research-article

Fishing with friends: using tabletop games to raise environmental awareness in aquariums

Authors:

Sarah D'Angelo,

D. Harmon Pollock,

Michael HornAuthors Info & Claims

IDC '15: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children

Pages 29 - 38

https://doi.org/10.1145/2771839.2771843

Published: 21 June 2015 Publication History

Abstract

We present the design and evaluation of an exhibit on the consequences of overfishing that we deployed at a local aquarium. The exhibit, Fishing with Friends, is a multiplayer game in which visitors compete to earn money by catching fish. As the game progresses, overzealous fishing results in damage to a simulated ocean ecosystem. Our goal is to encourage visitors to reflect on damage caused by overfishing and discuss strategies to preserve shared ocean resources. Aquariums are leading the effort to inform the general public about issues of marine sustainability. However, it is challenging to make these complex topics engaging and accessible to a diverse audiences in real-world settings. We conducted a study with 523 visitors at the aquarium to evaluate our design. Results from a questionnaire suggest that engagement with Fishing with Friends improved our target audience's awareness of environmental issues compared to those who were not exposed to the game. Our results also highlight challenges of using interactive tabletops displays in crowded and chaotic exhibit halls. On average, 52.6 visitors interacted with the game every hour that the exhibit was on display; this rapid flow limited engagement and presented unique design challenges that we discuss in this paper. Future work will be needed to assess longer term impacts and to compare game play to other forms of interactive and non-interactive interventions.

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Index Terms

Fishing with friends: using tabletop games to raise environmental awareness in aquariums
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction paradigms

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cover image ACM Conferences

IDC '15: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children

June 2015

488 pages

ISBN:9781450335904

DOI:10.1145/2771839

Conference Chairs:
Marina Umaschi Bers
Tufts University
,
Glenda Revelle
University of Arkansas

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 21 June 2015

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June 21 - 24, 2015

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IDC '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 24 of 103 submissions, 23%;

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3670947.3670970
Zummo LMenlove RMassey E(2024)Navigating Failure in a Museum-Based Videogame: Convergent and Divergent Mechanisms of Collaboration as Potential Levers for Informal Learning About Climate ChangeJournal of Science Education and Technology10.1007/s10956-024-10129-533:6(851-866)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-024-10129-5
Sultana ABakogeorge ATibu TZeng LHadinezhad SZaccagnini LCang XGnesdilow DTarun APuntambekar STissenbaum MMazalek A(2023)In-class Collaborative Learning Environment for Middle School Children: A Usability StudyProceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3585088.3593915(661-666)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2023
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Vasalou AGauthier A(2023)The role of CCI in supporting children’s engagement with environmental sustainability at a time of climate crisisInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.10060538(100605)Online publication date: Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.100605
Mylonas GHofstaetter JGiannakos MFriedl AKoulouris P(2023)Playful interventions for sustainability awareness in educational environments: A longitudinal, large-scale study in three countriesInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2022.10056235(100562)Online publication date: Mar-2023
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Wise AAntle AWarren J(2021)Design Strategies for Collaborative Learning in Tangible Tabletops: Positive Interdependence and Reflective PausesInteracting with Computers10.1093/iwc/iwab02633:3(271-294)Online publication date: 6-Oct-2021
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