1. The Framework
I believe that if this course is to prepare a student for their thesis proposal it needs to be structured in the way that it will be presented. An overlook of the course reveals preparing a thesis statement then jumping into a research paper based on our thesis topic. For most of us, trying to narrow down on a topic was difficult, let alone the statement itself. I would suggest giving a bit more time to explore for a thesis topic, once that is in place, then start refining a thesis statement which we must keep in mind CAN change after the course is completed. The research paper would act as a reflection on everything that was discovered upto that point and where it could lead. Then perhaps, if a student is reviewing the next quarter then they can prepare their thesis proposal form. Which most of it would be completed with how this course is laid out. Personally, I just feel that there was too much time in trying to structure a thesis statement, and not enough time on exploration I think.

2. Smaller Bits
I believe having smaller parts of the whole due towards the larger one would make sense in this class. initial thesis/ rough thesis / final thesis; rough draft of paper, final paper.  It sometimes felt too rushed.

3. Blogs
Although blogs are a great idea, they were almost redundant of what was in the discussion boards. I know we had issues with them, but if we were all in the same place of where we posted our blogs it shouldn’t be too difficult. It was great to have the posting created where all the blogs were in one place.

4. Collaboration Center
This may sound harsh, but maybe if we limit the amount of the presentation each person has. At times it may feel to some to rush through things so that someone else has a chance? I enjoyed going to the collaboration center, to hear other people’s perspective which in turn sparked more discussion off the center.

4.5 Collaboration Teams
Perhaps dividing up the class into teams to be able to comment on their teams discussions/work at least. It felt as if though we may not had enough of it. This allows students to venture into other discussion as well outside of their teams.

5. Overall it was an intense experience in this course. It really took my own personal toll of how much it can pull ya left and right when trying to convey a thesis statement, create a paper, and just keeping up with all the blogs/discussions. But, here we are in Unit 10…I feel much better than I was when Unit 1 started. For that I thank my classmates and Louise for this exploration in this course!

Thanks for the run!
Roberto

I interviewed one of my professors, who I know has experience with user experience as well as web design. I emailed Professor Hemstead my questions and she was able to respond in a much faster time than Justin did. I was short on time, and trying to catch up on everything that having an actual interview (via Connect, Skype, or phone) was just going to set me back some more.

If I could change something it would be to have an actual interview and give myself some extra time to be able to accomplish it. But, I went with the challenge of taking everything on and tried to wait to the last minute to have a respond back from somebody who I still see to be very informative in my topic. I’ll keep on waiting for him, I really want to know what he will say!

DECADE OF THE NEW ART MOVEMENT SHOWS BIG CHANGES
November 10, 1912
100556500.pdf
By James Huneker ();
November 10, 1912,

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C05E2D9133CE633A25753C1A9679D946396D6CF&scp=1&sq=Matisse&st=p

News and Notes of the Art World
February 13, 1910
104923735.pdf

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9906E0DC1430E233A25755C0A9659C946196D6CF&scp=2&sq=Matisse&st=p

News and Notes of the Art World
January 23, 1910
105074878.pdf

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9402EFDB1139E333A25750C1A9649C946196D6CF&scp=4&sq=Matisse&st=p

Many and Varied Talents Displayed at the Exhibition Given by Independent Artists.; Noteworthy Examples of American Skill — Small Section Devoted to Sculpture.
April 17, 1910
102038198.pdf

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940CE6D71539E433A25754C1A9629C946196D6CF&scp=10&sq=Matisse&st=p

ART AT HOME AND ABROAD; Interesting Collection of Artist’s Drawings Representing Various Schools in the Metropolitan Museum.
September 24, 1911
100504711.pdf

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D04E0DB163CE633A25757C2A96F9C946096D6CF&scp=11&sq=Matisse&st=p

The following are POSSIBLE candidates for the interviews. The professors have some qualifications at least in the area of graphic design, user experience, and other theories. I’ve contacted the individuals below the professors and still awaiting confirmation if they will participate.

Possible Candidates:

Academic

Professor O’Bryan has expertise in digital environment, user experience, as well as web design. He can bring knowledge in the realm of user experience and interface design which is a crucial element for gamification implementation.

Zoran Belic is a professor at SCAD who specializes in New Media Theory, semiotics, and external forces that influence artists. As well in progressive and innovative design solutions. Professor Belic could share insight on design solutions that graphic designers can use to implement gamification.

Professor Rebecca Hemstad bring her expertise in the area of user experience, visual culture, and software programming. She’s been very insightful in both gamification and user experience fields in past conversations.

