Open Science Game: What would Emma do?

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The UZH Open Science Game “Open Up Your Research” demonstrates the practices of open science in a playful way, and is a useful companion for prospective researchers as well as their lecturers.

Are you a student wondering what the consequences are of doing research the traditional or the more “open” way? Are you a lecturer pondering how to introduce the different open science concepts to your students? Then the UZH Open Science Game “Open Up Your Research” will provide you with answers.

What the game is about

In the online game we follow Emma, a young researcher, on her way to a doctorate. Emma has to answer different questions on her journey. How can I access research articles behind paywalls? Should I write a data management plan? Pre-register my thesis? What is the advantage of making my data and code FAIR? Can’t I put this off until later? And where should I publish?

At each stage of the research process, Emma must decide whether to practice an Open Science approach or go the traditional route, with each decision shaping her future course. In this way, players learn about different practices of Open Science and discern the distinctions between an open approach and conventional research methods

The game cannot only just be played by itself but is also useful for lecturers to introduce concepts of Open Science to their students on a very low-key level. The pros and cons of each decision can be discussed with the students at each of the six steps in Emma’s research journey. Students are then invited to vote on what choice Emma should make using a classroom response system (CRS) and the majority vote from the students will inform about Emma’s next step.

History and reception

The game was developed by The Open Science Office, together with the Open Science Services of the University Library and the Center for Reproducible Science and implemented with the support of the Multimedia & E-Learning Services. The idea for the interactive game was born as a way to lower the threshold in introducing Open Science practices in the research process from the perspective of the researchers.

The game “Open Up Your Research” was launched during the International Open Access Week in 2020. The interactive game has attracted international attention and was showcased as an innovative approach to Open Science education at the International Open Science Conference in Leibniz earlier this year, and will be presented at to an even wider audience later in September at the EU Open Science Fair in Madrid.

Play along!

• Ready to embark on Emma’s Open Science journey? Go to https://t.uzh.ch/game and give it a go.
• Interested in incorporating the game into your teaching? Explore the good practice tool on teachingtools.uzh.ch
• Looking to use and adapt the game for your teaching needs? You can find all the illustrations under a CC-BY-NC-SA license on Zenodo.

Katherine Hermans, Open Science Geschäftsstelle UZH

Melanie Röthlisberger, Open Science Services