a game of resemblance
foreducators

museums!

!

journeyers

computa0on

because…

  analogy-making is the universal fabricof cognition
Douglas  Hofstadter  and  Emmanuel  Sander
Surfaces  and  Essences:  Analogy  as  the  Fuel  and  Fire  of  Thinking  andmost of us can’t think of systems
because they are too big of whichto think.

Jon  Kolko,  ‘Sensemaking’,  The  Alpine  Review,  #1:  An6fragility,  p14

Exploring  the  similitude  of  disparate  elements  –  making  analogies  –  can  clarify  a  system’s  structures  and  rela0ons.  It  can  also  yield  a  sense  of  the  whole.    

Humans  are  naturally  tuned  in  to  paAerns.  You  can  play  Sembl  to  strengthen  this  muscle  and  ﬁnd  paCerns  both  useful  and  marvellous.

PlayIn  each  move,  place  an  image  and  iden6fy  a  resemblance.    
Your  challenge:  be  interes6ng  to  other  players.

body labelling

Branding iron

Breastplate given to an
Aboriginal man by a colonist

Both the breastplate and the branding iron label bodies; breastplate as brand.
This analogy reminds us that white settlers in Australia imposed a regime ofauthority on Aboriginal people.

Sembl is an analogical engine

for educators
To  rise  to  emerging  challenges,  we  all  need  to  skill  up  on  crea0ve  thinking.  For  players,  Sembl  is  conceptual  parkour.  
When  you  prac0se  this  kind  of  play  with  the  material  of  real-­‐world  events,  ecologies,  cultures  and  histories,  startling  insights  can  emerge.  
We’re  adding  more  material  all  the  0me,  and  you  can  upload  your  own  to  work  –  or  play  –  on  any  problem  you  want.  

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for museums
You've  got  heaps  of  signiﬁcant  stuﬀ,  and  you  want  it  to  be  known  and  loved.    
Sembl  players  make  connec0ons  between  collec0on  items  –  which  is  a  surprisingly  good  way  to  gain  insight  into  a  thing  itself.  
Contribu0ng  material  to  Sembl  is  easy.  To  maximise  aCen0on  to  its  collec0on  a  museum  may  also  become  a  premier  game  host.

for journeyers
Deep  down,  don't  we  all  want  peace,  jus0ce  and  love?  
We  live  with  all  kinds  of  social  divisions  that  imbalance  the  world  and  create  conﬂict  within  it.  You  can  use  Sembl  to  look  across  divides.  Seek  resemblance,  and  see  diﬀerences  both  clarify  and  dissolve.  
Experience  dense  network  wholeness  and  feel  more  awake  to  what  maCers.

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for computation
Computers  process  with  binary  logic;  we  think  in  analogue.  If  only  they  could  understand  how  we  think,  how  much  more  handy  would  they  be?  
Sembl  cul0vates  a  growing  index  of  human  analogies.  Poten0ally,  that  is  very  useful.  
Discuss?

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Open!
Sembl’s lifeblood is openly-licensed cultural material; we love open.
• It’s free to play against happenstance
opponents or at the invitation of a host.
• Play on tablet or desktop.
• Game data – sembls, ratings etc – isshared with museums and other parties
for use in their own interfaces.

• In time, source code will be released sothe system can be adapted, refined andextended for the benefit of all patrons.
• Follow our progress, ideas andreflections at sembl.net/blog.

Credits
Sembl  is:  • founded  by  Catherine  Styles,  PhD  –  @cathstyles  /  cath@sembl.net  • inspired  by  Charles  Cameron  –  @hipbonegamer  • supported  by  the  ACT  Government  under  the  Innova6onConnect  (ICon)  Grant  Program  • constructed  in  the  ﬁrst  instance  by  Icelab  –  @Icelab

Images•••••••

Microscopic  organisms  with  mineral  skeletons  by  Ernst  Haeckel,  Rhizopoda  Radiaria,  1862,  Biodiversity  Heritage  Library  Animal  magne6sm,  1802,  Wellcome  Library,  London  Diagram  of  atmospheric  eﬀects,  1846,  Wellcome  Library,  London  Breastplate,  1840,  Na0onal  Museum  of  Australia  Branding  iron,  Na0onal  Museum  of  Australia  Water-­‐powered  machine,  Arabic  manuscript,  c1500–1899,  Max  Planck  Digital  Library  via  Wikimedia  Commons  Training  at  the  Technical  College,  Canberra,  c1940,  State  Library  of  Victoria  sembl.net•••••Palais  Royal,  c1904,  J  Paul  GeCy  Museum  Hot  air  balloon  above  the  clouds,  Wellcome  Library,  London  Analy6cal  engine  by  Charles  Babbage,  1840,  London  Science  Museum  via  a  Haverford  College  resource  on  the  history  of  mechanised  thought  Lacquered  wooden  domes6c  shrine  with  66  ﬁgures  of  Shinto  and  Buddhist  dei0es,  19th  century,  Wellcome  Library,  London  Pallas  praising  nature  at  the  birth  of  the  infantes,  promising  to  protect  them  from  evil,  1612,  Los  Angeles  County  Museum  of  Art