datahorror

Research Data Management Escape Room
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4eba258eb221ba759ce598f46fc879059587edea
Author
Tobias Bengfort <tobias.bengfort@posteo.de>
Date
2025-08-08 08:05
add facilitator guide

from https://zenodo.org/records/10604005

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   -1     1 # Data Horror Escape Room: facilitator’s guide and cheat sheet*
   -1     2 
   -1     3 Licensed with CC0 1.0
   -1     4 
   -1     5 *WARNING: contains answers!!!
   -1     6 
   -1     7 The Data Horror Escape Room is an online game primarily designed to be played by
   -1     8 university staff (both researchers and research support staff) and students. It introduces and
   -1     9 enables discussion around research data management (RDM) concepts in a fun way. It was
   -1    10 created for an event that took place on Halloween during Data Horror Week, October 2020,
   -1    11 so it has a spooky, Halloween theme, but the game can be played at any time of the year.
   -1    12 
   -1    13 The game was designed to be played in small groups, with a facilitator supporting and
   -1    14 helping the groups when needed, and then stimulating reflection and discussion between
   -1    15 the groups. The facilitator should ideally, therefore, have some knowledge about RDM and
   -1    16 be able to answer questions. The following notes are intended to help you prepare to host
   -1    17 and facilitate an interactive session using the Data Horror Escape Room.
   -1    18 
   -1    19 The Data Horror Escape Room is an open website and can be found at
   -1    20 <https://sites.google.com/vu.nl/datahorror/home>.
   -1    21 An online escape room is a set of web pages containing puzzles that must be solved in order
   -1    22 to ‘unlock’ a door that allows the participants to 'escape' and therefore complete the game.
   -1    23 No prior knowledge of escape rooms or research data management is required to play the
   -1    24 game.
   -1    25 
   -1    26 This guide contains the following sections:
   -1    27 
   -1    28 -   [Preparation](#)
   -1    29 -   [Starting the session](#)
   -1    30 -   [Discussion points](#)
   -1    31 -   [How to play the Escape Room (⚠ contains small spoilers)](#)
   -1    32 -   [Answers, and non-answers (⚠ ⚠ contains MAJOR spoilers!)](#)
   -1    33 -   [Problems with the Data Horror Escape Room](#)
   -1    34 -   [More information about the Data Horror Escape Room](#)
   -1    35 -   [Inspiration and other games](#)
   -1    36 -   [Acknowledgements](#)
   -1    37 
   -1    38 ## Preparation
   -1    39 
   -1    40 We highly recommend that you complete the game yourself before facilitating a session for
   -1    41 others, and of course, you might like to recruit some friends or colleagues to play with you
   -1    42 and help out as it is more fun to play the game with others.
   -1    43 
   -1    44 To give you the same experience that your gamers will have, we recommend playing the
   -1    45 game before reading the sections below containing spoilers (these are clearly indicated).
   -1    46 
   -1    47 We advise you not to give away any information in advance that will enable your
   -1    48 participants to find and play the game before your session. Once the game is completed, it is
   -1    49 very easy to play again, so if people have already tried it out, it will spoil the fun.
   -1    50 
   -1    51 ### How long does it take?
   -1    52 
   -1    53 -   The Data Horror Escape Room takes a minimum of 40 minutes with fast work and
   -1    54     excellent team collaboration; more commonly, it takes around one hour or slightly
   -1    55     longer.
   -1    56 -   We recommend a session of 1 hour 30 minutes for introduction, game, and
   -1    57     post-game discussion.
   -1    58 -   If you have a session of less than an hour, you can start the game during the session
   -1    59     and invite participants to complete it together, or alone, after the session. Because
   -1    60     the room is an open website, participants can access it at any time.
   -1    61 -   To continue the game at a later date, participants should make a note of which
   -1    62     puzzles have been solved because the website does not track, or record any
   -1    63     information from individual players.
   -1    64 -   If your session isn't long enough to play the game to the end, participants will still
   -1    65     have encountered aspects of research data management that can be discussed and
   -1    66     you can focus on these, avoiding discussing how the puzzles are actually solved.
