Interactive Inspirations: The Case for Incorporating Joy and Play in Open Social Scholarship

Abstract

Inspired by the way that hands-on science centres playfully introduce children and adults alike to the curiosities and complexities of our biological, chemical, and physical world, the *Virtual Realizations, Playable Archives* project, emerging from the INKE SSHRC partnership’s *Community* cluster, is exploring strategies to interactively engage broader publics with the wonders and challenges of humanities knowledge, research, and research communication. This paper’s focus on *Chowdr*, one prototype example from the *Virtual Realizations* project, is intended to initiate larger critical conversations about play, community, and open social scholarship values by using a food-based social networking app. This prototype is designed to create meaningful engagement among users by having them share their personal recipes for seafood chowder, and in doing so, playfully connect with their community and their food culture.