GI Faculty Members Drs. Gerald Voorhees and Daniel Harley Publish Book on ADE Speaker Series
Drs. Gerald Voorhees (Communication Arts) and Daniel Harley (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) have published ADE for Games: Approaches to Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Games Research and Creation, a book generated from the ADE Speaker Series. This book is available as a free online resource, or a paid physical copy, through Play Story Press.
In 2023, Drs. Voorhees and Harley, along with many co-op students and the help of Games Institute staff, ran a series of 15 different workshops, lectures, and panels that all focused on anti-racism, decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion in games research and creation. This series was funded by a SSHRC Connection grant entitled "ADE for Game Communities: Enculturing Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ADE) in Games Research and Creation.” The series was delivered in a hybrid format to engage participants across the globe and featured a diverse range of speakers from academia, industry, and local communities to the Region of Waterloo.
The three goals of the series are:
- Provide a platform for diverse scholars, practitioners, and students to foster dialogue and promote public discourse on how we might better incorporate ADE across our games research and creation.
- Provide training and networking opportunities for junior games scholars and practitioners while providing them with the language, practices, and tools to address current barriers and exclusions in the games industry.
- Normalize and extend sustainable, community-oriented games cultures that value diverse perspectives experiences.
In working towards this goal, and to mobilize the knowledge of this series, each event received:
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A full write up on the Games Institute website that highlighted key terms and challenges for audience members to consider
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Access to the full lecture and panels on the Games Institute YouTube channel; As well as
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An edited “highlights” video for lectures, panels, and workshops also hosted on the GI YouTube channel.
Two years after the series began, the book ADE for Games was published to feature edited transcripts of lectures and summaries of workshops and panels. The book significantly transforms the materials presented over the course of the workshop and speaker series by providing reflection questions, references, and activities for readers to engage with. As Drs. Voorhees and Harley note: “we saw this book as an opportunity to engage educators, junior scholars, and practitioners in the kinds of conversations related to ADE that are happening across the various intersection spaces concerned with games and interactive media.”
Congratulations to Drs. Voorhees and Harley on this amazing achievement!