Professor Joseph “Joe” DiGioia, with his experience and expertise in design thinking and design methodologies can further provide knowledge in the area of design education as well.

Non-Academic

Gamificaiton Summit
I’ve contacted the GSummit team to see if ANY of them would be possible for the interview and I have yet to hear from them. I’d prefer Gabe, but I’ll take what I can get!  Here are their bios:

GABE ZICHERMANN
Gabe is the chair of the Gamification Summit, an author, highly rated public speaker and entrepreneur. His upcoming book, “Gamification by Design” (O’Reilly, 2011) looks at the technical and architectural considerations for designers in this burgeoning field. His book “Game-Based Marketing” (Wiley, 2010) achieved critical and industry acclaim for its detailed look at innovators who blend the power of games with brand strategy. A resident of NYC, Gabe is a board member of StartOut.org, advisor to a number of startups and Facilitator for the Founder Institute in Manhattan.

KEVIN SHANE
Kevin joined Gamification Co unofficially in October of 2011 and officially in March of 2012. He is now the Director of GSummit, occasionally writes for the blog and helps continue to strengthen the GCo Community. These are a few of his favorite things: Family, Friends, NJ, Craft Beer, Kitesurfing, Skiing, Soccer, Philanthropy and of course Gamification.

IVAN KUO
Ivan is the Chief Editor and content manager for the Gamification Co blog and makes sure you’re getting the latest and best news in gamification. Ivan looks at gamification with a critical eye but never keeps things too srsly. He is also the king of putting the ““ in our articles. You can find him on the weekends scouring Steam for more games and DJing electro music with massive bass. Ivan is currently slaving away at trying to complete the Binding of Isaac.

GARY “^GH” HENKLE
Gary wears many hats for Gamification Co. In addition to being Gabe Zichermann’s Chief High Executioner and Press Officer, Gary is the Social Media Manager and frequent blogger for Gamification Co, as well as the company’s office manager. When he’s not writing a new blog, he’s singing choral music, advocating for social justice, and finding new ways to eat carrots.

TAAVI LINDMA
Taavi is Gamification Co’s research and development agent. When he’s not cooking delicious cream-cheese-bacon-mushroom-pasta dishes, he mediates on fruitful ideas and stories on #gamification #fun #IxD #startup #EstoniaMafia and #AmericanHOTDOGS.

KARI COSENTINO
Kari is our head of event operations. We met Kari at Jive 2011 (she was running the show) and knew right away that we wanted to bring her and her talent to GSummit. She helped us put on an amazing GSummit SF 2012 and she’s going to help us put on a bigger & better GSummit SF 2013.

Outside of GSummit
Sebastian Deterding
An aspiring architect in the cathedral of human understanding. Researcher & designer working on UX, games, gameful, playful and persuasive design. He is also another gamification pioneer that deals more with how ramification can be used in different fields.

I’m still formulating my thesis in a much more focused idea which may create new candidates for the interviewing process.

1) How many years have you been practicing in your current field?

2) What design principles / theories do you believe would be beneficial for a graphic designer to know to be able to design gamification in an online environment?

3) Do you believe that gamification can bring an enhanced learning experience to an online learner or hinder it?

4) Could gamification becoming a standard learning/teaching methodology that could be implemented in the educational system?

I’ll be working on more questions. I need to do research on the area I’m focusing on which will create more questions.

Graphic design is a morphing field that brings together several disciplines to be able to visually interpret messages to the user. Gamification uses gaming principles to bring a sense of fun to a field that may not fit your traditional game. I believe that combining both gamification and graphic design principles, especially in the areas of user experience, interactive design, web design, and mobile media; both fields can merge to provide an enhanced user experience that would make an e-learning environment much more enjoyable…and dare I say it – fun?

What are the topics that my thesis would cover? Gamification, graphic design, and user experience. So I just decided to write 5 statements…and keep it to one to two sentences long.

Statement #1

Applying the principles of graphic design to gamification would enhance the quality and enjoyment of the user experience among e-learners.

Statement #2

Making learning fun has become a goal in the current educational system. With gamification, a new opportunity has presented itself to enhance learning by applying graphic design principles to provide a fun user experience.

Statement #3

Using the principles of graphic design to deliver an enhanced gamification experience for learners can assist in the learning online environment.

Statement #4

Adapting the principles of graphic design to gamification can help integrate an online learning environment to enhance the user experience.

Statement #5

Integrating the principles of graphic design to gamification can enhance the quality and enjoyment of user experience in an online learning environment.

