BIOGRAPHY

Ann McDonald is an Associate Academic Specialist at Northeastern University in Boston, where she teaches in the Graphic Design and Multimedia Studies programs. She focuses on educational interactive projects that can best be achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration. Her exhibit and interactive design work for clients such as The Boston Symphony Orchestra, The New England Aquarium, and The National Health Sciences Consortium have offered wide audiences access to complex topics. Her recent collaborations with Jay Laird, students and her six-year-old twins have pushed her into the world of games. She studied at the Institute of Design and then earned a BFA from the University of Washington beginning her career as an information and environmental graphic designer, creating an award winning body of work. Subsequently she received a MFA in graphic design from Yale University. Her design interests continue to stem from a desire to inhabit an information space.

EXHIBIT

JellyTown: can a simulation game be true to 'real' science concepts without sacrificing its narrative arc?
Thursday & Friday

How can educational materials developed for elementary classroom group work be successfully modified and delivered in on-line form when interaction is a crucial part of the learning process? This research presents the case study of a simulation of a town/ocean relationship created for the New England Aquarium to supplement their Amazing Jellies exhibit.

The game play allows children to interact and try out exaggerated scenarios, establishing clear examples of cause and effect relationships. Learning occurs through discovery in a safe environment where progressive play triggers hints for changing game behavior to successfully improve the ecosystem. To link the exaggerated game scenario to the real world, strategies are presented that will help children to understand how changes in their individual and family's actions can make a difference on jelly populations and, more significantly, on the earth's ocean resources.

Part of the goal of JellyTown is to instill an appreciation for the complexities of environmental stewardship. Humans can just as significantly help the environment as hurt it; too often the message is reduced to 'humans bad, nature good', but we are, in fact, part of the natural cycle.

In creating JellyTown, we distilled basic human needs into three attributes- jobs, food, and housing-and human desire into a single attribute: satisfaction. We reduced the human factors to these few components in order to ensure a focus on the environmental aspect of the game.

While the player is encouraged to keep the townspeople happy, the player only 'loses' the game if she runs out of fish in the ocean. Although one might argue that a town could potentially survive the loss of its fishing industry, our reversal on the typical human-centered 'sim game' goal emphasizes the need for an increased awareness of our place in the ecosystem.

The most unusual and challenging aspect of JellyTown is its split-level playing field, which gives the player control over growth in both the town and the ocean. Despite the ability to rapidly change the configuration of the town and ocean, there is still significant challenge in simultaneously keeping the townspeople happy and the fish alive.

For younger players who may struggle with cause and effect, we have provided a means of toggling game play between 'town', 'ocean', and simultaneous play modes. When the player chooses to focus on one environment, the other environment evolves on its own in response to changes. The pollution meter is present in both modes.

Although it is possible to 'lose' the game by running out of fish in the ocean, there is no 'winning condition', nor is it possible to create a perfectly 'balanced' ecosystem within the game. The player can set up a balance between his town's happiness and ecological responsibility, but it is a delicate balance, requiring vigilant stewardship.

The project is in development stages. Ongoing studies of usability and assessment of learning objectives in collaboration with New England Aquarium educational department will influence future versions of the game.