Introduction
Stellenbosch University’s Library and Information Service is pleased to announce the launch of the Research Data Management Adventure Game at Stellenbosch University. The Research Data Management Adventure Game is a text-based role playing interactive fiction serious game based on the data management challenges of an academic research project. The game takes the form of an online choose-your-own-adventure format in which game players take a simulated research project through the following processes: data management planning, data collection/generation, data organisation, data description and research publication; whilst encountering data management challenges along the way. The game itself was developed as part of a collaboration between the University of Bath Library and Stellenbosch University’s Library and Information Service.
The Research Data Management Adventure Game was developed from 2017 - 2020 by: Alex Ball (University of Bath), Samuel Simango (Stellenbosch University) and Nushrat Khan (University of Bath). In January 2021, the Wellcome Trust’s Early Career Researchers Advisory Board endorsed the game by including it in the Wellcome Open Research early career researchers pack.
Aim of the Game
The objective of the Research Data Management Adventure Game is to demonstrate, if not actually teach, good practice in research data management. The game was designed to assist researchers to understand good practices of research data management. The specific learning outcomes are focused on the following aspects:
The Targeted Audience
The Research Data Management Adventure Game is aimed primarily at postgraduate students as well as early career researchers and academics. However anyone who has a vested interest in understanding how research data management works on a practical level, e.g research support staff, could find the game to be beneficial.
Game Play
The game takes players through different stages of the research data lifecycle, presents them with a data management challenge and allows them to make decisions that affect the success of their research projects. Players progress either by making straightforward binary choices or by completing something more puzzle-like. In the process certain challenges test the effectiveness of the decisions made by the players. The tone of the game has been kept light hearted so as to maintain its entertainment value.
Since the game simulates the entire research data management lifecycle the repercussions for the decisions which researchers make can be experienced in a safe environment – thus permitting researchers to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them without suffering the associated real-life consequences. Game players can opt to play the entire game or they may select to only play specific stages of the research data management lifecycle.
Find Out More and Play the Game
The Research Data Adventure Game was launched in December 2020 at the University of Bath. The game itself has been released under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) and is hosted on GitLab. If you are interested in playing the game you can click here.
Researchers interested in learning more about SUNScholarData are welcome to contact the Manager: Research Data Services of the Library at ssimango@sun.ac.za.
Further Reading
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