Playfully serious information for serious play: The integration of community values in an information resource

Bullard, Julia

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/36039 Copy

Description

Title

Playfully serious information for serious play: The integration of community values in an information resource

Author(s)

Bullard, Julia

Issue Date

2013-02

Keyword(s)

• serious leisure
• information seeking
• legitimate peripheral participation
• positive information science
• information behavior
• social and community informatics
• qualitative data analysis

Abstract

Information resources for serious leisure pursuits need to offer accuracy and usability while supporting community values such as playfulness. This paper explores how a World of Warcraft player-authored information resource integrates playfulness into guides meant for difficult game content. While written guides support play by minimizing time spent out of the game, video guides have an opportunity to reproduce the engaging qualities of gameplay, combining information and entertainment. A close reading of the Learntoraid.com’s videos and their context reveals how playfulness contributes to authenticity, credibility, and the site’s role in the community, while supporting the information seeking of players. We should expect to see the integration of community values, in this case playfulness, in information resources built within other serious leisure communities or for work and everyday life pursuits.

Publisher

iSchools

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/36039

DOI

https://doi.org/10.9776/13218

Copyright and License Information

Copyright © 2013 is held by the authors. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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