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Dr. Michael Barnett-Coawn attaching a VR head
Thursday, June 8, 2023

Dr. Michael Barnett-Cowan Interviewed on CBC Listen and CTV News

Dr. Michael Barnett-Cowan (Kinesiology and Health Sciences) has recently made media appearances on the Morning Edition with Craig Norris and CTV News regarding his research on virtual reality (VR), cybersickness, and his work with the Multisensory Brain and Cognition (MBC) Lab. The focus on cybersickness comes from new research delving into why some people do get sick in VR while others don’t. Barnett-Cowan says it has to do with how the brain processes information from a real-world environment to a digital recreation. This creates a sense of cognitive dissonance that makes people more prone to feelings of nausea when using VR. 

International Conference on Games and Narrative 2023 Logo
Thursday, June 1, 2023

International Conference on Games and Narrative Returns for Second Series

On May 15-19, the GI held its second biennial conference on games and narrative. This year, the conference invited presentations on the theme of “Isolation and Return: The Making of Narrative Worlds.” It was a fully hybrid conference that was made possible with the use of Dr. Neil Randall’s Storyboard Lab, which involved several Cisco screens to create an immersive experience. Around 40 participants joined the conference online while another 30 participated in person.

Dr. Craig S. Kaplan by Joe Petrik
Monday, April 10, 2023

GI Faculty Member Craig S. Kaplan Discovers Elusive Einstein Tile

A major mathematic discovery has been found with the help of GI faculty member Dr. Craig S. Kaplan (Computer Science) called the “einstein.” The shape called the ‘hat’ is an aperiodic tile that can cover an infinite plane without creating a repeating pattern. Thought to be impossible, it was discovered by David Smith, a retired engineer based out of England who reached out to Dr. Kaplan about his discovery.

event poster with abstract text
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

From Custer's Revenge to Red Dead Redemption: Changing the Language of Indigenous Representation in Video Games

Dr. Bird will emphasize the two types of language taking place in video games: mechanical, coded language, and visual, representational language. She presents the importance of teaching the history of Indigenous representation in games and will break down various examples from Custer’s Revenge to the Mortal Kombat and Red Dead Redemption series to demonstrate these types of gamic language.

A promotional poster for "Just Relationships for Research Panel"
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 1:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Just Relationships for Research Panel

We are increasingly asked to envision and implement respectful and non-extractive research involving marginalized communities. But we are rarely challenged to bring those principles to bear in our own research groups, where asymmetries of institutional power between colleagues, students, and staff are normalized. This interdisciplinary panel will discuss how to foster and maintain just relationships among researchers, with a focus on the principles and practices animating non-extractive student-supervisor relationships.

a promotional poster for "The Changing Same: Blackness, Representation, and Video Games
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 1:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

The Changing Same: Blackness, Representation, and Video Games

A discussion of the promise and peril of POC video game character voice acting, focusing primarily on the connections of Black male anger and Black fatherhood in God of War through the voice work of TC Carson and Christopher Judge, contextualized against the audio Brownface of two voice POC women characters in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Haptics Experience Lab is looking for a developer for the development of the Haptiverse research platform

The Haptics Experience Lab is seeking a full stack developer to rebuild the Haptiverse platform from scratch within a project timeline of 1.5 to 2 months. The developer should have experience with both front-end and back-end technologies, databases, DevOps skills, communication skills, and experience with support and maintenance. The developer will be provided design/assets and any support as needed. There’s a requirement document and a preliminary database architecture available.

Details:

Promotional poster fo "Panel on Designing for Disability and Accessibility"
Thursday, March 30, 2023 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Panel on Designing for Disability and Accessibility

Join us for a virtual panel with three researchers about their work and research in Accessibility in Digital Games and Virtual Reality. The panel will include Triskal deHaven, Dr. Katta Spiel, and Dr. Cayley McArthur. Triskal deHaven will lead the panel with frequently asked questions about Virtual Reality and Accessibility, research studies within higher level education, and some of the gaps in Accessibility that students could pursue. Students are encouraged to ask their own questions about these topics during the event.

A promotional poster for Toben Racicot's lecture on "Everything Should be FIndable"
Wednesday, February 15, 2023

GI Member Toben Racicot Presents Everything Should Be Findable: Redesigning Loot in RPGs 

GI member and PhD candidate, Toben Racicot (English Language and Literature) braved the weather on January 25, 2023, to present a lecture on making loot in role-playing games (RPGs) more accessible and enjoyable. This was a part of the “Projects and Research by English Students” (PRES) lecture series run outside of the UW English Languages and Literature Department.