Exploring Engagement: From Games to News Developing Models of Interaction and Play for Youth with Local News Torbjörn Svensson Thesis Proposal Draft (50% Seminar) – Level Up Project School of informatics University of Skövde, Sweden Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 IS ONLINE NEWS BROKEN (AND DOES IT NEED FIXING)? ............................................................. 1 1.2 AIMS .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 OBJECTIVES .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2 NEWS AND DIGITAL NEWS .................................................................................................... 3 2.1 NEWS, NEWSPAPERS AND LOCAL NEWS(PAPERS) .......................................................................... 3 2.1.1 The Local Daily Newspaper ........................................................................................................ 4 2.1.2 The Importance of Local Newspaper Readers and Print vs. Digital News? 5 2.2 WHAT IS DIGITAL NEWS ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.1 Digitalization (What Is It and What Could It Be?) ........................................................... 5 2.2.2 Digitalization of News Production .......................................................................................... 6 2.2.3 Digitalization of News Reading ................................................................................................ 7 2.2.4 “Produsage” and User Participation in the Digital Age ................................................. 8 2.3 SPECIFICS OF NEWS AND DIGITAL NEWS ....................................................................................... 10 2.3.1 The Specifics of Youth ................................................................................................................ 10 2.3.2 The Specifics of Mobile platforms ......................................................................................... 12 2.3.3 The Specifics of Local and Location-Based News .......................................................... 12 2.3.4 The Specifics of Interaction and News ................................................................................ 12 2.3.5 The Specifics of Play and News? ............................................................................................ 12 2.3.6 The Specifics of Engagement .................................................................................................. 13 3 GAMIFICATION ....................................................................................................................... 13 3.1 GAME DESIGN ELEMENTS IN NON-GAME CONTEXT .................................................................... 13 3.2 GENERAL EFFECTS OF GAMIFICATION ............................................................................................ 16 3.3 NEWSGAMES AND GAMIFICATION OF NEWS .................................................................................. 17 3.3.1 Gamification of News Production ......................................................................................... 19 4 ENGAGEMENT ......................................................................................................................... 21 4.1 ENGAGEMENT AND PERSONAL FULFILMENT ................................................................................. 21 4.2 A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR USER ENGAGEMENT WITH TECHNOLOGY ........................ 22 4.3 ENGAGEMENT IN GAMES AND GAMIFICATION ................................................................................ 23 4.4 SELF DETERMINATION THEORY ....................................................................................................... 24 4.5 SELF DETERMINATION THEORY: THE SIX MINI-THEORIES .......................................................... 25 4.5.1 Cognitive Evaluation Theory .................................................................................................. 25 4.5.2 Organismic Integration Theory ............................................................................................. 25 4.5.3 Causality Orientations Theory ............................................................................................... 26 4.5.4 Basic Psychological Needs Theory ....................................................................................... 26 4.5.5 Goal Contents Theory ................................................................................................................. 27 4.5.6 Relationships Motivation Theory .......................................................................................... 27 4.6 USING SDT TO EXPLAIN GAME ENGAGEMENT .............................................................................. 27 4.6.1 Games and the Need for Competence ................................................................................. 28 4.6.2 Games and the Need for Autonomy ..................................................................................... 29 4.6.3 Games and the Need for Relatedness .................................................................................. 29 4.6.4 Immersion and Presence in Games ...................................................................................... 30 4.7 THE PENS FRAMEWORK AND SELF DETERMINATION THEORY (AS APPLIED TO GAME DESIGN) ................................................................................................................................................ 30 4.8 BRIDGES BETWEEN O´BRIEN AND TOMS ENGAGEMENT MODEL AND SELF DETERMINATION THEORY ............................................................................................................................ 31 5 MAKING DIGITAL NEWS ENGAGING USING NEEDS SATISFACTION ...................... 33 5.1 COULD STRUCTURAL LESSONS BE LEARNED FROM DIGITALIZATION OF MEDIA OTHER THAN NEWS? ..................................................................................................................................... 33 5.1.1 Music on vinyl/CD -> Online streaming services ............................................................ 33 5.1.2 From Cable TV/Media Rental to Online Video On-Demand Streaming. .............. 34 5.1.3 Games on Cartridge/Tape/Floppy Disc/Optical Disc to Online Distribution .................................................................................................................................................... 34 5.2 FROM GAME ENGAGEMENT TO NEWS ENGAGEMENT .................................................................. 36 5.3 GAMES AND AUTONOMY .................................................................................................................... 36 5.4 DIGITAL NEWS AND AUTONOMY ...................................................................................................... 36 5.5 HOW AUTONOMY COULD BE USED IN DIGITAL ONLINE NEWS .................................................. 37 5.5.1 Different “Views” or Sorting of the Same Material ....................................................... 37 5.5.2 Commenting, Marking and Transmediating Over Multiple Platforms ................ 38 5.5.3 Connect to history and other sources ................................................................................. 38 5.5.4 Interaction or Reconfiguration? ........................................................................................... 39 5.6 GAMES AND COMPETENCE ................................................................................................................. 39 5.7 DIGITAL NEWS AND COMPETENCE .................................................................................................. 40 5.7.1 Challenging Individual Reader Competence .................................................................... 40 5.8 BUILDING READERS’ COMPETENCE IN DIGITAL ONLINE NEWS ................................................. 41 5.8.1 Meeting the Readers at Their Level of Competence ..................................................... 41 5.8.2 Reader Responsibility ................................................................................................................ 42 5.8.3 Clear Progression Overview .................................................................................................... 42 5.9 GAMES AND RELATEDNESS ................................................................................................................ 43 5.10 DIGITAL NEWS AND RELATEDNESS .............................................................................................. 43 USING RELATEDNESS IN DIGITAL ONLINE NEWS ..................................................................................... 43 5.10.1 Who is/Has Been Reading This? ......................................................................................... 43 5.10.2 Reader Groups ............................................................................................................................ 44 5.10.3 Geo –Taged Articles and Readers ...................................................................................... 45 5.10.4 AR Integration (or ‘Placing One’s Flag’) ........................................................................