Monday 24 October 2011

On a digital treasure hunt

This week, I'm setting out on a quest to find the most exciting interactive content there is to find online. Today was day one; I'm hoping that my treasures each day are more exciting than the last, though they'll have to go some way to top some of things I've found today.

I found a few gems today, and thought I'd share them with you.

The Curfew

A game about freedom, oppression and doing the right thing; somewhere between a video and a point and click adventure game, you navigate your way through the stories of four characters to decide who to trust with some secret information you've got that'll bring down the corrupt government.

What I love about this is the realism of the environments within the game; characters shift and shuffle whilst they're waiting for you to do things, signs flicker and things blow in the breeze. They're very real environments and that makes you invest more in the game, I think.

7NK

There's nothing I love more than a good murder mystery, and as they go this looks pretty fabulous. It was designed for the BBC's Shakespeare programme to give visitors an understanding of some of the bard's most key characters. Unfortunately, the link on the BBC website doesn't look like it works anymore, which is a crying shame. The artwork looks fabulous and the game looks to be full of puzzles and questioning suspects; both key factors in any good murder mystery game.

If anyone knows where I can find it online I'd be very greatful; I'd love to play it.

MyUK

A game from the government, of all people. This one is supposed to engage 13-15 year olds with the idea of laws and governance, but I think it'd be pretty good fun no matter how old you are, especially since you get the chance to do very serious law-type things in your five years in office, such as pass rules about the offside law and paint the front door at Downing Street.

It even links into your facebook and twitter profiles so you can share your moments of prime ministerial genius with all of your friends.

You can look out for mine soon, I'm sure...

High Tea

This one is from the Wellcome Collection, and was created to highlight the opium trafficking that took place in the British Empire in the Victorian period. It's a strategy game, where timing is key and gambling helps. I say that; I'm not very good it!


So there's four good examples; unfortunately they don't all work, but some of them should give you some good productive procrastination!

I'm looking for more inspirational interactives out there on the internet. If you know any, please share them with me. In turn, I'll share them with everyone else!

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Making a name for yourself on facebook

Just a short post today, because I realised something really important that I'd left out of my facebook summary post: how to get a customized url for your page.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, I mean being able to type www.facecbook.com/yourmuseum and have it take people directly to your museum page.

Getting a "vanity url" as they call them for your page is actually really simple.

1. Set up your page.
2. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username/
3. Select the page you want to set the url for with the dropdown menu
4. Choose your preferred url (the bit that goes after the www.facebook.com/)

And that's it!

A couple of hints and tips:

1. Once you've chosen your url you CANNOT change it. So double check your spelling and be 100% sure about your abbreviations before you type it in.

2. Facebook changes the requirements for a page to have a vanity url all the time. It's usually a number of fans/followers that your page needs to have. At last check it was 20 fans, so it's not exactly a steep challenge for most heritage organisations. This may change in the future, of course. Whatever the requirements are though, facebook will tell you on the /username page.

3. You want your online profile to be as seemless as possible, so if you have a twitter account name, consider using that as your facebook username url. Of course, you might decide you want something more obvious if it's going to be a place you have to direct people to often.


As always, I hope that's useful. Ask if you have questions and if I can answer, I will.