The use of an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) by Microsoft to support the launch of Vista gets a close-up in The Guardian. ARGs are described as cross-media collaborative treasure hunts, clues to an overarching story are hidden in every conceivable medium of distribution. Hundreds of thousands of players work together via digital channels to solve the games' puzzles. They are the social media counterpart of the advergaming approach being used in the commercial sector and with some social marketing applications as well.
"A very key trend which is right at the heart of what ARGs are all about is participatory culture: the convergence of collective media, how they're interconnected and a collective intelligence," explains Michael Smith, CEO of London-based ARG developer Mind Candy. "All three of these elements are popping up all over the place, and ARGs are right at the centre of it."
The article goes on to suggest that ARGs might be used as a new form of entertainment-education in global social change campaigns.
In this latter context, he refers to a recent document from Ofcom that explores alternatives to traditional public service broadcast models in the digital media age. In particular, a Public Service Publisher (PSP) responsible for developing new media content for public service purposes. The authors of this report point to the potential of ARGs and other types of new media as vehicles for public service campaigns for health, social welfare, environmental issues, political engagement and economic policy. A new approach to public service content in the digital media age notes:
At its heart, the content would be participative in nature. This enables a new approach to public service delivery – in which citizens are users rather than viewers of public service content, are able to personalise the content and experience, and where the distinction between producer and consumer of content is much less explicit. The PSP would drive community activity and mediation, and it would offer location-sensitivity and a diversity of viewpoints. Its content would retain the purposes and characteristics of the most successful public service television and would aim to have similar levels of influence and impact, but it would be delivered in new ways.
While the scope of such projects seems limitless, the idea has some immediate resonance for me as a way to think about new community-based efforts as well as those national or global in scope. MIT Ad Lab has some more links to ARG resources.
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