   -1    67 -   Try to keep the introduction brief to maximize time for completion and allow the
   -1    68     participants to discover for themselves how the game works. It's likely that some of
   -1    69     your participants will have played an escape room before, and they will be able to get
   -1    70     going very quickly. For those less experienced, offer individual support to help them
   -1    71     on their way.
   -1    72 
   -1    73 ### How do I set things up?
   -1    74 
   -1    75 -   Every team needs at least one computer and an internet connection.
   -1    76 -   Participants will also need to make a few small notes so either you can ensure they
   -1    77     have pens and paper, or you can suggest they make notes on their computer or
   -1    78     mobile phone.
   -1    79 -   At one point during the game, participants will encounter a video that they need to
   -1    80     watch. It has sound, but can be played on mute with subtitles.
   -1    81 -   The ideal team size is 2-6 people. You can have as many teams as you wish playing
   -1    82     simultaneously.
   -1    83 -   You can consider having a prize for the fastest team to complete the game.
   -1    84 
   -1    85 ### Notes for playing during a virtual/online event
   -1    86 
   -1    87 -   If playing the game during an online event, plan the following in advance:
   -1    88     -   how to divide the group into teams,
   -1    89     -   how to answer questions from the teams whilst playing the game,
   -1    90     -   how to send information, if needed, to all teams during the game,
   -1    91     -   what instructions to give teams who are not physically co-located (for
   -1    92         example, one person will need to share their screen and control the mouse),
   -1    93     -   what to do when some teams have finished the game and others are still
   -1    94         playing.
   -1    95 -   If using Zoom, it is easiest to use the Breakout Rooms with the self-assign
   -1    96     functionality, then participants can sort themselves into the breakout rooms of their
   -1    97     choice. Sorting a large number of participants into breakout rooms as a facilitator is
   -1    98     overwhelming and takes some time.
   -1    99 
   -1   100 ### What happens when people finish?
   -1   101 
   -1   102 -   Consider whether, and therefore how, you would like participants to confirm they
   -1   103     have completed the game. If they complete it during the session they might just
   -1   104     shout out, if they complete it afterwards, you could ask them to make a screenshot
   -1   105     when they escape, with or without timestamp.
   -1   106 -   Make plans to keep players busy after completing the game whilst they wait for the
   -1   107     other teams to finish. For example, you could provide prompts for each team to
   -1   108     discuss among themselves topics raised in the game, or you could provide other
   -1   109     RDM materials to look at and discuss.
   -1   110 -   When all teams have finished the game, or you decide that the time is over (and they
   -1   111     can complete the game after the session), take a look at the discussion points below.
   -1   112 
   -1   113 ## Starting the session
   -1   114 
   -1   115 Some participants might not have previously encountered an escape room game. If so, a
   -1   116 small amount of explanation is useful. Sometimes, other participants are keen to explain
   -1   117 their own experiences of escape rooms to the group.
   -1   118 
   -1   119 A digital escape room is a series of puzzles that must be solved in order to ‘unlock’ a door
   -1   120 that allows the participants to 'escape' and therefore complete the game. The game will
   -1   121 guide you, and there are hints, but you should be able to figure out what to do and how to
   -1   122 do it whilst playing the game. It should be clear to you when you have completed the game:
   -1   123 you will be told when you have escaped.
   -1   124 
   -1   125 -   It's usual in an escape room to have little or no explanation about the kinds of
   -1   126     puzzles that need to be solved, or how to escape. Participants have to figure that out
   -1   127     for themselves as part of the fun. So don't give too much away when explaining how
   -1   128     an escape room works
   -1   129 -   The room is designed to prompt discussion both during and after play, so encourage
   -1   130     people to talk.
   -1   131 -   You don't need to know anything about RDM before playing the game: it is not a test.
   -1   132     But some puzzles are harder than others! A little RDM knowledge, or experience
   -1   133     playing escape rooms, might help you complete it faster.
   -1   134 -   Explain to participants what they should do to signal that they have completed the
   -1   135     game.
   -1   136 -   Explain to participants what they should do if they need help whilst playing the
   -1   137     game. Note that on some puzzle pages there is a link to a hint that will help complete
   -1   138     the puzzle.
