Game2Read - READ! Singapore 2010

This event, Game2Read, was launched today on 26 Jun 2010, at the Plaza of the National Library building:


It's jointly organised by NLB and Singapore's Cybersports and Online Gaming Association (SCOGA), as part of READ! Singapore 2010.

Here's a short video I put together from today's launch.

LINK

You can still catch the events on Sunday, 27 Jun 2010 (and there's one more on Sunday 18 July 2010). Here's the key events, from NLB press release, dated 26 Jun 2010:

1) Gaming competition
A gaming competition between the top regional all-girls DotA celebrity team, PMS|Asterisk*, and the recently crowned Singapore champions for Heroes of Newerth (HoN), an all-boys team, Princess Council.
Date: Saturday, 26 June 2010
Time: 2.30pm – 4.00pm


2) Cyberwellness exhibition
Find out more about cyberwellness topics presented by SCOGA on gaming addiction, cyberbullying, netiquette, health and nutrition, and more.
Date: Saturday – Sunday, 26 – 27 June 2010
Time: 11.00am – 6.00pm


3) NLB book loans on books related to gaming and sports
Over the two-day event, Public Libraries Singapore will be showcasing more than 500 gaming and sports related books. Books on World of Warcraft, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Soccer, amongst other titles will be available for loan.
Date: Saturday – Sunday, 26 – 27 June 2010
Time: 11.00am – 6.00pm


4) Quest collectible cards available for redemption
Quest fans will be able to redeem a packet of collectible cards, with every four books borrowed, at the mobile borrowing station at Game2Read. Quest is a year-long reading initiative to cultivate the love for reading in reluctant readers, especially boys aged 7-12 years old, with the use of collectible cards.
Date: Saturday – Sunday, 26 – 27 June 2010
Time: 11.00am – 6.00pm


5) 'Journal Singapore' Boardgame
Designed by Monsters Under The Bed, 'Journal Singapore' hopes to engage youths and the public-at-large in Singapore's history.
Date: Saturday – Sunday, 26 – 27 June 2010
Time: 2.00pm – 6.00pm


6) Book discussions
Books selected for READ! Singapore 2010 such as Legend of the Condor Heroes and Romance of the Three Kingdoms will be discussed during the sessions.
Date: Sunday, 27 June 2010
Time: 1.00pm – 4.00pm


7) Game2Read Hour
GTR Hour will be held after the two-day event. This is a nation-wide call for gamers to take a break from gaming and pledge a gaming hour to reading for one hour on 18 July, 2.00 – 3.00pm under the Read! IT initiative. Jointly organised by NLB and Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), this initiative aims to encourage members of the public to go online to view celebrity gamers, amongst many others, read live via the Internet.

There will also be onsite activities at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), which include a cosplay festival, and a talk by Koei on how they adapted the successful series of Romance of the Three Kingdom games from the book.

This activity is opened to all. Interested parties can log onto the website, www.scoga.org/gtr, to support their favourite gamers from Warcraft 3, Starcraft, Counter Strike and DotA.
Date: Sunday, 18 July 2010
Time: 2.00pm – 3.00pm

Open call for participants for a Gaming preview session at Jurong Regional Library, Saturday 24 Oct.

This is published with my employer's permission.

The Public Libraries (Singapore) would like to invite participants to a Gaming preview session on SAT October 24, 2009, 10am to 1pm at Jurong Regional Library's Verging All Teens space (Level 4). Lunch will be provided.

The Public Libraries intends to run a series of gaming events for the public. But before that, we hope to try out the session with a small group, to get your feedback and refine the programme format.

We plan to have about 20 participants for this preview session. If you're interested in helping the library test the programme format, please email me at RamblingLibrarian@gmail.com not later than 15 Oct '09.

Also, please let me know if you have special dietary needs (e.g. Halal food, Vegetarian). We will need to confirm the number of participants by 15th Oct (first come first serve).

More information below:
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Why is the Public Libraries organising this preview session?
We hope you can try the games and let us know what you think of the programme. The library would like your inputs on how to refine the activity before we open it to the public at large.

What do I have to do at this preview session?

• The entire event is about 3 hours (including lunch) on Saturday 10am - 1pm, at Jurong Regional Library (Level 4, VAT space).

• You will get to play a mix of console games (Wii Tennis, Bowling, Mario Kart Wii, and Dance Dance Revolution) and also board games (Carcassone, Rat-a-Tat-Cat, and Blokus.). The session will be facilitated by our librarians and volunteers. Depending on the games, players will be grouped into teams (which we think is a nice way of getting others to meet and make new friends).

• Lunch will be served, and the librarians will have a short chat with all participants. We hope to get your views on the games and the programme format -- basically your opinions on how you feel about the proposed gaming programme. You may also have questions like "why is the public library offering gaming?". We will answer any questions you have on that day.

Is this session open to bloggers only?
Nope. The main aim of this preview session is to have participants test out the games and format. We hope to get your views on how to improve the session before it is open to public. Of course the library would like to have as many people publicise the event (on your blog, or to your friends on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc.)). But only if you choose to do so. In any case, you're welcome to take photos and videos during the preview session.

Can I invite other friends to come along?
Sure! Feel free to pass this message. But we need everyone to register with us, so that we know how much food we need to prepare for lunch. We plan to have around 20 people for this session but if more people are interested, we'll see what we can do with this happy problem.
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I'll just add that in offering a Gaming activity, the last thing we wanted was for people to adopt a "play and scoot" mentality (they can go to the games arcade for that). The gaming session is designed such that it would encourage personal exploration, and participant discussion and interactions. As well as introducing related library materials and resources through those games.

Well, you'll have to find out more about what all that is about. If you can attend the preview session.

Here are some pictures from our testing session. BTW, thanks to the guys from the NTU Board Games Society: Pratheepan, Aloysius, Ben. They lent us some board games and also took time off their school schedule to show us how the board games work. During our planning session, they gave us ideas on how to facilitate the board games. Their members will also act as volunteer faciltators during the "live" sessions.





At first I thought this was "Risk" but it's called "Carcassone". It involves luck and intellect as well.


My colleague, Aaron Tan (btw he's also the initiator for this Gaming event), showing us how to Dance his way to a Revolution. Or was it Dance in a Revoluntary way? Why is it called Dance Dance Revolution anyway?


Unfortunately, you won't be a Guitar Hero. At least not for this round. We're not having this game for the time being (but maybe our preview session participants may think otherwise).