Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
–Margaret Mead
This summer when the ALA Annual Conference was held in Washington DC, I paid a visit to the FAS (Federation of American Scientists) on K Street. As the Chair of the newly revamped Great Interactive Software for Kids Committee, I wanted to make sure that our committee had a solid foundation other than playing games for fun. And although we have expanded our criteria to include the evaluation of console games and other digital forms, in addition to pc cd-roms, I wanted a deeper philosophical backbone to our committee. So I turned to the scientists for help and decided to pay them a visit since our conference was in their neck of the woods.
I didn’t really know what to expect as I walked into the gray building, heavily guarded by security guards. Michelle Roper, the Director of FAS Learning Technologies had said that the emergency drills after 9/11 had been frequent, although not so often now. I don’t think I could ever imagine what it must have been like in DC on September 11th, 2001 when one of the planes crashed into the Pentagon.
FAS was located in one of the top floors with an intercom to let visitors in. When the receptionist let me in the door, I found a starch-white office complex with multiple cubicles surrounded by pristine walls. There was little sunlight and the air was thick with concentration and severity. As a children’s librarian doing story times in lively colorful areas, I felt completely out of context. I was temporarily relieved when I spotted an adjacent room filled with books on a bookshelf.
When Amy Nicholson, the Program Coordinator for FAS Learning Technologies greeted me, I was surprised to find she was an attractive, energetic woman with a way-cool demeanor. We instantly got along as we talked about playing games like World of Warcraft, Asheron’s Call and Guitar Hero II. I admit that I had a stereotypical image of what the scientists might be like after reading their profile on the webpage (since they described themselves as the predecessors of the atomic scientists having worked on the Manhattan Project). My expectation was to meet people like my undergraduate Chemistry Professor–eccentric, introverted with coke-bottle glasses, pocket protector and gingivitis. Instead, Sachin Patil and Adam Burrowbridge, the Research Associates, looked like they could have walked off the cover of GQ Magazine. And although I had never met Michelle Roper, I’m positive that she is just as lovely in person as she is over the phone. In fact, I was embarassed that I was the one with the glasses, a geeky personality and loud laugh. Had they decided that I was just a children’s librarian that had nothing to do with their research world, they wouldn’t have given the time or day. Instead, they were delightful, and patient, helping me understand, in layman terms, different aspects of their project.
Sachin flew around on Second Life, Discover Babylon, showing me how he was reconstructing the city of Uruk (ancient Iraq) from blueprints. I had to tell myself to overlook the cosmetic interface and forget that he was flying around in a cartoon body. I found it challenging not to be overly-conscious and move past it, even though I had been in a multi-user virtual environment before 7 years ago when I played Asheron’s Call. Second Life is not a game but the Internet in a different skin. Amy described it very clearly to me that it was a wikipedia of MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online) worlds. Once I suspended my disbelief, something amazing happened. I saw the beauty of the technology–that it rolled everything into one–IMing, emailing, podcasting, videostreaming, weblinking (Web 2.0 features) into one. I finally understood what all the rage was about! It was truly the internet in its next evolutionary stage. And a great platform to ally ourselves with other open-minded, public-serving organizations.
At the end of my visit, toting my dictionary of computer terms, and enlightened by my new-found friends, I left the building with renewed hope for my committee. The scientists sensed my desperation to help them and let me write about them, act as their intermediary, and invited my committee to become part of their focus group. And I became an FAS groupie that day, fueled by their desire to bring learning to the world and their mission for public good. Thank you FAS. You rock!
For more information about the FAS and its Learning Technologies Initiatives, visit http://www.fas.org