Future students

With recent waves of layoffs, high-profile workplace harassment cases, and a notoriously short career length for gender minorities and people of colour, the transition of new workers into the game industry involves navigating a spate of barriers to equity and success that have been understudied in academic research. This panel talks about "The First Three Years", an ongoing longitudinal study of graduates of game programs in Canada and the United States, following the journey of 207 students as they move into the game industry.

This panel highlights emerging scholars in Black game studies. Panelists will present recent and/or ongoing work, sharing a glimpse of the emerging research questions animating the field. Topics include Black worldbuilding in and across games (Fletcher), perceptions of Black male exceptionalism in gaming cultures (Dashiell), and the relationship between avatar representation and Black user experience in social VR (DeVeaux).

Due to technological advancements, communicating with computer systems using natural language has become a casual phenomenon. Speech-based systems, like Siri or Cortana, have become widely popular among people due to their convenience. Speech interaction encompasses a social component as it reflects the fundamental human capacity for communication and enables interpersonal engagement through verbal exchange. This makes human-agent interaction an essential topic of research in the field of human-computer interaction.

This event corresponds with an in-person workshop. Separate registration required and seating is limited.