CIRCA:Are Video Games a Form of Scholarship?
From CIRCA
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=="Can Video Games be Humanities Scholarship?"== | =="Can Video Games be Humanities Scholarship?"== | ||
| + | We focused on key points from Coltrain and Ramsay's article as the basis for our presentation. These key points are that: | ||
| + | *Games as a medium cannot be easily defined | ||
| + | *Video games are an object of study for scholarship but not a form of presenting scholarship | ||
| + | *Humanities scholarship “often takes the form of a re-creation of the author’s or authors’ experience (whether that is the experience of reading a novel, excavating an archaeological site, viewing a painting, analyzing archival materials, or any of the dozens of activities one might take with respect to primary and secondary sources” (Coltrain & Ramsay) | ||
| + | *Video games have goals and aesthetic choices and forms that guide the player/reader--so too does scholarly writing | ||
| + | *Scholars can build rules in a game space that guide the player through their interpretations of their research | ||
| + | With these points in mind, we chose to consider how the presentation of scholarship has changed over time and could reasonably incorporate video games as a form of presenting scholarly research. | ||
==A Brief History of Traditional Scholarship== | ==A Brief History of Traditional Scholarship== | ||
What we call scholarship in the West can said to have started in Ancient Greece. Educated men would publicly debate about a variety of topics including plays and poetry, government policy and law, the human mind, the natural world, and more. These debates were written down and, along with their Ancient Roman successors, became the Classics. The Classics formed the basis of Western academic disciplines, but also formed the basis of how we present arguments and critical examinations; namely, we take an object or area of study, ask questions about it, and then present what answers we've found to these questions in a compelling argument. | What we call scholarship in the West can said to have started in Ancient Greece. Educated men would publicly debate about a variety of topics including plays and poetry, government policy and law, the human mind, the natural world, and more. These debates were written down and, along with their Ancient Roman successors, became the Classics. The Classics formed the basis of Western academic disciplines, but also formed the basis of how we present arguments and critical examinations; namely, we take an object or area of study, ask questions about it, and then present what answers we've found to these questions in a compelling argument. | ||
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How we present these arguments changed over time, particularly due to innovations in spreading, collecting, and presenting knowledge. The transition from papyrus scrolls to hand-written books by the Romans, for example, made it possible for scholars to create collections of essays on the same issue, or take a piece of classic, canonical text and package it with textual analyses from other parties. The invention of the book also led scholars to create new types of documents such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, which for the first time could be bound together. The invention of the printing press, which coincided roughly with the rise of humanism in Europe, also contributed to new forms of scholarship. Once printed books became commonplace, supply and distribution of academic musings became more widespread, and more people than ever were publishing works, debating across cultures, and taking advantage of this rapid book distribution system to present new research. Beyond literature, the world of GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) also improved scholarship. As Europe began to colonize other countries, they brought back (stole) new artifacts, artworks, and intangible culture such as languages and traditional practices. The GLAM industry exploded at this time, and only grew in popularity amongst the postulation of the theory of evolution and the discovery of dinosaurs. Disciplines such as art history, natural history, and more were able to curate and connect artifacts on a larger scale than ever before. These collections often argued for a particular view of history, culture, and more, but were also able to be used as tools by a large number of scholars working collaboratively on research. | How we present these arguments changed over time, particularly due to innovations in spreading, collecting, and presenting knowledge. The transition from papyrus scrolls to hand-written books by the Romans, for example, made it possible for scholars to create collections of essays on the same issue, or take a piece of classic, canonical text and package it with textual analyses from other parties. The invention of the book also led scholars to create new types of documents such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, which for the first time could be bound together. The invention of the printing press, which coincided roughly with the rise of humanism in Europe, also contributed to new forms of scholarship. Once printed books became commonplace, supply and distribution of academic musings became more widespread, and more people than ever were publishing works, debating across cultures, and taking advantage of this rapid book distribution system to present new research. Beyond literature, the world of GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) also improved scholarship. As Europe began to colonize other countries, they brought back (stole) new artifacts, artworks, and intangible culture such as languages and traditional practices. The GLAM industry exploded at this time, and only grew in popularity amongst the postulation of the theory of evolution and the discovery of dinosaurs. Disciplines such as art history, natural history, and more were able to curate and connect artifacts on a larger scale than ever before. These collections often argued for a particular view of history, culture, and more, but were also able to be used as tools by a large number of scholars working collaboratively on research. | ||
