Job Opportunity Alert! Work-Study RA Position with our Adaptive Games + Inclusive Play project

I can't believe I forgot to post this! Still accepting applications from current, master's level UofT students:

Research Assistant Work/Study Position

We have a work-study position available for a qualified master’s student to come work with us on our kids’ DIY & inclusive design in games project.  If you are a domestic or international Master’s student at the University of Toronto registered in at least 40% of a full course load continuously from May to August, you are eligible to apply.

Here are the details:
We are seeking a research assistant (RA) to participate in the launch of an interdisciplinary project at the Faculty of Information, Semaphore Lab, on children’s do-it-yourself media practices, focusing in particular on children’s user-generated content in video games and questions of inclusion, across multiple populations. These include but are not limited to girls, children with disabilities, rural children, and children of colour.

The RA will assist the Principal Investigator and the Postdoctoral Fellow with a range of activities to support the launch of this project, directly engaging in study design, recruitment, and depending on timing, data collection and analysis. The ideal applicant will possess strong communication skills, an ability to work independently as well as in a team, and an interest in digital games and youth media culture.

Interested applicants can find the posting and instructions by logging into the Career Centre website and searching for Job Order Number: 2013.WS.0664. Alternatively, you can email Professor Sara Grimes at sara[dot]grimes[at]utoronto[dot]ca

This job posting will close end of day on THIS FRIDAY May 17, 2013.

Join the iSchool - New Concentration in Culture & Tech (Master's level) launching Fall 2013, still accepting applications!

For those of you who haven't heard, we've added a new concentration option to the Master's of Information program at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, in Culture & Technology, launching in Fall 2013. We welcome applications from students with interests in exploring the intersections of society, culture and technologies, from digital game studies and media studies, to cyborgs and biotech. Here's a brief description, full details available on the website:

The new Culture & Technology (C&T) concentration, effective September 2013, brings technical, philosophical, and critical perspectives to bear on these social issues. It recognizes the demand for specialists who can identify, interpret, explain, and shape the socio-cultural impact of technologies at the micro and macro levels. Employers increasingly appreciate the importance of understanding such developments. Graduates of the C & T concentration will be ideally equipped to provide access to these forms of knowledge and understanding. The C&T concentration is designed to allow students to examine how society, culture, and understanding of the human condition influence, and are influenced by, technological development. It will provide students with the resources needed to understand, integrate, assess, and deploy multi-methodological arguments, in order to develop powerful, balanced, and integrated positions. Affiliated with the McLuhan Program in Culture & Technology (a program of the Coach House Institute), one of the aims of the concentration is to renew Coach House's role as a space where searching minds and intense visionaries can be enlisted, giving such students a place where they may focus on socio-technical issues related to computing, information systems and services, media, and the Internet, in order to (re)think the digitally-mediated world.

If you'd like more info, you can email me directly, and/or contact anyone in the Admissions office. The deadline for applications is June 15th (with documents due July 2), and we accept on a rolling basis!

(Re)Read Fahrenheit 451: Upcoming Talks at the Keep Toronto Reading Festival

©2013 Toronto Public Library

The Keep Toronto Reading Festival starts this week, and this year's One Book city-wide book club selection (the book everyone in Toronto is supposed to be reading) is the dystopian sci-fi classic, Fahrenheit 451 by the great Ray Bradbury. There's a broad assortment of really cool events, discussions and exhibits (including an alternate reality game!!!) organized around the book that you can attend as part of the (free) festival. And it just so happens that  a number of my colleagues here at the University of Toronto iSchool and I will be participating in some of them. 

First up, this week, Professor Alan Galey, our expert on book history (and future!) and print culture will be giving two talks:

• On April 4: Prof. Galey presents "Fahrenheit 2570: Ray Bradbury and the Dangerous Materiality of Books" at the One Book 2013: University of Toronto Public Lecture
• On April 5: Prof. Galey will be giving the opening keynote, titled "Books of Futures Past: Book History’s Intersections with New Media," at the Emerging Trends in Book History and Print Culture graduate colloquium.

And next week, I'll be participating in this panel being held at the Toronto Reference Library:

Keep Toronto Reading: Amusing Ourselves To Death

Mon Apr 08, 20137:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.60 mins

Toronto Reference Library Bram & Bluma Appel Salon
Are we as a society dumbing down as Bradbury warned about in "Fahrenheit 451"? CBC's Nora Young (Spark) moderates a panel discussion on the effects of 24/7 media saturation.