   -1   139 
   -1   140 ## Discussion points
   -1   141 
   -1   142 Regardless of the audience, the game usually generates excitement and so it is worth making
   -1   143 some time immediately after playing to reflect, de-brief, and discuss the game together.
   -1   144 
   -1   145 Possible discussion points include:
   -1   146 
   -1   147 -   Did you like playing the game? Why (or why not!)?
   -1   148 -   Did anything surprise you when you played the game?
   -1   149 -   Did you learn anything, from the game itself or from your teammates?
   -1   150 -   Which question did you find most difficult to answer?
   -1   151 -   Do you think the Escape Room represents common issues in data management? How
   -1   152     do these issues vary for different research areas? What issues have you personally
   -1   153     encountered?
   -1   154 -   Did you have discussions with your teammates? What did you discuss?
   -1   155 -   Did anything during the game (including your struggles or mistakes) prompt you to
   -1   156     think about why or how we should do research data management?
   -1   157 -   Whilst playing the game, did you see any parallels between the way you organised
   -1   158     your team and the different roles in the research process?
   -1   159 
   -1   160 Of course, as a facilitator, you may want to focus on certain discussion areas, add questions
   -1   161 that are relevant to your participants, or leave out discussion points that are not relevant.
   -1   162 
   -1   163 ## ⚠The sections below contain spoilers ⚠
   -1   164 
   -1   165 *Do not read these sections if you want to play the game without knowing the answers.*
   -1   166 
   -1   167 ## How to play the Escape Room (⚠contains small spoilers)
   -1   168 
   -1   169 -   There are 6 code puzzles, which can be solved in any order. All pages allow players to
   -1   170     return to the central page from which they navigate to the puzzles. Each code puzzle
   -1   171     delivers one word upon completion. The six words must be put into the correct order
   -1   172     to unlock the final part of the game and escape.
   -1   173 -   The 'final' puzzle is to unlock the Professor's computer and submit the data
   -1   174     management plan. The full computer code is obtained by completing the 6 code
   -1   175     puzzles and working out the order of the words that makes most sense.
   -1   176 -   The game is a static website; it does not remember which puzzles have been
   -1   177     completed or record a team's progress.
   -1   178 -   Hints are included at the bottom of pages where people have traditionally struggled
   -1   179     (see the answers section below). You might need to give extra tips, or help players
   -1   180     understand an answer.
   -1   181 -   Players have finished the game when they see the page with the open door that tells
   -1   182     them they have escaped. It is possible that a team might believe they have
   -1   183     completed the game before this point, so if a prize is involved, verify that they have
   -1   184     reached the open door.
   -1   185 -   There is no formal record of when a team completes the game (but see the note
   -1   186     below about the team-registration version). In a live event, a team can shout out
   -1   187     when they have finished. Facilitators can, however, give more specific instructions to
   -1   188     provide proof that the game was completed, and a time-stamp if that is relevant: tell
   -1   189     participants in advance that they should take a screenshot when they escape so that
   -1   190     they can prove that they have completed the game. If you are awarding a prize for
   -1   191     the fastest team, the file will include a timestamp in the metadata, or you can ask
   -1   192     them to make sure that the computer screen's clock is on the screenshot to prove
   -1   193     the moment of escape.
   -1   194 
   -1   195 NOTE on the team-registration version of the game:
   -1   196 
   -1   197 There is a duplicate version of the Escape Room that is only available when facilitated by one
   -1   198 of the game’s creators and which allows teams to identify themselves and register their
   -1   199 completion time. In this team-registration version, players have to indicate their team name
   -1   200 at the last moment before they escape and a timestamp is recorded for that team. The
   -1   201 facilitators at VU have access to the environment where the team names and timestamps
   -1   202 are collected and can then identify the winning team. If interested, reach out to <rdm@vu.nl>
   -1   203 
   -1   204 ## Answers, and non-answers (⚠⚠contains MAJOR spoilers!)
