Professor Stuart Moulthrop Public Lecture – FREE – Make a Better Door: Or, How Does Digital Humanism Humanize? #games #robots #geekgirl

Make a Better Door: Or, How Does Digital Humanism Humanize?

An interesting image for 2011. …

A player/character in the most recent Portal game is literally locked out of her workplace and replaced by a pair of robots. From this resonant image of the human-computer interface a discussion will emerge to do with broader understandings of the digital humanities, media scholarship, and electronic literature. The focus for this approach will be the question famously posed by Richard Lanham’s: “how do the humanities humanize?”

Professor Darren Tofts (Swinburne University of Technology) will moderate a conversation with Professor Moulthrop following his presentation.

Date: Monday 10th October, 2011
Time: 6.30-8.30 pm.
Venue: Village Roadshow Theatrette
State Library of Victoria 179 La Trobe Street Melbourne (Conference Centre, Entry 3)
Australia

Stuart Moulthrop is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is an electronic literature pioneer, both as a theoretician and as a writer, and has published many of articles on the topic of games, network literature and digital media theory. From 1995-99 he was co-editor of the online journal Postmodern Culture and he is a founding board member of the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO). His hypertext Victory Garden (1992) was featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review in a (now famous) review by American literary critic Robert Coover. Moulthrop is also the author of the hypertext fiction works Reagan Library (1999), and Hegirascope (1995), amongst many others. His recent work engages with digital games and its interface with media theory, electronic writing and scandal. His current work in progress is “Sc4nda1 in New Media,” an Arcade Essay that converges philosophical meditation with an actual video game. It can be accessed at http://pantherfile.uwm.edu/moulthro/index.htm.

Professor Moulthrop is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Faculty of Life & Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology. This visit has also been supported by the School of Media and Communication, RMIT and Sydney University.

6th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games #games #players #imagination #geekgirl

_6th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games_ _29 – 31 January 2012 :: Madrid, Spain :: Abstracts due 1 October 2011_ 

 The call to  submit papers to the 6th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games is now open. The conference theme is The Nature of Player Experience. Over the past decade, the topic of player experience has attracted attention from a multitude of disciplines and practices focusing on computer games. Accepted papers will have a clear focus on philosophy and philosophical issues in relation to computer games and will refer to specific examples from computer games rather than merely invoke them in general terms. Papers should examine the philosophical underpinnings of player experience from a variety of perspectives. Some papers may be accepted for alternative forms of presentation, such as poster sessions, workshops, or demonstrations.  http://2012.gamephilosophy.org

Urban Codemakers #Melbourne #geekgirl

MELBOURNE: TROY INNOCENT’S INTERACTIVE ARTWORK URBAN CODEMAKERS
Commissioned as part of the City of Melbourne’s Laneway Commissions 2010
[http://tinyurl.com/3xfuujc],

Troy Innocent’s Urban Codemakers uses online and real world games to explore the ways in which urban spaces are constructed through institutional and private codes. The narrative of Urban Codemakers is shaped by audience members contributing to blogs, participating in field work, or participating in game activity as it moves between the virtual and real world. Visit the Urban Codemakers website  [http://tinyurl.com/33r3bcz] to registar to play the game or visit the Guildford Lane complex to experience the physical manifestation of the work.

Guildford Lane, Melbourne, CDB
Until 30 January, 2011

Bloodbath Roller Derby – still time to win tix #bumpp #geekgirl

BLOODBATH double pass giveaway.
Want to win a double pass to the BLOODBATH Oct 9th at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney? Post your best photo of A PRIOR ROLLER DERBY EVENT, be it as an audience member, in costume, or team-mate or war wound focused; we want to see you at your Roller Derby best!

Join the facebook group, post your pic to the photo album, and tag your name to enter the contest! Winners will be revealed on Friday 8 October 2010. C’mon! Do it!

