As I shared last month, Andrew Parr (@lego_nerd_puzzles) wrote not one but TWO articles about the Sondheim auction, for Games WORLD OF PUZZLES magazine. The first second is out NOW.
This one also includes a number of my photos but this time focuses on what happened once I brought home Andrew’s winnings – hundreds upon hundreds of game and puzzle magazines – and shared the collection with him over Zoom to triage this remarkable collection.
(and yeah, that is a photo of me with Will Shortz delivering some gifts from Andrew’s collection…)
NOT TO BE MISSED. Check out an excerpt below: It was decided that Barry, a thorough documentarian, would unpack the entire lot while I watched on a Zoom call. During the call, we would catalog every item from each box so I could decide what I wanted to keep, and which items could be gifted, sold, or donated to a museum. The unboxing day arrived. We connected online and I eagerly watched from Barry’s phone, which was held on an angle tripod so I could see into the boxes. And the first hour we unpacked two boxes which contained the following…
Snowbright Studio is an LGBTQ+ game studio dedicated to creating unique and heartwarming experiences for people of all ages and backgrounds. Founded and led by my friends Grace Collins, the CEO and former education policy expert, when they asked if they could interview me for their adorable publication, the Cozy Companion, of course I said yes.
The Cozy Companion is described as a portal to all things warm and cozy in tabletop gaming. Each issue includes “cozy RPG adventures, recipes, crafts, fiction, game reviews written by cats, and more within.” Yes, cat game reviews.
The title of my interview is Learning as You Play, and is described as an “Interview with game designer Barry Joseph and the tea wizards at Friday Afternoon Tea!”
With their permission, you can view or download a pdf of the nine-page interview below, or go here to buy a copy of the entire issue.
Last week,on October 29th, I had quite the day, first exploring the intersection of digital games and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and then exploring AI and the future of museums.
First, I joined Games For Change’s Games & SDG Summit. The event — held on the top floor of the United Nations, overlooking the East River — brought together 180 thought leaders, decision makers, and policymakers from 130+ organizations, representing 15 countries, for a day of engaging discussions, hands-on working groups, and an interactive arcade centered around four key themes aligned with core UN Sustainable Development Goals. You can check out photos of the event on their Flickr page.
It was inspiring to hear how the gaming community and international countries & NGOs are working together to advance the SDGs. It was also wonderful to reconnect with many colleagues and friends from the gaming and education worlds.
Then, I headed home to join the2024 Future of Museums Summit. The Summit grows out of Elizabeth Merritt’s work as the American Alliance of Museums’ Vice President for Strategic Foresight and Founding Director of the Center for the Future of Museums – a think-tank and research & development lab for the museum field.
After many years issuing their informative and provocative annual TrendsWatch reports, last year saw the print-form expand into a multi-day, online conference. I was excited to take part in offering an interactive sessions, to help the event bring in more than one learning modality.
I lead: “Shall We Play a Game? AI’s Role in the Future of Museums.” We invited participants to explore the integration of artificial intelligence into museum education through interactive and thought-provoking activities.
The session featured hands-on experiences like AI-powered games “Peanut Butter and…” and “Contexto.me” to illustrate AI’s content generation and contextual adaptation (we beat Contexto’s AI in 6 guesses!), along with my “Uncannny Valley” card game (pictured below) to examine visual literacy and the differences between human perception and AI modeling. Attendees also engaged in community mapping to collectively assess AI’s disruptive and transformative impact on museums. My goal was to offer practical insights and inspiration for museum professionals, educators, and tech enthusiasts interested in the future of cultural institutions in the AI era.
Overall, quite a lifting day, focused on working with others to build a better tomorrow.
When we launched the web site for the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum, in the summer of 2023, all we knew is we needed a way for visitors to buy tickets and get directions.
Over time we found many other ways to use the site. Virtual tours. Events. Press coverage. A store. And every time we added another feature the site got even more challenging to navigate.
This summer, working with a volunteer from NYU’s LTXD department, we developed a new design and this week we finally launched it.
Along side The Huntington, the Bullock Museum, National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Transcription Center, and the Glenstone Museum, I presented (see video below) about what it took to redesign the web site. Our slides are available here a well: MCN Slides Clicking Refresh.
This week I was thrilled to present in Philadelphia at the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums. Along with my colleagues Nick, Masaya, and Matthew, we offered Leveling Up: Designing a Community Generated Video Game Exhibition.
For 90 minutes we explored how designing an exhibition with direct community engagement can lead to deeper and richer experiences for visitors and advance equality within an industry.
I am gearing up for a season of conferences. Will I see you there?
