BAD GAMES

On the 18th July 2009, the Play Research Group will be playing Bad Games at the Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol.

technology games and families

I'll be a contributor to this Futurelab event in London on 30th June:

"The seminar is one of the first activities in a one year Becta funded programme exploring the specific nuances of technology games play in family settings, for example by identifying particular games and genres played in families with very young children, compared with the sorts of games preferred by older children and teens. The overarching concern of the programme is to develop guidance for parents in order that computer games can be used beneficially in family settings. Examples of proposed research questions are:

· What role do technology games play in the social, leisure and informal learning activities of families (parents and their children)?

· What are the attitudes and perceptions of family members towards the benefits and risks of playing such games?

· How can we support parents and their children to appreciate and understand the benefits and risks associated with playing these games?"

playground games in the new media age

The first meeting of Children's Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age (an AHRC-funded 'Beyond Text' large project) is on 10th June. It's a project at the Institute of Education in London (I've been invited to join the advisory panel).

user media

Helen W. Kennedy and I have been invited to present at a workshop for Matt Hills and Annette Kuhn's T-PACE (transitional phenomena and cultural experience) research group at Cardiff University on Friday 3rd April.

digital childhood

The interdisciplinary Childhood research group at UWE is running a series of seminars in 2009. I'm doing the first one: 'Games and play in the digital age'. Thursday 22nd January, in the Lady Chapel on the St. Matthias campus. 4.30-5.30.

Here's the flyer.

hello toy

I'll be speaking with Helen Kennedy at the "Hello Toy" symposium at the Arnolfini gallery on Wed 14 January 2009. The symposium accompanies the Supertoys exhibition and will address theories of toys, object relations, automate, affect and play. Other speakers include Victoria de Rijke and Claire Pajaczkowska and the artists Dylan Evans and Natalie Jeremijenko.

virtual games / real play

Lecture 9 of a series organised by Tom Abba for the MA Media programmes at UWE. 25/11/08 5.30 ­ 7.30, 0D37, Bower Ashton campus
This presentation will argue that an understanding of play and games should be central to the production and study of popular digital media. Drawing on ethnographic research into videogame play it will explore the ambiguities of play, and the interpenetration of virtual and actual realities in everyday life.