Your+Legs+Are+Search+Engines

//Your Legs Are Search Engines // by Jessica Showalter

//Your Legs Are Search Engines // is a hybrid digital/print geocaching treasure hunt game. In a typical geocaching game, players use a GPS device to find hidden containers marked with a circled X. Within the containers are logbooks that allow the finder to record the successful hunt, as well as items for trade. Instead of GPS coordinates, //Your Legs// relies on library call numbers. The game is site-specific, requiring the player to explore the Stapleton Library at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus. //Your Legs// engages with several strains of the conversation about digital literature, including issues of materiality, interactivity, authority, and artificial intelligence. It evokes these issues within the context of the library, a space undergoing both conceptual and concrete transformations as materials shift from print to digital media. Other themes include quests, puzzles, symbols, ambiguity, fragmentation, communication, surveillance, knowledge, books, and bodies.

To play the game, go to the Stapleton Library and use your cell phone to text the word “Begin” to firstlexia@gmail.com. Follow the directions to get your next clue.