My book talks continue apace (for both Seltzertopia and my upcoming Matching Minds with Sondheim), but I hit a dry spell in regards to having my museum conference proposals accepted. Then, as they say, when it rains it pours! Check out below and let me know if I will be coming to a neighborhood near you.
October 9 – Philadelphia, PA
I look forward to attending, for the first time, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums. The topic: Leveling Up: Designing a Community Generated Video Game Exhibition. The hat I will wear: project lead on last winter’s video game pop-up.
Exhibitions have the ability to support visitors as they explore their interests, expose them to new perspectives, and challenge their ideas and preconceptions. By engaging the community in the development process you make something that can have a lasting impact on how they see themselves, their community, and their future. Our exhibition—Video Games: The Great Connector—was developed by the Harlem Gallery of Science. It addresses inequality and under-representation of the Black and Latinx community in the gaming industry by highlighting the ways games help young people build community, explore aspects of their identity, develop and refine skills, learn concepts, and identify future career opportunities. In this session, we will explore how designing an exhibition with direct community engagement can lead to deeper and richer experiences for visitors and advance equality within an industry
October 23 – Lawrence, Kansas
My first MCN was in 2015. It has remained one of my favorite museum-related conferences and I go whenever I can. This year (my 10th?) I was thrilled to join the following panel: Clicking Refresh: Website Redesign as Institutional Reintroduction. The hat I will wear: co-founder of the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum.
Organized by Kevin McDonald, Digital Content Coordinator at the Glenstone Museum, our panel will feature a wide range of museums tackling the topic.
A website redesign is never just a fresh coat of paint: a new digital home on the web provides opportunities for institutions to reintroduce themselves from the ground up. This session encompasses a series of lightning talks that explore website redesign projects across a range of American institutions and content areas. Including projects at all stages of development, the panel explores each institution’s goals for shifting their brand, expanding their audience, or solving existing problems for their users… When the web site for the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum launched in 2023, its goals were simple: capture emails and sell tickets. Since then, it has accumulated content: press coverage, a virtual museum, a special events calendar, and more. As the Museum approaches the start of its second year, the web site needs to offer a more seamless way for visitors to explore the Museum and a more developed “voice” that expresses its character.
October 29 – Online
I missed last year’s first virtual Future of Museums Summit, but I am NOT going to miss this year’s. (I think) I am presenting Shall We Play a Game? AI’s Role in the Future of Museums. The hat I will wear: general all-around AI educator and museum designer.
I will offer an interactive and thought-provoking session that explores the dynamic intersection of artificial intelligence and museum education. We will delve into the potential and challenges of integrating AI technologies into the museum experience.
November 26 – 27 – Online
I have presented in the past at MuseumNext on topics like failing forward and games in museums. This time around I will be presenting with my colleagues at the Natural History Museum of Utah at the Museum Marketing Summit for our session: Beyond the Likes: The Realities of Influencer Campaigns. The hat I will wear is general purpose digital experience design consultant.
We plan to share our experience using social media influencers to engage middle school science teachers with our free, web-based Research Quest curriculum. Learn how we bridged influencer data with user analytics to gain a complete picture of campaign effectiveness, uncover surprising insights, and navigate unexpected challenges. This session offers practical strategies, data-driven decision-making, and real-world examples to help you achieve meaningful results in influencer marketing, especially in the education, museum, and nonprofit sectors. Discover how to go beyond the likes and drive true engagement.
Finally, below are two videos from presentations I gave earlier this year at the Expert Educator Exchange:
June 19: Gaining Visibility as a Thought Leader Through the Written Word.
How do you gain visibility as a thought leader through the written word? Do you write a blog, author books, pen articles, post frequently on LinkedIn, etc? Come connect with your peers and share best practices.
June 20: The ESSENTIAL Kick-off Meeting Agenda.
What are the key items you MUST cover in that kick-off meeting with a new client? What are the essential tools to for creative collaboration and communication? Come learn from a seasoned professional.
One of my favorite projects this year just made public some of our work together, and I am excited to share it below.
If you are unfamiliar with schools in New York City, you might not know of Hunter College Campus Schools. This describes two schools that share the same building and together cover K-12. And they are some of the best in the country. Founded in 1869, they are also free to attend after an intense (to say the least) application process yet not administered by the city’s Department of Education. They serve a diverse population of NYC children who have been identified as intellectually talented.
It was an honor to get to work with this community, meeting with dozens of current students, alumni, faculty, parents, and community supporters (business leaders, elected officials, Hunter college staff, etc.). Together we developed the tag line for a series of new videos we produced: A Unique School for an Exceptional City. The videos are new tools for attracting applicants at the school’s two entry points, Elementary and High School.
