, but the fact that the user can 're-live' his/her experience in a simulated environment while performing 'thought-experiments' on his/her projects within an environment that can re-create a material concept of such experiments rather than having the user merely work in abstraction. In the process of interacting with the informational structure (the database and the graphical user interface), the user leaves behind a footprint of what he/she has been up to, as well as store-able histories that will have actual organic impact on the environment he/she works with. A game environment enables a non-static continuity that is always evolving according to each individual user's interaction with the program, and also consolidates the interaction of other collaborators in the same projects by saving their individual histories and footprints before performing analyses of comparisons between what each individual collaborator has contributed or added. Achievable goals are also an important part of the game, and each user will have goals he/she will try to complete at each level (goals that can contribute to the furtherance of their project) even though they are not tied to having to complete all the goals in one level before proceeding (as they can always return to the level to complete the goals that they were unable to do so previously since one can sometimes gain insight only at a later point).

Sketchup does not allow me to create clickable links within the mockup of my model, nor is it very useful for building highly intricate models or for deconstructing components from previously-built models for use in one's own models. More plugins are probably needed to create a more seamless link between a Sketchup model and a gaming engine. In terms of the spreadsheet ontology. Among the limitations I have experienced is the ability to connect to a user interface so that whatever changes made there could show up also in the database. Moreover, there is no easy ways to search within categories of information, or to show and hide certain information. Furthermore, I am only able to show information in a linear mode, and it is difficult to try to connect between the different informational categories. The spreadsheet lacks the query functionality that is intrinsic to a highly interactive database. It is also difficult to show levels and hierarchies of the different informational category. However, one of the upside of the spreadsheet structure is that it is modular and I can always add, remove or reformat the categories of information.

The archives of the dead connote the idea that in 'death' is a transformative process. Death could either render an informational ontogeny obsolete or it can be the rebirth of information in a different form or ontology. As a researcher, one is always aware of the fact that information is never static, nor is it ever complete in its truth. Moreover,  we may deal with information that exists outside our  cognitive range, and that we may always have to extrapolate from the micro to the macro in order to reconstruct a body of knowledge. Hence, we build structures of information that could either turn up solid or could rest on very tenuous foundations. In the architecture of information, the building plan we construct do not necessarily correlate with the 'real' or architectural principles of a 'real-world' building, but are always under revision so as to best frame the body of information that are in constant fluctuation and evolution. Hence, what we need is a modular structure, one that can be easily removed, modified or added even as it maintains a 'limbo' record of the previous structures in forms of previous versions that could always be revived should that be required. According to the projects that they are working on, users can devise their own metaphors that can enable them to build their conceptual methodology in the most useful fashion, and the game should be flexible enough to contain the different forms of metaphors that best fit the user, while also creating and maintaining the analytics of these different metaphors introduced by the different users. The act of constructing, building and modifying will be included in the achievement of particular goals, as well as the 'home base' of the user (not unlike MUD) where the user can customize functionality and his/her 'den' (the research 'headquarters') using tools that will be supplied to this game. Moreover, users can create plugins and scripts using provided scripting and visual tools that they could save into their customization while also adding these plugins to the store-room/laboratory for other users to retrieve and use.

CONCLUSION

That said, this is a storyboard for an actual game that will be developed in the future.  Alongside with the game with be a toolkit that will enable the expert user to maneuver and control his/her experience in the game, as well as build modules that may be specific to the kinds of research that they are performing, even though the basic modules for every kind of imaginable research (depending on how many researchers across different fields that I am able to collaborate with) will be pre-built. The storyboarding process will continue but in order to test whether the storyboard is in itself feasible, one should build a beta version of the game using the level that has already been constructed in the storyboard.

REFERENCES

1. Duke University, Durham, N.C. Office of Information Services. Duke Homestead. 

2. Anderson. Jean Bradley. Durham County. Durham: Duke University Press, 1990.

3. Durden. Robert F. The Dukes of Durham ( 1865 - 1829). Durham: Duke University Press, 1987.

4. Hobhouse, Hermione. The Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition. New York: Athlone Press, 2002.

5. Wise, Jim. Images of America: Durham County. Charleston: Arcadia, 2000.

6. Ashe, Samuel A.. Biographical History of North Carolina: from Colonial Times to the Present. Vol III. Greensboro, NC: Charles L. Van Noppen, 1906.

7. Duke Family Foundation Records.

8. James B Duke Papers.

9. Benjamin N Duke Papers.

10.  Washington Duke Papers.

11. Washington Duke Mausoleum.

12. "The Duke Family." Digital Collection. Duke University Archives. <http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/history/duke_familyndx.html>

Epistemelogical game by Clarissa Ai Ling Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.