I feel the statements are letting the reader know I would be talking about the graphic design and gamification principles to help enhance the user experience, specifically in an online learning environment. I’ve decided to focus on the learning aspect because using principles in typography, color, layout, web design are essential in implementing a gamification experience to a product that it is applied to.

This quarter I decided to start using Zotero at full force..but at the same time keep my own way to keep things in order. I noticed as I started using Zotero some of the options for citation weren’t working correctly. There wasn’t just an easy way to pull off the info without printing out a record of it (if there is someone share!). I began using the notes option to just add the bibliography section. Another service I use to help with MLA citation is EasyBib. This is a great site that even if it doesn’t find all citation information it provides easy tips on how to acquire it. Plus, it maintains your bibliography live. Oh! Another gem is the WorldCat website, which features a “build a bibliography” section which can be very helpful! You can put in any book (and some journals too) and it will provide you with most used citation guidelines.

I’ve started highlighting PDFs with information that pertains to my topic and thinking ahead of what sources I can use later on for my complete thesis. Zotero does provide an easy way to keep folders and files organized. Which is an advantage. I have been looking at EndNote to see if that would be a better replacement. Suggestions?

Resources:

Zotero : http://www.zotero.org/

EasyBib: http://www.easybib.com/

WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/

Deterding, Sebastian, Dan Dixon, Rilla Khaled, and Lennart Nacke. “From Game Design Elements to     Gamefulness: Defining “gamification”" From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness. ACM,     2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2013. <http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2181037.2181040>.

Analysis:

Sebastian Deterding et al. paper, “From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining ‘Gamification’” (2011), argued that the concept of “gamification” hasn’t been accurately defined nor investigated for its potential use in human-computer interaction. Deterding et al. first support their statement by describing the origin of the word gamification. They explained that the term “gamification” didn’t get adopted until 2010; furthermore they assessed that gamification is still discontented in the game industry and game studies community as to what it actually represents. They begin moving towards a definition by describing the connections between gamification and user interface design as well and human-computer interaction. Their purpose introcuding these connections is to inform the reader of the different research that has come about the different types of games that exist. Those from games that are just playful in nature, to the serious games that have been around for several millennia. By doing this they set up the paper towards a definition of gamification. Deterding et al. believe that “gamification” belongs to an undefined group of gaming, that falls in the realms of gameful design, gameful interaction, and gamefulness.  They defined “gamification” as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts.” Deterding et al. broke up the definition to further explain each section of the definition to the reader. First they explained game, since “gamification” relates to games rather than playing; they do this in order to explain that games are characterized by rule systems and competition used towards goals or outcomes. They furthermore explain the terms gamefulness, gameful interaction, and gameful design to coincide with the introduction of game design elements. Deterding et al. present game elements as the building foundation of games (instead of the necessary conditions for a game);  they explain that these elements can vary between avatars, ranks, economies, to levels. Their purpose is to explain that a game needs design elements in order to be classified as a game; a game cannot just have one element, it needs multiple ones. The authors elaborate on the different levels of game design elements that can be used when designing “gamified” applications which would be considered “gamificaiton” in it that only some of the elements can be used instead of all levels of elements are used as that of serious games and still have the user achieve a sense of a full game experience. Deterding et al. finish dissecting their definition by explaining non-game contexts. They assert that “gamificaiton” should not be alienated from all contexts, scenarios, or purposes; since they believe by their definition that gameful experiences are the likely design goal. Furthermore, they explain that applying “gamificaiton” to already designed games is counter-productive in the design aspect of the game itself; when “gamification” should be considered as a gameful experience in a non-context matter, not for a full pledge gaming experience. Last, Deterding et al. classify gamification in the realm of playing/gaming and parts/whole. Their purpose is to situate “gamification” in the realm of use of games in non-game contexts and playful interactions. Serious games are those found in video gaming consoles for pure entertainment purposes that have several game design elements; meanwhile games that fall under “gamification”  differentiate in game technology, game practices, and game design.

Their purpose is to make the reader aware of this trend and lack of definition for gamification in order to help them understand the differences that exist with gamification and other gaming related systems. They establish a realm of understanding and explanation by providing an audience interested in the subject matter with their views on how to define gamification and providing examples to support their statements. Furthermore, they conclude their paper by presenting the possibilities of further research study that can be implemented in distinguishing games that fall under “gamification” (based on their definition) and that of serious games to get a clear conceptualization of this new trend. Deterding et al. have written to an audience of higher education who are aware of design and theory in the context of games and game design. They’ve written this paper in order to share their investigation in defining “gamification” to an audience that may have heard the term, but aren’t fully aware of it’s definition.