Both of the videos are available below. They were developed with Phellix and Katie from Phe Studios, who are stellar partners. Working with the schools’ key stakeholders we developed scripts (taking a strong lead from the students) then spent a few amazing days filming them on campus.
I am really proud of how these videos turned out, each one welcoming potential applicants. If you take a moment to watch them I suspect you will be just as amazed as we were with this school and its students.
Every year I volunteer to run a category within the GEE! Award in the category of informal games. This year our panel of judges select GASHA GO! World (play it here).
The three judges were: Ashlyn Sparrow, a Senior Research Associate at the University of Chicago Press; Chris Baker, a public library consultant and games and learning consultant with the library services team of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; and Nick Martinez, Vice President of Education and Engagement at the Museum of the City of New York.
GASHA GO! World is a really easy to access flash-style game that invites predominantly a K-2nd grade audience into a fictional world that includes these miniature creatures called Gashlings. Developed by Georgia Public Broadcasting, the Georgia Department of Education, and FableVision Studios, the game includes minigames, animated videos, vocabulary cards, and additional support materials in both English and Spanish. Crafted to align with Georgia’s computer science (CS) framework, it emphasizes computational thinking, digital citizenship, innovative design, and creative communication. The game invites players to join this world and help the Gashlings to solve different problems using critical thinking.
Judges appreciated that GASHA GO! World focused on a number of different minigames that got players into the mindset of computational and logical thinking, while also being mindful of the fact that you are also making things for other people. “It really was great to help people start to identify as people who can problem solve, and there are multiple different ways to problem solve, but also that we need to be kind human beings.” They found it to be a really great example of a whimsical world that makes sense for young children while also allowing for a playful problem solving modality. At the same time, the sequencing for the game was really great. “You got to learn things pretty early in a simple way and then apply that in increasing complex situations across the multiple levels of a game type. And so as you play, you learn.”
Here is a summary of the areas where GASHA GO! World excelled at reflecting the learning principles described by James Paul Gee:
Agency: The game allows players to experience consequences for their actions, with the possibility of failing a puzzle but being able to try again. This low-stakes environment encourages experimentation and understanding of problems.
Customization: The game excels in customization, allowing players to build avatars, create stuffed animals with different designs, and customize glitter globes by unlocking various stickers and pieces through mini-games. This feature serves as the glue connecting all mini-games and provides a personal touch to the gaming experience.
Manipulation: Manipulation in the game is specific to each mini-game. The ability to manipulate objects varies depending on the problem to be solved, with different mini-games requiring different types of manipulation.
Sequencing: The game is strong in sequencing, especially evident in a cleanup game where complexity increases progressively. Players learn how each item impacts the game world and how to sequence actions to solve increasingly complex problems.
Pleasantly Frustrating: While adults might not find the game frustrating, it is designed to present challenges to younger players. The need to think about sequences and hold multiple combinations in mind can provide a pleasantly frustrating experience that encourages repeated attempts and learning.
Cycle of Expertise: The game does a decent job of exploring the cycle of expertise by introducing new challenges that build on previous knowledge. Each mini-game encourages problem-solving from different perspectives, whether it be matching, deconstructive reasoning, or constructive reasoning.
Just in Time & On Demand: The game scaffolds challenges well, focusing on one skill at a time in each mini-game. Players can progress at their own pace, with new levels unlocking based on their readiness and achievements.
Skills Under Strategies: The game emphasizes mastering different skills across various levels and mini-games. To progress, players must become proficient in the skills each mini-game is designed to teach.
System/Model-based Thinking: The game touches on system or model-based thinking by linking mini-game outcomes to the creation of a snowglobe. Players think about what they gain from each mini-game and how it relates to other parts of the game, promoting a holistic approach to problem-solving and creativity.
Situated Meaning: The game creates a playful and whimsical world with a cartoonish, colorful design. While it lacks a straightforward narrative, it provides enough context and connectedness to engage the target audience. The playful themes and activities, like karaoke and locker puzzles, contribute to the situated meaning and motivate players to explore and solve problems in this imaginative setting.
Finally, GASHA GO! World is particularly well suited to this category of informal learning games. “I think of parents being able to just say: Hey, I want a really whimsical world to bring my kiddo into for problem solving and asking questions about different things.” Or perhaps the setting is a library, or a museum. “It’s a really cool way to just invite kids to game and problem solve while gaming.”
As many of you know, the last two years I have been deep into researching and writing my new book, which comes out spring of next year: Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend.
