modeling knowledge co-creation games as activity systems (isaga 2014)
TRANSCRIPT
Modeling knowledge co-creation games as activity systemsOtso Hannula, Olivier Irrmann, Riitta Smeds18th international IFIP Workshop on Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial Management9.7.2014
SimLab• Enterprise Simulation Laboratory
SimLab– Research in business networks and
collaborative business processes
• The ATLAS project– Cross-disciplinary project on service
co-development methods– Collaboration between management,
innovation, design and learning research
– The ATLAS game as a practical outcome
Knowledge co-creation as learning, but also as problem solving
Demonstrated learning potential of games Ability of games to motivate collaboration
→Can games support knowledge co-creation?
Background
The ATLAS game
• 3-5 players playing collaboratively with 2 facilitators
• Explore the three islands on the map and answer service co-development related questions
• The players will plan a service co-development project and learn about co-development methods
The ATLAS game
The ATLAS game
The ATLAS game
Participants Methods & tools Project definition
• Knowledge is… – Practice-based: the acquiring and application of knowledge are
inseparable (Orlikowski, 2002)
– Social: practices are partaken and developed in social contexts and communities (Lave & Wenger, 1991)
• Focus on object-oriented knowledge co-creation, i.e. the collaborative development of practices through the development of shared objects (Paavola et al., 2002)
Theoretical framework
Orlikowski, W., 2002. Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Distributed Organizing. Organ. Sci. 13, 249–273. Lave, J., Wenger, E., 1991. Communities of practice. Cambridge University Press.Paavola, S., Lipponen, L., Hakkarainen, K., 2004. Models of Innovative Knowledge Communities and Three Metaphors of Learning. Rev. Educ. Res. 74, 557–576.
• Activity theory is a psychological theory that emphasizes the object-orientedness of human activities and the ability of objects to motivate collaboration (Vygotsky, 1978)
• Yrjö Engeström (1987) proposed the model of activity systems which emphasizes the relationship between:– the subject and object of an activity, – the tools that mediate the relationship, – and the outcome of the activity.
Theoretical framework
Engeström, Y., 1987. Learning by Expanding. An Activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Orienta-Konsultit Oy.Vygotsky, L.S., 1978. Mind in Society. Harvard University Press.
TOOLS
SUBJECTOBJECT
OUTCOME
Modeling activity systemsTOOLS
SUBJECT
OBJECT
OUTCOME
RULES COMMUNITY DIVISION OF LABOR
Engeström (1987)
“To play a game is to attempt to achieve a specific state of affairs, using only means permitted by rules,
where the rules prohibit use of more efficient in favor of less efficient means, and where the rules
are accepted just because they make possible such activity.” Suits (1978)
1. Goal-oriented
2. Rule-defined means of pursuing the goal (constitutive rules)
3. Constraints on reaching the goal (regulative rules)
4. Voluntary participation
Game structure
Suits, B., 1978. Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Game structure as an activity system
(Tool)CONSTITUTIVE RULES
(Subject)PLAYER
(Object)GAME OBJECT
(Outcome)OUTCOME
(Rules)REGULATIVE RULES
(Community)PARTICIPANTS AS
COMMUNITY
(Division of labor)ROLES
ATLAS game as an activity system
Movement, turn order, picking cards, presenting new information
(Tool)CONSTITUTIVE RULES
Single players, collaborative decisions
(Subject)PLAYER
Cards, map tokens, answers, shared fiction
(Object)GAME OBJECT
Turn order, consensus building
(Rules)REGULATIVE RULES
Players, facilitators
(Community)PARTICIPANTS AS
COMMUNITY Characters
(Division of labor)ROLES
(Outcome)OUTCOME
Project plan, learning
• Modeling game structure as an activity system highlights the object-oriented aspects of games→Informs the design of better games for knowledge co-creation
• The ability of games to take configurations resembling existing working practices→Future research in combining extant theory on knowledge co-
creation, and theory of games as practices (Malaby, 2007)
→Use of games in developing existing practices
Discussion
Malaby, T.M., 2007. Beyond Play A New Approach to Games. Games and Culture 2, 95–113. doi:10.1177/1555412007299434
