The Digital Humanities Exchange: A Multimedia Trading Post for Game-Based Learning in the Humanities

2007 CAH Interdisciplinary Research Proposal, GrantIContracts Category Final Report

Submitted July 10,2008

SECTION 1: Project Results

Overview

Our interdisciplinary team (McDaniel and Underberg from Digital Media, Kitalong from English, Fiore

from PhilosophylIST, and Tripp from EnglishPhilosophy) proposed to build upon our existing work in creating

usable game-based technologies in the humanities to allow for an innovative, exchange-based approach to

information management. Although our project team has now built or is currently building several humanities

learning games, we did not aim to build another game through this proposal. Instead, our goal was to create an

exchange mechanism to connect pioneers hoping to use virtual worlds with their own specialized content or with

preexisting assets uploaded by other subject matter experts. Using the funds from the CAH Interdisciplinary

Research Award, we began the construction of a trading post for scholars interested in using game-based learning

for the humanities. Our ultimate goal is to disseminate knowledge about how to build educational computer

games -even on a shoestring budget and with minimal technical resources or experience. From this, our

objective is to position the College of Arts and Humanities as a leader in working with emerging technologies for

humanities applications and provide exposure for the innovative work being done in this domain.

Project Results: Technical Results

The majority of our work on this project was completing late in the spring semester and early in the

summer semester (through June 30). Working with CAH technical support and budgetary administrative staff, we

were able to accomplish the following technical results:

The ordering of a high-capacity Dell PowerEdge server to house the Digital Humanities Exchange

Setup and installation of this new server

Programming and development of a prototype Web-based system to serve as the initial test phase for our

Digital Humanities Exchange portal (available at ~~://w~w.d~i~all~~~~n~tiitic~.~~~h.~~~f~~d~~/i~ici~x.plip),

We are continuing to work on this using student OPS funding from outside sources through the end of the

summer and expect to have a "beta" version ready to launch in December, 2008.

Project Results: Scholurlv Results

In addition to these achieved technical goals, our team also managed to accomplish several scholarly

goals related to the publication, presentation, and continued funding of our project. These results are listed here:

Related Journal Articles Submitted

Underberg, N., McDaniel, R., Tripp, M., Fiore, S.M., & Kitalong, K. Telling Traditional Stories in

Virtual Environments: Narrative Elements, Spatial Representation, and Perspective in Educational

Computer Game Design. Submitted to peer-reviewed journal Storytelling, Self, and Society. Currently

under review.

Related Conference Papers, Posters, and Presentations

McDaniel, R., Fiore, S.M., & Stanlick, N. (2008). Using Game-Based Technologies for Teaching Ethics.

Paper to be presented at the 8th International Multimedia Educational Resource for Leaming and Online

Teaching (MERLOT) conference. August 8,2008. International conference.

McDaniel, R., Fiore, S.M., Underberg, N., Tripp, M., Kitalong, K., & Moshell, J.M. (2008). Designing

Usable Learning Games for the Humanities: Five Research Dimensions. Paper presented at the 2008

Digital Humanities Conference in Oulu, Finland. June 26,2008. lnternational conference.

Tripp, M., McDaniel, R., Underberg, N., Kitalong, K. and Fiore, S.M. (2008). Knight's Quest: A Video

Game to Explore Gender and Culture in Chaucer's England. Poster presented at the 2008 Digital

Humanities Conference in Oulu, Finland. June 26,2008. . McDaniel, R., Fiore, S.M., Underberg, N., Tripp, M., & Telep, P. (2008). Game-BasedLearning in the

Humanities. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (With Video Games!). Key note presentation for

the UCF Scholarship of Teaching and Leaming Showcase during UCF Research Week. April 2,2008.

McDaniel, R. (2008). Humanistic Information Technology: The Semiotics of Play and Storytelling.

Paper presented at the Rochester Institute of Technology Information Technology Colloquium in

Rochester, NY. Invited speaker for the colloquium series. February 8,2008.

McDaniel, R. Game-Based Technologies for Teaching Ethics. (2008). UCF Research and Development

on Ethics Education Panel. Paper presented at the 2008 Knowledge Rights and Information Sharing

Conference in Orlando, FL. February 1,2008. National conference.

McDaniel, R., Fiore, S.M., Underberg, N., Tripp, M., & Telep, P. (2008). Toward a Scholarship of

Teaching and Learning for the Digital Humanities. Presentation for the UCF Center for Humanities and

Digital Research Digital Narrative Group Colloquium. Orlando, FL. May 7,2008.

McDaniel, R., Fiore, S.M., & Mundy, C. (2008). Game Based Technologies for Teaching in the

Humanities. Presentation to the African American History and Genealogical Society. Orlando, FL. May

3,2008.

McDaniel, R., Fiore, S.M., & Stanlick, N. (2008). Game Based Technologies for Teaching about Elhics.

Presentation to the 2008 Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Summer Conference, Information

Fluency track. Orlando, FL. April 30,2008.

