12. The playful scientist: Stimulating playful communities for science practice

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors elaborate on serious games and playful interactions in modern scientific practices, and on the way they can engender mutual scientific growth. They use a research-through-design approach, in which three possible scenarios and prototypes are studied to envisage the new role of the public library in practicing science in a changing society. Their conclusion is that the public library of the future should employ citizen science projects that are fun, accessible, malleable, and participatory, so that its new role can focus on offering meaningful information at the right time in the right place, contextualizing information using playful solutions, bringing together communities to share information, and enabling new scientific practices in unexplored fields.