   -1   205 
   -1   206 These are the puzzles and resulting code words that are delivered in the game:
   -1   207 
   -1   208 -   Address book
   -1   209     -   RDM challenge: What constitutes personal data
   -1   210     -   Solution
   -1   211         1. All answers are correct
   -1   212         2. D-B-E-C-A
   -1   213     -   Code word: Good
   -1   214 -   Wall map
   -1   215     -   RDM challenge: ransferring data across borders
   -1   216     -   Solution: All answers are correct
   -1   217     -   Code word: Planning
   -1   218 -   Notice board
   -1   219     -   RDM challenge: Persistent identifiers
   -1   220     -   Solution: Pablo Colunga-Salas's Orcid is: 0000-0002-1355-0939. This Orcid code identifies the letters on the coded sheet: HELPS. See below for more information on this puzzle.
   -1   221     -   Code word: Helps
   -1   222 -   Filing cabinet
   -1   223     -   RDM challenge: Metadata
   -1   224     -   Solution: 1-2-4-6-8-10-12
   -1   225     -   Code word: Horror
   -1   226 -   Camera
   -1   227     -   RDM challenge: FAIR
   -1   228     -   Solution: C-D-E-G
   -1   229     -   Code word: Data
   -1   230 -   Waste paper bin
   -1   231     -   RDM challenge: Preserving data
   -1   232     -   Solution
   -1   233         -   All answers are correct -
   -1   234         -   all answers are correct -
   -1   235         -   True
   -1   236         -   True
   -1   237         -   CE
   -1   238         -   ABE
   -1   239         -   False
   -1   240     -   Code word: Avoid
   -1   241 
   -1   242 ### Complete solution for unlocking the computer
   -1   243 
   -1   244 `GOOD PLANNING HELPS AVOID DATA HORROR`
   -1   245 
   -1   246 ### Where people might get stuck..
   -1   247 
   -1   248 -   Looking at the posters outside the room gives no useful information for completing
   -1   249     the game, but is fun nonetheless!
   -1   250 -   The pile of waste paper in the bin is a distraction but might prompt discussion about
   -1   251     how, and whether, data should be destroyed.
   -1   252 -   The map on the wall with numbers is a distraction that does not help with solving the
   -1   253     puzzles, it is included merely for fun.
   -1   254 -   The notice board game is the most difficult - see the section below for more
   -1   255     explanation. Players might find it better to come back to this puzzle after completing
   -1   256     some of the other puzzles.
   -1   257 -   You are asked to read the data management plan (DMP) before submitting it - but
   -1   258     this is not necessary to complete the game. All you have to do is to click 'Submit'.
   -1   259     During discussion, you might like to return to the DMP (or your own institution's) to
   -1   260     discuss data management planning in more detail.
   -1   261 -   Opening the data management plan is not quite the end… You have to click on the
   -1   262     Submit button, and then click the final link to see the open door and the final
   -1   263     message: "Thank you for submitting your Data Management Plan. We are pleased to
   -1   264     inform you that your DMP has been accepted. You are free now to leave the office".
   -1   265 -   At the bottom of the final page, it's possible to leave feedback for the creators of the
   -1   266     Data Horror Escape Room.
   -1   267 
   -1   268 ### Pablo's Orcid - the notice board puzzle
   -1   269 
   -1   270 The notice board game is the most difficult and involves taking several steps to complete:
   -1   271 
   -1   272 1.  understanding that an Orcid is a unique number identifying a person, in this case
   -1   273     someone called " Pablo",
   -1   274 2.  realising that the instruction on the postcard to look at a dataset will lead to Pablo,
   -1   275 3.  working out how to find this dataset from the DOI (digital object identifier) that is given
   -1   276     or spotting that there's a direct link on the DOI flyer),
   -1   277 4.  recognizing where to find Pablo's Orcid in the metadata of the dataset, and
   -1   278 5.  using the Orcid number to identify the right letters on the coded sheet back in the escape room.
   -1   279 
   -1   280 Playing the game is an opportunity to encourage researchers to create their own Orcid, and
   -1   281 to explain why persistent identifiers are needed when archiving material on the web.
   -1   282 
   -1   283 -   The two flyers on the notice board explain Orcid and DOIs and can be downloaded
   -1   284     and printed out.
   -1   285 -   The coded sheet can only be deciphered if you know the ORCID number for Pablo
   -1   286     Colunga-Salas. Pablo is a real researcher and is the first author of the (real) dataset
   -1   287     mentioned on the postcard.
