Jane McGonigal is the creator of the very popular "I Love Bees" game,
now at it again with the Ministry of Re-shelving
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Jane McGonigal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: August 15, 2005 10:05:18 PM EDT
Subject: a small experiment: Flickr for grassroots activism
Hey everyone,
This weekend, I launched a small experiment in using Flickr for
grassroots activism, which I thought might be of interest…
My thinking is that activism, to be successful, needs to be visible—
so I am using a visually-oriented networking medium to guide folks
to create visually interesting moments of protest. Of course, I
like that the protest moments have a temporary life and site-
specficic impact in the real-world, as well as more enduring life
and broader circulation online.
Also, I’m using a viral rule set/script, because I believe gamelike
performance missions with instructions that can be snipped and
passed around are an incredibly effective mobilizing tools. A clear
goal, clear methods for proceeding, a certain “success” condition
that can be measured objectively.
Anyway, the project is called The Ministry of Reshelving. Here’s a
link to the Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/
reshelving/ . Also, a snip from the rule set:
How to Serve the Ministry of Reshelving – dedicated to the proper
classification of fiction and nonfiction texts
1. Select a local bookstore to carry out your reshelving activities.
2. Download and print "This book has been relocated by the Ministry
of Reshelving" bookmarks and "All copies of 1984 have been
relocated" notecards to take with you to the bookstore. Or make
your own. We recommend bringing a notecard and 5-10 bookmarks to
each store.
3. Go to the bookstore and locate its copies of George Orwell's
1984. Unless the Ministry of Reshelving has already visited this
bookstore, it is probably currently incorrectly classified as
"Fiction" or "Literature."
4. Discreetly move all copies of 1984 to a more suitable section,
such as "Current Events", "Politics", "History", "True Crime", or
"New Non-Fiction."
5. Insert a Ministry of Reshelving bookmark into each copy of any
book you have moved. Leave a notecard in the empty space the books
once occupied.
6. If you spot other incorrectly classified books, feel free to
relocate them.
7. Please report all reshelving efforts to the Ministry. Email your
store name, location, # of 1984 copies reshelved, and any other
reshelving activities conducted, to reshelving @ avantgame.com.
Photos of your mission can be uploaded to Flickr, tagged as
"reshelving", and submitted to the Ministry of Reshelving group.
Our goal is to relocate one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four
copies, and to complete successful reshelving of 1984 in all 50
United States. Global contributions are welcome.
Note: this project is not a critique of bookstore culture, the
state of the shelving industry, or even of pervasive government
surveillance. It is merely an observation that 2 + 2 = 5, and 5 is
no longer fiction.
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