Digital Citizens-Digital Zombies is a research project that unfolds at Normandale, within our Minnesota history course. Human players follow a series of missions, and avoid becoming digital zombies.
Digital Zombies love the Web.
They love the Web too much, and it is rotting their brains. Your mission is to avoid becoming a Digital Zombie and learn how to navigate your research in the library and on internet. Save your brain! Use your brain!
All your missions are detailed below – do them sequentially and upload
completed missions to the appropriate zombie mission dropbox.
Be vigilant! Mission expiration dates, or deadlines are listed on the D2L Calendar.
Mission 1: Basic survival skills
This zombie war is exhausting – find the best place to study and refuel your brain.
Make sure you find a safe spot in your library and report its location.
Take a pic of the place and give us specifics of where it is. Let us
know why this is your choice for taking a break from the zombie hordes. Post your pic and explanation to the Mission 1 dropbox on D2L.
Where are all the exits in the library? (Find them, don’t go through the the emergency doors!)
Once the refueling is over, you’ll need to know where to go!
Mission 2: Develop a speciality
Everyone needs to develop a specialty to help in the zombie-war efforts. All subjects should relate to MN, either as a state, territory, or Native American governed area.
Choose one of the following volunteer task forces to join:
– folk customs lore, arts & culture specialist: explore
extinct cultures, learn about indigenous cultures, delve into the
dynamic forces of the past that shape existing cultures
– infectious disease task force: epidemics in history, current
epidemics and disease environment, public health initiatives & media
coverage of epidemics
– human migration expert: massive migrations, political refugees,
economic migration, exodus, push and pull factors, policy and
control of human movements
– farming & food production division: the history of food production
& distribution, global trade routes, how will the world feed itself
in the post-apocalyptic era of digital zombies
– geography, land use & environmental management unit: how have humans
changed the geography of the world, how humans created new
geographies and landscapes?
– military history & strategy expert: histories of previous or current
wars, strategic decisions and hierarchies of war
– engineering & innovative use of technology: how have innovations
changed the course of history, like books, damns and bridges, the
combustion engine, and digital computation
Reference Librarians (big desk in the middle of main library room, just beyond the computers) will help you develop skills in your research:
1\) Introduce yourself to your librarian and explain the subject you need to research.
2\) Take a selfie with your librarian to establish your connection: post
it to the Mission 2 dropboxon D2L. If no reference librarian is available, take a selfie with the “we’ll be back” sign on the desk.
3\) Ask your reference librarian to help you find the stacks that hold books in
your chosen area of research: find one relevant book and summarize its
contributions to your task.
4\) Ask a reference librarian why the books you need are organized the way they are.
5\) Check out a book on related to your task force subject and Minnesota. You need to have your Student ID with you to check out a book.
In 100 words, explain why your book could help fight digital zombies (people who don’t think critically about using the web).
Upload to the Mission 2 Dropbox
Mission 3: Use the web, don’t let it use you!
You must to go digital before the network breaks down!
Based on your role in the volunteer task force, explore beyond the
physical library and examine digital resources.
Many books & info are not in your library physically, but they are
available on the web. Some resources were “born digital,” they’ve always
existed in digital space.
Below is the link to the Normandale library website.
http://www.normandale.edu/library
Apart from stacks, libraries contain a lot of material online.
Here’s a research guide for MN History. You can also search newspaper databases, such as Pro-Quest or Lexis-Nexis for articles.
Find a past (real) disease outbreak by researching Pro-Quest or Lexis-Nexus for recent newspapers, social media, and journal coverage of events, issues, public health response. Choose from ebola, flu (swine flu of 2009 and flu pandemic of 1914), SARS, AIDS, or any other infectious disease in Minnesota.
In 150 words, explain how these digital resources helped you
become a better member of your volunteer task force. You’ll need to
reference the works you read, and tell us where you found them.
Submit your words to the Mission 3 D2L dropbox.
This game derives from the http://zombies.digital/index.html game created by Juliette Levy, Steve Anderson, Matt Bourchard, and Andy Keenan. And by derives I mean I copied everything I could from their website and gratefully acknowledge their efforts, including their Creative Commons-Attribution-ShareAlike International Licence.