BLOODBATH is a collaborative distributed artwork by Bump Projects in association with the Sydney Roller Derby League. BLOODBATH features artists Linda Dement, Kate Richards, Sarah Waterson, Francesca da Rimini, and Nancy Mauro-Flude, each with recognised track records in new media, data visualisation, mediated performance and/or work with embodiment or violence. At an all girl flat track roller derby game, Sydney, 9 October 2010, sensors on the helmets of players feed data to their five artworks, generating digital elaborations of the moves and collisions on track.

Bloodbath – Bump Projects in association with the Sydney Roller Derby League #geekgirl

BLOODBATH
http://bumpp.net/

Saturday 9 Oct  6.30pm – doors open 5.30pm
Tickets through ticketek

BLOODBATH is a collaborative distributed artwork by Bump Projects in association with the Sydney Roller Derby League. BLOODBATH features five artists – Linda Dement, Nancy Mauro-Flude, Kate Richards, Francesca da Rimini and Sarah Waterson. At an all girl flat track   roller derby game, sensors on the helmets of players feed data to the five artworks, generating digital elaborations of the moves and  
collisions on track.

All girl flat track roller derby is a raucous, irreverent game that usually results in minor injuries. It runs in bouts of 30 minutes, each bout being made up of 2 minute ‘jams’ in which one member of each team, the ‘jammer’, attempts to pass the pack and so score points.

For Bloodbath, the packs also have a virtual life, from robust wireless sensors (wiimotes) installed on the heads of players, collision, speed and rotational information is sent to a server and from there, on to data driven artworks. The artists are making their artworks live on site, in real-time, and these are projected as the game is played out.

Bloodbath builds on investigations into our human tendency towards, and attraction to, violence – these trajectories creating   technological  elaborations of our delighted riveted engagement in battle and its dynamics of attack, revenge, defence, collapse, victory, deceit and subterfuge. The artists will be working with digital manifestations of speeding flesh and programmed digital  activity. These works both follow and break the rules, embodying the generative repercussions of a fracas.

BLOODBATH
http://bumpp.net/
Artists: Linda Dement, Nancy Mauro-Flude, Kate Richards, Francesca da Rimini, Sarah Waterson
Producers: Linda Dement, Kate Richards
Original  idea: Linda Dement
Technical development: Mr. Snow, House of Laudanum 
Publicity: Deborah Turnbull, New Media Curation

The Ludeans are at play in the laneways of Melbourne #urbancodemakers

In 2010, the Ludeans are at play in the laneways of Melbourne. Guildford Lane complex, an area transformed from industrial thoroughfare to a residential and contemporary art precinct has become the new centre for the Urban Codemakers. This game is played out in the heart of the City of Melbourne and you are invited to step into its world.

Join the Urban Codemakers at urbancodemakers.net

The guild leaders will be undertaking fieldwork during September and October so the big city game will happen during November, December and January…

Will you be an ecologist, a codemaker or an urbanist?

About the Urban Codemakers
Activities range from community consultation, advising councils on city planning policies, and research into the role of ubiquitous media in shaping urban space. Developing a transdisciplinary approach to urban design called ‘urban codemaking’. This is an experimental approach that draws upon game design, computational semiotics and generative systems for urban planning. Currently testing this strategy on the streets of Melbourne – a city known for its unique urban character resulting from a blend of planned and unplanned urban spaces.

Guildford Lane Complex, Melbourne, Australia
Runs until Oct 31st, 2010

Games Developers’ Association of Australia calling for GCAP 2010 abstracts #gamers #geekgirl

The GDAA is calling for Abstracts for GCAP 2010

The Game Developers’ Association of Australia has announced that the annual Game Connect Asia Pacific event scheduled will head to the Gold Coast in October. In an event that will be held simultaneously with the EB Games vendor show, Australia’s mini E3, the event will focus on the changing game development ecosystem and Australia’s future role in the global industry.

Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP 2010) will focus on the key theme ‘The Player Experience’ and will explore the world of video games from the eyes of the game player, ensuring an interactive, thought provoking and insightful conference program.

