SI22- Choosing a metaphor/Trading Card Game

When one starts investigating archives, one might try to look at data. One might be confused. What is this data? Where's the structure? Why this structure? How can I access it? Should I access it? Should I involve myself with this archive? Maybe I should just refrain from touching this archaic being....

One might call in a support line. Someone familiar with the ins and outs of the archive. It turns out some of these questions have answers. It turns out some of these questions dont's have answers. It turns out some of these questions only have more questions. One might come to the realization that the archival beast is much more than a collection of data, that it is not so much a matter of slaying the wild animal, but rather of becoming part of its intangibly involved ecosystem of machine-and-human-interactivity. By letting go of the ambition to tame the archival behemoth, and instead becoming an explorer of its environment, the community that surrounds it, one might find themselves being part of the living archive.

This is the case for metaphor 14: a Trading Card Game; a simulation of playful agency in a distributed archive.

The main goals of this metaphor are providing explorers with a sense of agency and a sense of community, and replace the ideas of a static, archaic archival beast and strict protocols with the idea of playful, living things.

The archive, in this instance, would include a distributed body of cards that is ever changing. Any new explorer can add new cards to the game -- maybe these are generated upon entry of the event; maybe these are tied to specific messages they want to convey to the community; maybe these are tied to events; maybe these are part of a fictional narrative ... 
Any explorer is in possession of a part of this distributed archive. Their cards live on their own, but become more meaningful in relation to the rest of the archive, the parts in possesion of other explorers.

They can play the game by the archival protocols -- the rules of the game. However, the intangible protocols that are vital to the archive's existence are modelled by the human interactions at the core of trading. By trading, the archive becomes a fluid concept. Playing and trading, then, also provides a moment of direct contact with the community surrounding the archive. A human moment that is much bigger than the contents of the cards -- the data of the archive.

This metaphor was not directly discussed in class, though we did discuss a cardgame as part of metaphor 3: a picknick box. It needs to be fleshed out more. This is a good thing, the concept is malleable. This is also were XPUB1's involvement comes in. Not only are we presented with design decisions -- the visual and physical design of the cards, and the rules of the game -- but also with decisions on the content. There are many open questions, for example: what are the cards about? By confronting ourselves with these questions, we continue our investigation of protocols and archives while working towards the release of this Special Issue. Moreover, as the concept is malleable and these questions don't have answers set in stone, this metaphor could be part of a bigger metaphor.