# Datascape Board Game

Young girl playing DataScape during a public event in a museum

Summary
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**Background of method**: there have been a number of board games designed to help people learn about data. A notable example is the game [Datopolis](https://theodi.org/service/tools-resources/datopolis/) by the Open Data Institute, which was one of the earliest and which was designed to help people understand the benefits of making data open. On the otherhand, the Datascape boardgame is designed to help people learn more about what types of questions can be answered using data and where/how to collect this data, as well as help them think about the relationship between data and place. Both Datopolis and Datascape represent fictional scenarios, rather than using real data, and are essentially tools to support informal learning in a playful way.

**Why to use it**: the Datascape board game is useful to use when working with people who do not have a lot of experience in different types of data and do not understand very well how data can be used to solve different problems or answer certain questions.

**When to use it**: this method could be used at the start of a co-design process to familiarise participants with using data to answer questions, or framing different data collection to solve a problem.

# **Playing DataScape**

**Overview**
* Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
* Purpose: to familiarise participants with different types of data and the types of questions it answers.
* Participants: general public and especially youth - no data expertise required
* Difficulty for facilitators: 2 stars 
* Difficulty for participants: 3 stars 
* Materials you'll need: printouts of one or more game packs including **1.** the game map **2.** question cards **3.** data information and instruction cards **5.** data icons **6.** score sheet.

Description
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There are usually two teams of around 2-3 people in a Datascape game, who play against each other. At the start of the game one Team is selected to play the first move.

At the start of the game, a set of question cards are shuffled and placed, question side up, in a stack by the board. A card is selected at random and both teams read it.

Example of question cards showing the front and then the back.

Datascape game map

The team that has been selected to go first then choose what type of data they think will answer this question (e.g. noise data) and where it should be collected from (e.g. where there is a main road and also houses).


Data information card showing data icons

The teams take turn to place 3 markers each. When 6 icons have been placed, the teams score their choices and move to the next question. The score is based on the type of data chosen and their strategy for placing it. Some questions may require different types of data selected from a single location whereas others favour a single data type but collected over a wider area. The scoring information is found in two places. First, scoring for types of data can be found on the back of the question card. Next, the scoring for the placement of the data is found from an [online site](https://alwolff.wixsite.com/datascape/select-square).

Preparation
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1. Download and print the game pack from [here](https://parcos-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Game-pack-3.7z).
2. Cut the cards and icons to shape or alternatively use a label template and sticky labels with wooden counters to stick them to.
3. Replicate according to the number of sets of opponents there will be (ie so each set of opponents has a full game set).

Running a session
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**Steps**
1. Organise participants into sets of opponents. An opponent can be an individual or a small group.
2. Provide each set of opponents with one printed game map, a full set of question cards (placed question side up, with instructions for players not to look at the back of the card) and a score sheet.
3. Provide each opponent with 3 data icons of each type, a data information card and an instruction card.
4. Ask participants to read the instructions and play the game during 20-30 minutes. It may be useful to emphasise that the game is not meant to be too competetive and that scoring is done not for winning or losing but to provide feedback about the choices being made.
5. When the time is up, ask participants to reflect on what new things they have learned and if anything has been surprising for them.

**How to document**
Observing groups and their interactions, capturing their post-game feedback, using surveys, questionnaires, interviews, videos and photos

**Analysis**
Inductive thematic analysis, Qualitative analysis

**Method originators:** Annika Wolff

**Further Reading**
Read a [short paper](http://oro.open.ac.uk/49425/1/Comtech-Matt%20edit.pdf) on the initial concept

###### tags: `datascape toolkit` `toolkit` `method`