Dr. Jane Secker, Chris Morrison
Abstract: The Publishing Trap is a board game aimed at doctoral and early career researchers which covers the key copyright and licensing issues involved in academic publishing. It was released in 2016 as an open educational resource, and it influenced creation of a range of scholarly communications and research support games.
The game follows the fortunes of four researchers who have to make decisions about how to communicate the outputs of their research. Participants play in teams, discussing these choices before the consequences of them are revealed. The game has the following learning outcomes:
- To critique and assess the publication and communication choices available to academics at different stages in their career.
- To compare the implications of open and more closed publishing routes.
- To critically evaluate the relationship between knowledge, impact, and money in academic life.
The pandemic led us to adapt our board game to be a multiplayer game taught online in a virtual classroom, using an interactive powerpoint and break-out rooms to allow the teams to discuss their answers in each round of the game.
In this course you will have a chance to play the first part of the game, which focuses on the choices early career researchers make in the following instances:
- Depositing a PhD thesis on open access and licensing choices.
- Presenting at conferences and publishing in conference proceedings.
- Publishing in journals and understanding issues such as green and gold open access.
We will also use the session to share some insights about how to run the game in your own institution and how learning about copyright in a more playful way can make a powerful advocacy point to your audience. The full resources to run both an online game and a board game are available from our website to download and adapt.
Audience: Researchers, librarians, faculty/scholars, publishers, administrators, PhD students, early career researchers, and scholarly communications and research support staff.
LIVE ZOOM SESSION SCHEDULE (All times Pacific UTC-7)Tuesday, July 267-9AM
Wednesday, July 277-9AM
Thursday, July 287-9AM