| - | To sum up | + | To sum up scholarship before the advent of the digital age: |
| + | *Scholarship is studying an object or area of study by asking questions, and then presenting answers to those questions in the form of an argument | ||
| + | *Both technological and cultural advances changed how we present our scholarly findings | ||
| + | *Formats for scholarship include not just text but institutions and curation, and the ways in which literature or institutions presented scholarship in turn affected the evolution of scholarly disciplines and what sort of questions we asked | ||
==Digital Scholarship== | ==Digital Scholarship== | ||
Digital scholarship is being defined here as a form of scholarship that makes use of digital tools and/or digital formats in its research and presentation. Video games, as born-digital documents created with digital tools, are related to this academic area. | Digital scholarship is being defined here as a form of scholarship that makes use of digital tools and/or digital formats in its research and presentation. Video games, as born-digital documents created with digital tools, are related to this academic area. | ||
==Video Games as Scholarship== | ==Video Games as Scholarship== | ||
Revision as of 18:43, 1 December 2021
In our presentation we responded to James Coltrain and Stephen Ramsay's article "Can Video Games be Humanities Scholarship?" In it, they tackle the issue of how video games have become a cultural object of study in humanities, but has not yet become a format in which to present scholarly findings. We argue that video games can be used as a form of scholarship by arguing that scholarship has always changed the formats in which it presents itself over time and that video games have clear constraints, rules, and goals scholars can utilize to argue and present their findings in ways both similar and unique to other formats such as theses, essays, and research projects.
Contents |
"Can Video Games be Humanities Scholarship?"
We focused on key points from Coltrain and Ramsay's article as the basis for our presentation. These key points are that:
- Games as a medium cannot be easily defined
- Video games are an object of study for scholarship but not a form of presenting scholarship
- Humanities scholarship “often takes the form of a re-creation of the author’s or authors’ experience (whether that is the experience of reading a novel, excavating an archaeological site, viewing a painting, analyzing archival materials, or any of the dozens of activities one might take with respect to primary and secondary sources” (Coltrain & Ramsay)
- Video games have goals and aesthetic choices and forms that guide the player/reader--so too does scholarly writing
- Scholars can build rules in a game space that guide the player through their interpretations of their research
With these points in mind, we chose to consider how the presentation of scholarship has changed over time and could reasonably incorporate video games as a form of presenting scholarly research.
A Brief History of Traditional Scholarship
What we call scholarship in the West can said to have started in Ancient Greece. Educated men would publicly debate about a variety of topics including plays and poetry, government policy and law, the human mind, the natural world, and more. These debates were written down and, along with their Ancient Roman successors, became the Classics. The Classics formed the basis of Western academic disciplines, but also formed the basis of how we present arguments and critical examinations; namely, we take an object or area of study, ask questions about it, and then present what answers we've found to these questions in a compelling argument.
How we present these arguments changed over time, particularly due to innovations in spreading, collecting, and presenting knowledge. The transition from papyrus scrolls to hand-written books by the Romans, for example, made it possible for scholars to create collections of essays on the same issue, or take a piece of classic, canonical text and package it with textual analyses from other parties. The invention of the book also led scholars to create new types of documents such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, which for the first time could be bound together. The invention of the printing press, which coincided roughly with the rise of humanism in Europe, also contributed to new forms of scholarship. Once printed books became commonplace, supply and distribution of academic musings became more widespread, and more people than ever were publishing works, debating across cultures, and taking advantage of this rapid book distribution system to present new research. Beyond literature, the world of GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) also improved scholarship. As Europe began to colonize other countries, they brought back (stole) new artifacts, artworks, and intangible culture such as languages and traditional practices. The GLAM industry exploded at this time, and only grew in popularity amongst the postulation of the theory of evolution and the discovery of dinosaurs. Disciplines such as art history, natural history, and more were able to curate and connect artifacts on a larger scale than ever before. These collections often argued for a particular view of history, culture, and more, but were also able to be used as tools by a large number of scholars working collaboratively on research.
To sum up scholarship before the advent of the digital age:
- Scholarship is studying an object or area of study by asking questions, and then presenting answers to those questions in the form of an argument
- Both technological and cultural advances changed how we present our scholarly findings
- Formats for scholarship include not just text but institutions and curation, and the ways in which literature or institutions presented scholarship in turn affected the evolution of scholarly disciplines and what sort of questions we asked
Digital Scholarship
Digital scholarship is being defined here as a form of scholarship that makes use of digital tools and/or digital formats in its research and presentation. Video games, as born-digital documents created with digital tools, are related to this academic area.
