4.2 Gamification in Shared Economies
I'm gonna say right off the bat that I think the term "Gamification" is over-used and becoming rather meaningless. This is coming from someone (me) who wrote about "Gamification and Web Advertising" for one of my Level 5 contextual studies papers. There's only so much that avatars and badges can do for making a not-very-fun activity more palatable. The primary motivator for creative collaboration, most of the time, is profit.
There is more literature about how employers can utilise gamification to make their employees more motivated and efficient, compared to gamification as a tool for equal collaboration. Atrivity is a service which lets companies "convert training material or product information into questions", creating a game where employees need to compete in answering questions about the company and have their results posted in a leader board. That definitely doesn't seem demeaning or boring in any way, and employees will surely have fun learning new things.
Sarcasm aside, Slack seems to be an effective collaboration tool that is used to coordinate projects across different teams. With dedicated channels and integrated file-sharing, Slack allows users to collaborate without being overbearingly condescending. The Slack App Directory also enables users to connect to services such as Dropbox or Google Drive to enable more effective file sharing and management.
Another useful tool for project management and collaboration is Basecamp, which lets project managers group and assign work effectively. Users are able to see who is in charge of what, and update each other regularly. There's also a "campfire", where general discussions can be made. Having all upcoming tasks laid out in a card view allows project managers to clearly see where progress is being made and where it needs more of a nudge.
All in all, gamification tactics, when used correctly, do have the potential to ease the process of collaboration. However, it shouldn't be sold as a cure-all for organisational woes. These services are merely tools at the end of the day, and can help improve workflow only if wielded correctly.
Freelance work is a central aspect of creative work in the sharing economy. This can be a double-edged sword for designers and artists, as it can sometimes put them at a disadvantage when negotiating prices at timelines, such as on the platform Fiverr. In platforms such as 99designs and Crowdspring, crowd-sourced creative work comes in the form of a potential employer listing down their requirements, and multiple designers creating the artwork hoping to be the winner - and get paid. The focus of design work is facing a shift towards being able to churn out a lot of content, and due to that, a market for pre-made assets and templates has arisen.
Websites like Canva, and Creative Market serve to allow designers a faster way to generate creative goods, as well as creating a space for designers to share what they have made. Creative Market hosts goods such as graphics, fonts, and mockups, while Canva gives users access to basic editing tools as well as templates to easily create their own graphics.
Watermarks function to protect the Intellectual Property interests of a creator when it comes to graphic assets. In Adobe Photoshop, artists can also embed a Digimarc Barcode, which is a digital watermarking technique, to attach a unique digital identifier to Photoshop image files.
Personally, this week's research has made me realise the importance of properly watermarking everything I upload onto the internet, even if it's something that I don't mind others using as long as its properly attributed. I will try to start integrating the use of Digimarc Barcodes into future uploaded files, and work towards updating the files I have already shared online.
Bibliography:
Adobe. (n.d.). Digimarc copyright protection. [online] Available at: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/digimarc-copyright-protection.html [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]
Atrivity (n.d.). How to gamify learning with Atrivity [online]. Available at: https://www.atrivity.com/en/how-to-use-atrivity/ [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018].
Boinodiris, P. (2017). Seven Ways to Gamify Social Collaboration [online]. Available at: https://www.cutter.com/article/seven-ways-gamify-social-collaboration-494436 [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018]
Mironiuc, A. (2014). Crowdsourcing for the Creative Industry. [online] Masters of Media. Available at: https://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/blog/2014/09/10/crowdsourcing-for-the-creative-industry/[Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]
Perera, R. (2016). Why Fiverr Is The Worst Place To Start A Freelance Career. [online] Freelancing Hacks. Available at: https://freelancinghacks.com/fiverr-worst-place-for-freelancers/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018].
Satish, R (2016). How Collaboration Increases the Effectiveness of Gamification [online]. Agile CRM. Available at: https://www.agilecrm.com/blog/collaboration-increases-effectiveness-gamification/ [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018]
Slack (n.d.). The Collaboration Hub that moves forward [online]. Available at:https://slack.com/features/ [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018].
There is more literature about how employers can utilise gamification to make their employees more motivated and efficient, compared to gamification as a tool for equal collaboration. Atrivity is a service which lets companies "convert training material or product information into questions", creating a game where employees need to compete in answering questions about the company and have their results posted in a leader board. That definitely doesn't seem demeaning or boring in any way, and employees will surely have fun learning new things.
 |
| Image from Atrivity's Website |
Another useful tool for project management and collaboration is Basecamp, which lets project managers group and assign work effectively. Users are able to see who is in charge of what, and update each other regularly. There's also a "campfire", where general discussions can be made. Having all upcoming tasks laid out in a card view allows project managers to clearly see where progress is being made and where it needs more of a nudge.
Freelance work is a central aspect of creative work in the sharing economy. This can be a double-edged sword for designers and artists, as it can sometimes put them at a disadvantage when negotiating prices at timelines, such as on the platform Fiverr. In platforms such as 99designs and Crowdspring, crowd-sourced creative work comes in the form of a potential employer listing down their requirements, and multiple designers creating the artwork hoping to be the winner - and get paid. The focus of design work is facing a shift towards being able to churn out a lot of content, and due to that, a market for pre-made assets and templates has arisen.
 |
| Creative market, a market for creative goods |
Websites like Canva, and Creative Market serve to allow designers a faster way to generate creative goods, as well as creating a space for designers to share what they have made. Creative Market hosts goods such as graphics, fonts, and mockups, while Canva gives users access to basic editing tools as well as templates to easily create their own graphics.
 |
| Canva's interface |
 |
| Steps for applying a Digimarc Barcode (Adobe, n.d.) |
Adobe. (n.d.). Digimarc copyright protection. [online] Available at: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/digimarc-copyright-protection.html [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]
Atrivity (n.d.). How to gamify learning with Atrivity [online]. Available at: https://www.atrivity.com/en/how-to-use-atrivity/ [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018].
Boinodiris, P. (2017). Seven Ways to Gamify Social Collaboration [online]. Available at: https://www.cutter.com/article/seven-ways-gamify-social-collaboration-494436 [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018]
Mironiuc, A. (2014). Crowdsourcing for the Creative Industry. [online] Masters of Media. Available at: https://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/blog/2014/09/10/crowdsourcing-for-the-creative-industry/[Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]
Perera, R. (2016). Why Fiverr Is The Worst Place To Start A Freelance Career. [online] Freelancing Hacks. Available at: https://freelancinghacks.com/fiverr-worst-place-for-freelancers/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018].
Satish, R (2016). How Collaboration Increases the Effectiveness of Gamification [online]. Agile CRM. Available at: https://www.agilecrm.com/blog/collaboration-increases-effectiveness-gamification/ [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018]
Slack (n.d.). The Collaboration Hub that moves forward [online]. Available at:https://slack.com/features/ [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018].
Congratulation for the great post. Those who come to read your Information will find lots of helpful and informative tips. Embed Slack into Website
ReplyDelete