Find the Future!

I'm at the NYPL main library! It is 4am! This is super cool but I am fading. Only a few hours to go!

It has been an amazing night though.

I feel like I'm in a gigantic large study hall with 500 passionate nerdy students!

The game works like this--

We are on different teams both working on the same goal.
1. We need to find items and scan them on our phone. This unlocks something online.

2. Now we answer the prompt that ends up being text for our book!

I unlocked Virginia Wolfe's diary. She committed suicide so is that why I was asked to imagine and write about the best day of my life?

Another fun one was a jazz related piece. Then we were asked to rewrite one sentence in 10 ways!

The game is downloadable on your smart phones.

The library is going to continue to have 100 amazing items (ranging from The Declaration of Independence to Malcolm X's briefcase)!

More info here

http://exhibitions.nypl.org/100/

I really feel my brain slowing down but other highlights are

1. The onsite book binder.

2. The tour of the library stacks which is usually closed to the public.

3. The personalized postcard from the future that was written in relation to our entry.

4. The variety of intense ppl (typing away to meet deadlines) and quirky ppl (attacking the cheese platter in the break room).

5. The fact that I get to pull an all-nighter in the library!!

6. Jane McGonigal is super cool and genius enough to imagine a game like this!

7. Getting to break normal library rules :)

Find out what we are up to by following the #findthefuture hashtag on Twitter

Photos to come!

Find the Future!

A big thank you to my college roommate (and new fan of my blog) for reminding me of the NYPL deadline! I almost missed it!

Here it goes guys

By the year 2021, I will become the first person to have ...

have launched the Positive PR Pact! Friends, students, and colleagues will spread positive news about each other to combat negative gossip.

I will keep you posted on whether I make it into the group of 500 who get to play the game on
May 20th! Read some other really entertaining, witty, and creative entries here.

And I will be writing more about the inspiration behind the Positive PR Pact, case study where I've seen it work, and my plan to introduce it to a high school classroom.

Monday Musing- Find the Future at NYPL

I love libraries! I vividly remember my dad calling me away from the playground swings into the library(hmm this may be quite representative of the rest of my childhood--just kidding! I had time for both! Still do! :) ) to sign up for a library card when I was 5 yrs old. I loved the summer reading program prizes, chatting up librarians, and even joined San Francisco's public library teen council.

I'm in NYC now so I use the NYPL branch near Grand Central. It is really easy for me to drop by during lunch to grab a book that's arrived on reserve. I'm not the only one who has made the library a life-long habit. The lines to check out books during the lunch hour are usually at least 5 people deep (thank goodness for self-check out!).

So here is the link to a pretty awesome, National Treasure-esque game that the NYPL has set up.
This is their description of the Find the Future game.
"It is the first game in the world in which winning the game means writing a book together – a collection of 100 ways to make history and change the future, inspired by 100 of the most intriguing works of the past."


Whoa! The chance to stay overnight in the library and write a book together with 100 other library nerds and also explore the underground stacks of books in a iconic NYPL branch?! How can I sign up?!

I just have to complete this daunting statement below

"By the year 2021, I will be the first person to..."
140 characters only. I assume this is so they can tweet some of our answers.

I'll post my answer on April 21st but hopefully you might also decide to try and play the game!