Comparative Analysis of Gamicifation Elements in Archives and Other Information Institutions

Abstract

Gamification is a process in which certain game elements are implemented into everyday working processes to make them easier and more fun. Gamification can be implemented through educational video games, simulations, or by placing gamification elements into the working processes. In this paper the process of gamification is explained and examples are given. The paper also explains how archives can use gamification with educational games and the use of crowdsourcing with which users contribute to the processing of archival materials. To check how many archives implement gamification on their websites a research was conducted which included 66 foreign and 18 Croatian archives. Each site was checked if they have any educational games and this data was compared to the data collected for museums and libraries. Other forms of gamification were also analysed. The results show that museums have more game types than archives and also implement more gamification elements within their games. However, archives contain more game types than libraries since libraries mostly do not have their own games and usually use links to games on other sites. Moreover, there is one archival website, Archives nationales de Luxembourg, which implements crowdsourcing with gamification elements into the process in which users describe the archival materials.