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Flow

Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced cheek-sent-mə-hy-ee)’s concept of flow has had a couple of mentions in recent posts, so I thought I ought to catch up on it. Back when I was doing my MA I read a lot about it in relation to museum learning (mostly in Hooper-Greenhill’s primer The Educational Role of the Museum), but some of that was written twenty years ago, so I thought I ought to get up to date. Continue reading →

Tudor Fireplace Discovered

On the Basing House Facebook page today, an great find has been reported. The fireplace is only a few metres away from the location of the planned summer excavation. So we’re very excited about the discovery of the beautiful object! The story and images in this post come from the Basing House Facebook page, and the Basing House blog. Please visit and register with these sites to keep up to date with Hampshire County Council Museums Service Basing House news. https://www.facebook. Continue reading →

Festival of British Archaeology

Basing House is taking part in the Festival of British Archaeology Basing House CAT Project is excited to be taking part in the Festival of British Archaeology.  Over the course of the Festival, we will be running open days, with a variety of events for you to drop-in and take part in. There is more information on the Festival of British Archaeology website: http://www.archaeologyfestival.org. Continue reading →

Petworth Big Dig

A quick note for my archeaology chums. My work colleagues at Petworth are very excited about the Big Dig, which will run from the 13th to the 21st July. Led by archaeologist Tom Dommett, this is a major volunteer excavation looking for evidence of the lost history of Petworth House and Park. It’s all part of the national Festival of British Archaeology – Tom will be tweeting, hooting, Facebooking and YouTubing like mad during the week-long project. Continue reading →

Skyrim and the Radiant Engine

I’m finally getting my head around Skyrim. The game (much recommended after I completed Red Dead Redemption) was less engaging than I’d hoped. I wondered if this was because of the graphics (pretty, but not as smooth as RDR), or the fantasy setting, but actually I think its because in the early stages, I was out of my comfort zone in terms of thumb twiddling skill. I was never the most dextrous videogamer, but RDR had a pretty perfect flow curve. Continue reading →

A little epiphany

Today I saw a diagram that looked a bit like this: It was in the chapter on Narrative from Tynan Sylvester’s Designing Games. He explains that with this this sort of structure, “any given player misses most of the content”. There’s another problem too – with this sort of structure, it’s incredibly difficult to pace the emotional rhythm of the narrative. Continue reading →

Emotional Triggers

In his book, Designing Games, Tynan Sylvester says: If we look around, we find interactive narrative everywhere. Museums and art galleries are interactive nonlinear narratives where visitors explore a story or an art movement in a semi directed, personal way. Ancient Ruins and urban graffiti tell stories… These interactive forms – museums, galleries, real spaces, and life  - should be our first touchstones as we search for narrative tools. Continue reading →

The Langley Academy

The museum at the Langley Academy A few weeks back, I visited the Langley Academy. This new-build school opened in Slough in 2008, as part of the original academy programme, before every other Tom, Dick and Johnny-come-lately school saw the writing on the wall and moved to become academies too. Its a science specialist school, but with a twist – inspired by the New York City Museum School, the Langley Academy is built around museum learning. Continue reading →

Twitter is your friend

I note that one of the most popular searches driving traffic to this blog is “narratology vs ludology.” I must admit, I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve written only one post addressing that debate, and over all, I guess I’m taking quite a narratological point of view. This post however may begin to address the balance, as this is where I begin to get all “ludological. Continue reading →