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SECTION 2: Outside Funding Our primary outside funding source for this project is the National Endowment for the Humanities Digital

Humanities Start-Up grant program. We submitted our proposal (a follow up from a rejected but favorably

reviewed earlier proposal) on April 2, 2008. We will hear hack from this submission in September.

Review comments from our earlier proposal submitted in 2007 (sought using last year's interdisciplinary

grant award funds) were very encouraging (and we are happy to send these along upon request). Using these

comments as a starting point for this year's submission, we submitted what we believe to be a substantially

improved proposal

In addition to the NEH grant, we also submitted two other related grants (one to the NEH workshop

division and another to the MacArthur foundation). These grants, unfortunately, were not funded, but we

continue to have high hopes for the NEH start up program.

Grant Submissions

$50,000.00. (2007, resubmission in 2008). The Digital Humanities Exchange: A Multimedia Trading

Post for Game-Based Learning in the Humanities. Submitted to the National Endowment for the

Humanities. Rudy McDaniel, Natalie Underberg, Karla Kitalong, Michael Moshell, and Mary Tripp.

Currently under review.

$99,398.02. (2008). Game Design Workshopfor History and Culture. Workshop proposal submitted to

the National Endowment for the Humanities. Natalie Underberg, Rudy McDaniel, Stephen Fiore, and

Karla Kitalong. Denied funding.

$250,000.00. (2007). Humanities-Based Learning Environments: Networking Students, Educators, and

Researchers for the Development of Learning Tools in the Humanities. Submitted to the MacArthur

Foundation. Karla Kitalong, Natalie Underberg, Rudy McDaniel, and Mary Tripp. Denied funding.

SECTION 3: Budget Report Initial Budget

$lohour * 100 hours %1,000.00 300 hours $ 4 . 2 m

~... - - r----

Historical Subject Maner Expert Consultant (Mundy)

- . . -

Dell PowerEdge 2950 Server, 3 Year Warranty, 3.5Tb Storage

The following table shows our initial requested budget. Although our technical expenditures were slightly higher than initially projected, we were able to stay fairly close to our submitted categories. Fortunately, our server was less expensive than we predicted, so this helped to mitigate our slightly increased production costs. Also, as Dr. Jane Aiken from the NEH attended UCF for a campus visit on February 28,2008 (and several of our project members were able to attend this meeting), this helped to free up the funds allocated for a visit to the NEH to be used for production.

$5,000.00

Below is the final breakdown of our project costs through June 30,2008 (we managed to come in slightly under our initial projected budget):

TraveUConferencing %1,000.00 $1,000.00

Final Budget Breakdown

Consultant fee (Carol Mundy - April, 2008): $1000.00 Technical support fee (CAH technical support - May, 2008): $1000.00 Sewer and equipment costs (including warranty - March, 2008): $3637.04 Additional game development software costs (June, 2008): $51 1.95 Conference airfare and registration fees (April, 2008): $815.00 OPS student costs for design and programming work (March - June, 2008): $5860.50

Total: $12,824.49

SECTION 4: Collateral Material The following pages show screen captures and wireframes that we developed to send along to the National

Endowment for the Humanities as appendices for our proposal.

Sample Interface (Generic)

Figure 1 shows an interface design idea for the Digital Humanities Exchange. This screen capture shows the inner

content page that wi l l be displayed once a project has been selected from the home page.

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Figure 1: Generic Interface Design

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Sample Interface (Underground Railroad Game)

Figure 2 is similar to Figure 1, but in this case an actual example project is displayed in the interface. Note the

integration of threaded discussion (both scholarly and technical topics) as well as the list of game reference assets and

in-game assets. Recognizable icons will be used to indicate the file types of included assets. This project also includes

links to associated archives such as the Dickinson College NEH Workshop Archive and the PBS Resource Bank site

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Figure 2: Interface Design with Sample Project

Home Page

Figure 3 shows the layout for the Digital Humanities Exchange home page. The main page will l ist a small number of

projects (six or so) and will allow visitors to access subpages using the navigation bar shown on the left-hand side of the

page. Users can browse (look for existing projects and assets), contribute (create new projects and upload assets),

discuss (use the embedded discussion forums), search (search for projects or assets by social group, historical period,

topic, or keywords), or contact the DHE staff.

Figure 3: Home Page

Browse Page p ro jec t Selected)

Figure 4 shows a wireframe outline for the inner content page once a project has been selected from the home page (shown in Figure 3). Figures 1 and 2 show sample graphical interface ideas for this wireframe.

Figure 4: Wireframe, Inside Page

Figure 5 and Figure 6 show two functional mockups of Web forms that will be used to collect information about projects and their associated assets from contributing authors. These mockups are intended to show functionality only; their final designs would be compatible with the design ideas shown in Figures 1-2. Numerous "Add" links shown in both figures allow visitors to add additional selection options to default categories. Moderation for this functionality can be enabled if duplicitous or erroneous entries become a problem.

The options shown in these figures are not intended to be representative of the entire classification scheme used by the DHE. These are provided to illustrate sample items in each category. Time will be allocated in the scheduled work plan to research and/or develop comprehensive listings of historical periods, geographical periods, social groups, and humanities topics and subject areas.