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Delta Township District Library hosts monthly escape rooms
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Each month, the Delta Township District Library hosts their Euphorigen Investigation, an adult escape room designed to combat misinformation in the media.
The Euphorigen Investigation escape room came from a research project at the University of Washington as a way to combat online misinformation. According to the University of Washington’s Information School website, the escape room is intended to teach participants about how to skeptically navigate information from the Internet.
“We created an online escape room to mimic the psychological and emotional responses elicited by real-life interactions with digital misinformation,” the research group wrote. “The escape room aims to equip players with the necessary skills to identify misinformation online and become savvy, skeptical digital citizens.”
The game employs charts, videos, puzzles, manipulated media, hidden codes and much more, to create a world in which participants must complete an investigation vital to the safety of the community.
Players are tasked with investigating Euphorigen, a supplement for the water supply that allegedly aids brain function. Under a time limit, investigators have to determine whether or not Euphorigen is safe to consume.
Rebecca Hruscik, Head of Adult Services at Delta Township District Library, first heard of the Euphorigen Investigation in 2020, and brought it to the library. “[Misinformation] is something that libraries […] try to help people with, because people trust us.