It has been such an honor to work on this book, to conduct over 30 hours of original interviews with more than five dozen people who knew the man (as friends, as collaborators), and unearth games and puzzles he designed over the past seventy years.
As a month from now I plan to turn in the manuscript, I thought this might be a good moment to take a breather and share some recent highlights with you.
The above image is one part of a promotional bookmark I made to spread the word. And no, it’s not a typo. It’s a puzzle, one often used by Sondheim in his treasure hunts. And it takes a second piece to solve. The first 20 people who contact me directly on either the book’s Instagram or Facebook account and ask for it, and send me a SASE, will get one for free. SPOILER: Click here to watch an animation of the solution.
Last month saw the long-awaited arrival of the Sondheim house auction, in which more than half of the nearly 3,000 items were puzzle- or game-related. I’m still processing it all! You can read a great interview with me about it from The Sondheim Hub, watch my video of the closing of the gonzo final lot (after a marathon non-stop 10.5 hours), or my breakdown of the top ten board game lots.
As I write the book, I post tidbits or outtakes on my Insta. What do you get when you combine Stephen Sondheim + Anthony Perkins + Gore Vidal + Sue Mengers + Dyan Cannon? Find out in this recent post in which J.B. Taylor replied: “This might be the best mash-up of people/themes in a story that I’ve ever read.”
Finally, I’ve been blessed with over a dozen readers digging into the chapters, performing heroic line edits, and giving me invaluable critical feedback. My favorite so far, in response to a particularly poignant conclusion to one of the chapters, was: “This chapter cracked my heart open.” That’s me with K., below, one of my reviewers, when we ran into each other at Carnegie Hall (seeing Follies).
My three other books are still out there, and available for reading and gifting. Need a beach read?
(And a reminder to those who have already bought any of them – THANK YOU! And please please post a rating and comment on Amazon, as your voice goes a long way towards increasing its visibility).
Seltzertopia
You can find my book Seltzertopia on Amazon or, if you want a signed copy, you can buy one from my museum here. (Wait? Did you say museum? Yup — based on the book, and a real-world old-fashioned seltzer works — Alex Gomberg and I launched the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum. Come visit us!).
I am STILL regularly invited to spread the gospel of seltzer. A little song, a little dance… Most recently I was (remotely) in Pittsfield, MA and, closer to home, presented at my wife’s temple in New Rochelle. You can check out this map of everywhere I have been since 2018. If you’re not on it, reach out to me and let’s change that!
Making Dinosaurs Dance: A Toolkit for Digital Design in Museums is a great guide for place-based design AND a lovely series of case studies (and original short stories) about what it’s like to work on the bleeding edge of innovation at one of the greatest museums in the known universe.
“A wonderful guide to the kind of agile, experimental, responsive operational strategies needed in the museum of the future.” —Elizabeth Merritt, founding director, Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums
“Personal and engaging, this book reveals the opportunities and surprises of working directly with museum visitors in designing new digital experiences. It offers even the smallest museum insights into how to design things that visitors—even teenagers— will enjoy.” —Seb Chan, director and CEO, Australia Centre for the Moving Image
“Part how-to guide, part seminar workshop, and part magical mystery tour of Barry’s time at the Museum—an essential introduction to how digital technologies can (and can’t!) transform the visitor experience.” —Bella Desai, former director of public programs and exhibition education, American Museum of Natural History
Friday is Tomorrow, or The Dayenu Year: Chronicles from the NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative and Memory Archive is not an easy sell. Want to read a book about how I dealt with losing my dad a few weeks into the COVID lock-down? Want to revisit the challenging decisions you had to make when faced with a multiyear pandemic?
If so, Friday is Tomorrow is the book for you! (I self-published it through Amazon).
Seriously, Friday is Tomorrow tells the uplifting story of how I learned to maintain traditions in a time of uncertainty while continuing to reach for my dreams.
That’s it, for now. What comes after my book on Sondheim? You’ll just have to wait for my next newsletter to find out. Until then, I know you are just as excited as I am for next week’s bizarro return of the world’s best science fiction writer, China Miéville, having teamed up with Keanu Reeves to adapt his (yes) comic book, BRZRKR, into the novel “The Book of Elsewhere,” described by the NYTimes as “a pulpy, adrenaline-fueled thriller, [that is] also a moody, experimental novel about mortality, the slippery nature of time and what it means to be human.”
How you holding up? Between the weather and the politics (both domestic and global), 2024 has been, well, a lot, right?During such chaotic times I have had the fortune of being grounded in so many meaningful projects designed to bring some good into the world. Thanks for taking a few minutes to learn about them below (sans the books and games, which get their own newsletter).