   -1   288 -   The DOI on the postcard can be googled to find the dataset, or the location can be
   -1   289     found using the instructions on the DOI flyer, or there is even a direct URL-link from
   -1   290     the example on the DOI flyer.
   -1   291 -   The DOI leads directly to the dataset created by Pablo Colunga-Salas and his
   -1   292     colleagues, and from where the Orcid for Pablo can be found.
   -1   293 -   The dataset is called ‘Unicellular endoparasites of bats’ and is archived in Zenodo, so
   -1   294     it is possible that players could locate the dataset with a few words from the title
   -1   295     mentioned on the postcard, the name "Pablo", and the word "Zenodo".
   -1   296 -   The coded sheet also contains the word "PABLO" and other words that players might
   -1   297     guess are relevant (metadata, ghosts, drives, means, etc.) but which are decoys. If
   -1   298     players try enough of these variations in the final sentence, they may eventually find
   -1   299     the right answer despite not having completed this puzzle.
   -1   300 
   -1   301 ## Problems with the Data Horror Escape Room
   -1   302 
   -1   303 We hope you enjoy playing the Data Horror Escape Room and find it useful to help raise
   -1   304 awareness about research data management. However, if you encounter problems, please
   -1   305 let us know: <rdm@vu.nl>
   -1   306 
   -1   307 ## More information about the Data Horror Escape Room
   -1   308 
   -1   309 -   A blog post about the Data Horror Escape Room after it was initially launched:
   -1   310     <https://www.digitalscholarshipleiden.nl/articles/learn-about-data-management-concepts-in-this-online-data-horror-escape-room>
   -1   311 -   The Escape Room was included at the 2020 Research Support Games Day hosted by
   -1   312     Robert Gordon University in the UK:
   -1   313     <https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1005411/proceedings-of-the-2nd-research-support-games-day-rsgd-2>
   -1   314 -   A presentation about the Data Horror Escape Room from the LIBER Conference 2021:
   -1   315     <https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5045311> (download the pdf "Play games with me experiences using gamification for online research skills training.pdf")
   -1   316 -   The Data Horror Escape Room won a prize at iPres 2022:
   -1   317     <https://www.dpconline.org/news/celebrating-outstanding-contributions-to-ipres-2022>
   -1   318 
   -1   319 ## Inspiration and other games
   -1   320 
   -1   321 -   Create your own escape room using Google Forms:
   -1   322     <https://www.bespokeclassroom.com/blog/2019/10/4/how-to-build-a-digital-escape-room-using-google-forms>
   -1   323 -   There is a list of Research Support games (including the Data Horror Escape Room) at:
   -1   324     <https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16652701.v5>. This includes games about all sorts of
   -1   325     topics within the larger umbrella of Research Support and is not restricted to RDM games.
   -1   326 -   Our GHOST collective created more Escape Rooms which you can find here
   -1   327     <https://vu.nl/en/stories/making-research-data-management-fun>.
   -1   328     We also have a card game about Open Science <https://zenodo.org/records/10058056>
   -1   329 
   -1   330 ## Acknowledgements
   -1   331 
   -1   332 The Data Horror Escape Room was created by a collaborative team from Vrije Universiteit
   -1   333 Amsterdam (Lena Karvovskaya and Elisa Rodenburg), Leiden University Libraries (Joanne
   -1   334 Yeomans), and Eindhoven University of Technology (Anne Aarts and Bart Aben) in the
   -1   335 Netherlands.
   -1   336 
   -1   337 If you need to use parts of this cheat sheet whilst facilitating a session using the Data Horror
   -1   338 Escape Room, we have given it a Creative Commons open licence, meaning you can do so
   -1   339 without needing to credit us. See <https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>
   -1   340 
   -1   341 We hope you enjoy playing and using the game as much as we have.

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@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
   18    18             <a class="brand" href="{{ "" | relURL }}" rel="home">Data Horror Escape Room</a>
   19    19             <nav>
   20    20                 <a href="{{ "" | relURL }}">Home</a>
   -1    21                 <a href="{{ "guide" | relURL }}">Facilitator guide</a>
   21    22                 <a href="{{ "about" | relURL }}">About this website</a>
   22    23             </nav>
   23    24         </div>