Additional Resources

Carroll, John M.. “Human Computer Interaction (HCI).” The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer     Interaction, 2nd Ed.. Soegaard, Mads and Dam, Rikke Friis (eds.). Aarhus, Denmark: The     Interaction Design Foundation, 2013. Available online at http://www.interaction-    design.org/encyclopedia/human_computer_interaction_hci.html.

John Carroll wrote a great piece on Human Computer INteraction and provides a brief history on how it came about, to how HCI has been used in different fields. What I like about this resource it provides the reader with an easy way to understand the subject matter, and other resources to follow for further information.

Deterding, Sebastian. “9.5 Theses on Gamification.” Coding Conduct. Parsons New School of     Design, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Microsoft Research, Oct. 2012. Web. 19     Jan. 2013. <http://gamification-research.org/>.

This website provides several articles and papers on the topic of gamification that I’ve found useful to expand on the knowledge of the topic.

Deterding, Sebastian. “9.5 Theses on Gamification.” Coding Conduct. Parsons New School of     Design, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Microsoft Research, Oct. 2012. Web. 19     Jan. 2013. <http://codingconduct.cc/Meaningful-Play>.

This resource is an excellent presentation given by S. Deterding on the whole notion of gamification. It is an “updated” view of what was written in the report analyzed and he provides insights on what the piece was about, and further explores the applications of gamification.

Discussion Questions

What happens when game design elements are transferred into non-game social contexts?

Do you believe we will reach a type human-computer interaction that is fully immersed and without an object/artifact to achieve that interaction. For example, think of the Holodeck in Star Trek. http://youtu.be/bcweo19I9wM

As an e-learning student, do you believe that an online course can benefit or falter from the addition of game design elements to make the content “fun”?

Resources:
Deterding, Sebastian, Dan Dixon, Rilla Khaled, and Lennart Nacke. “From Game Design Elements to     Gamefulness: Defining “gamification”" From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness. ACM,     2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2013. <http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2181037.2181040>.

Paramount Pictures. “Holodeck Fight Scene.” YouTube. YouTube, 26 Oct. 2009. Web. 26 Jan. 2013.     <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcweo19I9wM>.

Graphic design is a morphing field that brings together several disciplines to accomplish a visual stimulation to the user. Gamification is a new trend in the business environment that has gained popularity to bring fun to any type of field. I believe there is potential for gamification and its principles to be applied to graphic design, especially through the area of enhancing user experience and interactive design.

Graphic design is a morphing field that brings together several disciplines to be able to visually interpret messages to the user. Gamification uses gaming principles to bring a sense of fun to a field that may not fit your traditional game. I believe that combining both gamification and graphic design principles, especially in the areas of user experience, interactive design, web design, and mobile media; both fields can merge to provide an enhanced user experience that would make an e-learning environment much more enjoyable…and dare I say it – fun?

• Discuss the ways that you are going to keep track of the research you are doing. Make lists of the places you are exploring and what useful tips you can offer with regards to finding materials. Use the ideas covered in the lecture and Clark’s book to illuminate the path for others. Act as though you are writing your own guide to conducting research.

Usually I keep a folder system online to keep track of links I’ve been to and organize it in that matter. Next, on my computer I also have a folder system with images, text, PDF, and online books. I know I’ll be using Google Scholar for most online progress for research and that will lead me to other venues especially in bibliographies or works cited pages that the main sources may have.

The SCAD Library is another resources that I’m looking to use further especially with the access to journal entries. Most of my topic falls within the last few years, so finding recent material should be “easy”… we will see.

The Internet. Yes, the vastness of the Internet will have several sources, but it will be more of a check the resource out and proceed with caution when it comes to selecting reliable resources.

Wikipedia. Now, before anybody knocks me on this; I intend to use mostly the reference section and verify resources which can lead to secondary sources as well.

Professors! I hope to find some professors that can assist me in this field. So far Professors Abadie, Hemstad and Field have provided great information!

• Discuss how you are planning to ‘map’ texts, per Clark’s book.

As I move on with research and winding down specific resources TO use; I’m thinking of using CRAAP forms that were introduced during one of my courses last quarter. Found them to be helpful in weeding out unnecessary resources. Then I would probably create a system of keeping track of information possibly using Zotero which I briefly used…but still thinking of what I can do. So far, my notepads and text files have kept me in line. For now at least.

Once I get my computer situation resolved (this week hopefully) I’ll have all my things in place and have a better outlook on this.

Works Cited:

Clark, Irene L. Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: Entering the Conversation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.

Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/

SCAD Library: http://library.scad.edu/

Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/

Zotero: http://www.zotero.org/