I won’t mentioned them all (as who has the time, and not all are public) but as a few have sunset in recent weeks, that means I have space for one more modest size project to add to my plate. If you know of an opportunity, please let me know.
Quick Bites
In Winter I wrapped up work with PBS Kids, alongside my amazing collaborators at Knology.
After three and a half years, I am so proud of all I was able to achieve with Gaming Pathways, supporting the launch of this new way for public school students (high school AND college) to enter NYC’s gaming industry. From strategic planning to research to event production and so much more, it’s been a privilege to work with such amazing people from across the participating core organizations.
In Spring I began to work with the Hunter College Campus Schools. (If you are not from the area, they are free public elementary and high schools for gifted youth founded over 150 years ago with the belief that education was the foundation of social mobility in New York City. Afterwards Lisa Siegmann, the Director said:
“Working with Barry Joseph Consulting to develop a strategic communication plan for an impending transition was a valuable institutional investment. His energy, insights and dedication made the project both productive and easy. His clarity of vision, combined with his willingness to listen and pivot as needed, generated ideas and avenues we would not have found without him!”
For the Hunter College Campus Schools I also had the pleasure of partnering with Phe Studios to produce two phenomenal promotional videos.
Finally, you can see in the photo at the top that after three and a half years, I FINALLY got to go out and visit, in person, my first client, the Natural History Museum of Utah, where I support them with strategic planning, data analytics, user research, and email marketing for their Research Quest education site.
Video Games: The Great Connector
Those who know my work over these past three decades know that my professional work contains multitudes: youth development, racial and gender equity, informal learning, digital learning, games-based learning, experience design, museum design, writing, and evidence-based decision making. I am so grateful that my work usually addresses at least one of these interests.
Sometimes, when I am lucky, my work addresses more than one. Video Games: The Great Connector, however, spoke to ALL of my interests, at once! What a dream project.
The Harlem Gallery of Science hired me to do research for, building a team to create, then project lead the development of Video Games: The Great Connector. This free, pop-up exhibit received thousands of visitors when it ran this past winter, double the projected numbers. You can read more about my reflections on the project here. You can also dig into the exhibit below:
Connecting with Self: This section of The Great Connector explores how young people use video games to shape their identity, manage emotions, and cultivate skills. Connecting with Community: This section of The Great Connector explores how young people use video games to connect with the people and communities around them. Connecting with Future: This section of The Great Connector explores how young people can prepare for a career in video games.
We received some nice coverage as well from NY1. Now, the exhibit is looking to travel. Maybe you will help bring it to a space by you.
Brooklyn Seltzer Museum
Everything is popping over at the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum. It’s hard to know where to begin!
This week we received our official 501C3 from the IRS. We are now formally a non-profit, and chartered by New York State as an educational organization.
This spring the Museum unveiled a new exhibit: a 24-foot long mural with artifacts called THE CULTURAL FIZZ-STORY OF SELTZER, telling a tale through original comic art that goes back 2,500 years (see above). It was developed with graduate students from Teachers College Columbia University.
We celebrated National Egg Cream day on March 15th with The 2024 National Egg Cream Invitational. Before a sold out audience, we hosted soda jerks from the best of the classic and modern soda fountains in New York City’s five boroughs, and beyond. They competed to settle the argument on how to make the best egg cream once and for all. Read my summary of it here or watch the mini documentary to find out who won here.
Wish you could visit the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum from the comfort of your own home? Now you can. The new Virtual Seltzer Museumwill give you a sense of the many delights that greet our visitors. In fact, just for you, we may even include some extra special online-exclusives.
Don’t tell anyone (at least not yet) but the online store went online just yesterday. Go here to get your Museum merch.
Follow us on Instagramhere and learn more about the Museum and get tickets to visit here.
New York University
I had another wonderful semester as an adjunct in NYU’s Learning Technology and Experience Design program. The opportunity to adapt lessons from my book, Making Dinosaurs Dance: A Toolkit for Digital Design in Museums, is always such a thrill. The students are so diverse and inspiring and I love being part of that academic community.
Let me know what is new in YOUR world. Wishing you the best!
I am formerly the VP of Digital Experience at the Girl Scouts of the USA and Associate Director For Digital Learning at the American Museum of Natural History.
When I began at the Museum I used this blog to talk about my adventures, exploring issues related to digital media and museum-based learning. I featured original interviews, thought pieces, and highlights from my work and those of my colleagues at the AMNH.
Starting in 2020, with the launch of Barry Joseph Consultancy, LLC, I turned this blog into a place to explore digital engagement writ large.
