Join a panel of experts in digital media and game studies at THEMUSEUM as they discuss the cultural, educational, social, and political role of games and gameplay in our lives. Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Aimée Morrison, Steve Wilcox, and Betsy Brey will discuss creating and playing games critically, games for behavior change, games for health, educational and serious games, game-based learning, lootboxes, computer security and privacy, children’s online privacy, and digital literacy. This panel is presented in partnership with THEMUSEUM and is part of the INTERPLAY, Digital Dynamics 2018 exhibition presented by the Personal Computer Museum, Montreal’s ‘Technoculture, Art and Games Research Centre’ (TAG) at Concordia University, and the ‘Games Institute’(GI) at the University of Waterloo.
Panelists
Aimée Morrison is an associate professor in the department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on popular reception and remediation of computer technologies, as well as on design for digital media. Her work engages with emergent forms of digital media as a set of complex and consequential rhetorical, literary, and social practices undertaken by ordinary people across the full spectrum of daily life.
Steve Wilcox is an assistant professor in the game design and development program at Wilfrid Laurier University. His research explores the use of games to mobilize and actualize knowledge. He has created games in collaboration with medical geographers, food allergy experts, family violence researchers, and child and adolescent psychiatrists in the areas of health, wellness, education, and patient experiences.
Leah Zhang-Kennedy is a User Experience (UX) designer and researcher and teaches at the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus. Her research interests include digital media and design for creating and disseminating effective educational tools. She has collaborated with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and MediaSmarts to mobilize knowledge about computer security and online privacy for adults, youth, and children.
Moderator
Betsy Brey is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on the intersections of narratological structure, social context, and gameplay. In particular, she’s interested in how players understand and interpret narrative forms in role-playing games and metagames. She is editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar, a middle-state game studies publication dedicated to accessible game criticism and research. Her work is supported by UW’s Games Institute.