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Thanks for playing FerroCell and visiting Creating Communication, we hope you had fun! You can read more about FerroCell or ask a staff member if you have any questions
FerroCell was developed by Dr. Christine Cuskley as part of general research in language learning and evolution at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Language Evolution, funded by the British Academy. The broad goal of the research is to tell us more about how language evolved in complex populations.
What is the game about? FerroCell is a new type of Artificial Language Learning (ALL) study, designed as a game. In ALL studies, participants learn miniature artificial languages (usually designed by experimenters) that can give us a glimpse into how real languages are learned in a controlled setting. Usually, ALL studies use normal letters or spelling, such that you might learn to map a new word like blick to a meaning like 'circle' for example. The words in ALL usually use familiar spelling and look like they could be words, and mappings are often specified by the researchers ahead of time. FerroCell is different in a couple of ways.
First, FerroCell is unusual in that the researchers have not set form-meaning mappings that players are expected to use. Instead, we provide the form space (the Ferrophore palette) and the meaning space (the different coloured organelles) and we want to see how players work together to develop shared form-meaning mappings to trade effectively and level up. In this sense, FerroCell is more of a communication or signalling game: we’re less interested in how players might learn particular kinds of languages (a primary concern of ALL studies), and more interested in how groups of players develop effective communication with only some basic tools at their disposal.
Second, FerroCell differs because players not only have to learn how to map coloured organelles to Ferro symbols, but they have to simultaneously learn how to use what we call the form space. The form space in written language is the letters of the alphabet that can represent meanings, and in spoken language it is the sounds of a language. In most traditional ALL experiments, even though mappings might be foreign and you don't know the words, you immediately know something about them (for example, you can easily pronounce blick, even though you've probably never seen the word before). With FerroCell, we're looking to see how participants learn to produce symbols (and map them to colours) in a completely new and 'alien' form space.
Where did Ferros come from? The Ferros are symbols that were made as a decorative font in collaboration between Linden Gledhill and Craig Ward. They are made using ferrofluid ink - ink which has tiny pieces of metal in it which create shapes when exposed to magnetic fields. The font was released to backers as part of a KickStarter project in late 2015.
If you're interested in hearing about the study, or want more information about the game, ask a member of the Creating Communication staff!
In a minute, we'll explain to you how to play. First, choose a cell name.
Your cell name can be anything you want, but please keep it clean - other players will be able to see this name. Try to choose a name that makes you recognisable in the game.