As such, this year’s conference will take a holistic view of the development process, exploring how every single line of code, piece of art, business and marketing decision ultimately impacts on our audience. A strong focus will be placed on the rapid iteration of ideas and how every studio is able to create a catalogue of concepts for presentation to the global publishing and game playing audience.

“With such an exciting and thought provoking theme as ‘The Player Experience’ at the very heart of what we’re doing this year, we’re gearing up for a community driven GCAP. This year the industry will come together to dissect the global games industry and look at how, with investment from every discipline in the game making process, we come up with amazing new game concepts and gameplay innovations,” commented GDAA CEO, Antony Reed.

 The GDAA is now putting out a call for the submission of abstracts for inclusion in the GCAP 2010 program.

GCAP 2010 will consist of a number of tracks – programming, art, design, audio, business development and marketing. The conference will also include multiple presentation formats, such as panels and round table discussions, lectures and hands-on workshops.

All keynotes, sessions and workshops will focus on various aspects of the overall player experience. To find out more about GCAP 2010, visit http://www.gcap.com.au/

To submit an abstract, please send to abstracts@gcap.com.au  Submissions close, COB Friday 10 September, 2010

Helping kids who play computer games to be active #CSIRO #kids #geekgirl

CSIRO has developed computer software that aims to encourage children to be more active when playing computer games.

Designed as an add-on to popular computer games that do not ordinarily encourage physical activity, it works by exploiting the children’s desire to win.

Through the Preventative Health Flagship, CSIRO experts in information and communication technologies (ICT) took a game that is usually played sitting down and devised a way for them to earn extra points if they jump up and down.

Dr Shlomo Berkovsky and his team developed the concept using the open source game Neverball, where players have a certain amount of time to guide a ball through a maze, and shortened the time.

“The only way an average player can complete the maze and go on to the next level of the game is by getting up and jumping around. Every jump earns a second of game time,” Dr Berkovsky said.

Modified and unmodified versions of the game were tested on 270 primary school children in Hobart, Tasmania. Those playing the modified game jumped an average of 257 times in the 20 minutes they spent playing the game.

Dr Berkovsky said the trials showed children playing modified games spent 25 per cent of their gaming time being active, whereas those playing unmodified games were active for just 3 per cent of the time.

“The children enjoyed playing the modified game as much if not more than the unmodified version and their parents were particularly pleased with how much exercise they seemed to be getting,” he said.

CSIRO’s approach can be applied to any game where there’s a parameter that can be measured, like time, and which it makes sense to reward, in the context of the game.

The work recently won the research and development (R&D) category of the 2010 Tasmanian iAwards, sponsored by the Australian Information Industry Association.

Source: CSIRO

Wagwords a new multi-media wordgame and fiction adventure by Philip Redhead

Australian first, author, Philip Redhead, has launched an all-new multi-media wordgame and fiction adventure featuring Wagwords™ – a tongue-in-cheek story with the challenge of solving missing words which also go in a luxury crossword, combined with an eclectic mix of humour – making it a perfect gift on any occasion.

Grizbut and the Amazonians is the hilarious and witty tale of Grizbut, a hip Amazonian woman with supreme perception and power. By following Grizbut’s adventures, the reader will also have the additional challenge in solving the Wagwords™ along the way, and enjoying Phil Redhead’s satirical sense of humour as well.

For a sneak peak, take a look at www.wagwords.com

Open Call: Learn to Play – Call For Proposals – Build Your Own World #geekgirl

Submission Deadline 31 July 2010 :: Cupertino, USA

Are you a game maker? Are you telling compelling stories about your life or the world around you? Are you doing interesting things through games and interactivity that cannot be done elsewhere? Learn to Play is calling for submissions around games as art on the theme ‘build your own world’. Learn to Play will be opening this fall as parallel programming for the 2010 01SJ Biennial.

http://learn.toplay.us/