Featuring:
* Philosopher Mark Kingwell
* Pop Culture Journalist Johanna Schneller
* Dr. Sara Grimes, University of Toronto

***
Doors open at 6 p.m. Join us for a cash bar reception at 6 p.m.
As most Appel Salon events are free of charge, it is our policy to overbook. In the case of a full program, your free reservation may not guarantee admission.
Unclaimed reservations will be released to standby customers ten minutes prior to the start of the program. We recommend that you arrive early.

Related link:
Book two free tickets here

Kids Maker Movement

©2012 TEDx

I just stumbled across this archive of the TEDx Kids @ Brussels, which took place back in June 2011, and is entirely focused on the theme of "Maker Kids"!! I vaguely remember someone mentioning this to me before, but it's the first chance I've had to really go through it and explore its contents. Lots of great resource material here for my project and courses. I'd heard of some of these initiatives and organizations before, of course (e.g. Tinkering School), but it's always interesting to see how they get boiled down (i.e. idealized) and TED-ified for these events. Also, very happy to have been introduced to a number of groups/project I hadn't heard of yet, including Sugar Labs and Layr.

Of particular interest is the fact that the event then spawned a kids-only follow up event in 2012 (FrakenKids), which was "ONLY for kids, no parents program, no speakers, no auditorium - just kids doing cool stuff."Very awesome concept - I wonder how it turned out!

Sesame Workshop Coming to TIFF Kids

©2013 TIFF

Yay yay yay. It's official! As TIFF announced in this morning, two of my favourite names in kids' media -- who also just so happen to be two organizations doing the most to promote high quality, diverse, inclusive, compelling and entertaining kids' content across platforms -- are teaming up for this year's TIFF Kids International Film Festival!!!! That's right - Sesame Workshop will be joining forces with TIFF Kids next month, contributing to this year's event by participating in various facets of the festival's public and industry programming. Here are some of the details from Kidscreen's coverage of the announcement (or check out the TIFF press releases here and here).

On April 20 and 21, meet-and-greets with Sesame Street mascots Elmo, Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby will take place throughout the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a free screening of Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge will be held on April 20, and Additional Sesame activities for kids include a free, hands-on make-a-film workshop, a Sesame Street app showcase in the digiPlay Space Appcade...

For you industry types, people from Sesame will also be participating an invite-only pitch fest (where candidates will be given a unique opportunity to pitch Sesame Workshop producers for the chance to make a short film for the show....i.e. Sesame Street, and will give a Master Class on "Inspiring the Global Child" for industry attendees. 

Also....I finally get to meet Cookie Monster!!!! And Abby Cadabby. Huzzah!

Also, also - the rest of this year's programs look amazing. In particular, I highly recommend the digiPlaySpace, which debuted last year and included an amazing array of installations, games, maker and DIY media activities, and a ton of LEGO. This year, the digiPlaySpace will feature an app area for families to chill out and play together between screenings. I was on the advisory committee that selected the featured apps, and the line-up is truly awesome and notably diverse (in terms of ages, play styles, etc.). 

See you there!

Awesome Job Opp Alert! 2013-14 Cooney Center Fellows Program Now Accepting Applications!!!!

Just announced: The Cooney Center Fellows Program, a professional development opportunity designed to foster new leaders in the field of digital media and learning, is now accepting applications for 2013-2014. Here's the description from the official announcement:

The fellowship involves a one-year, in-residence commitment at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center here in New York, and pays a $50,000 stipend. The selected Fellow will take the lead on some of the Center's current initiatives (see attached for descriptions), and pursue projects based on his/her professional interest. I invite you to spread the word to recent or soon-to-be-graduating masters and doctoral students in education, computer science, design, child development, communication, or related fields, and encourage them to apply to the Cooney Center Fellows Program. Please feel free to forward the attached announcement to your mailing lists, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other channels of communication. Applications are due April 1, 2013.

And here's some extra info from the website:

The Cooney Center Fellows participate in a wide range of projects and, in doing so, develop broad exposure to scholarship, policy, and practice in the field of digital media and learning. This professional development program offers opportunities to: Conduct research on digital media use among elementary school-age children; Publish research that responds to practical industry and practitioner needs; Expand the influence research has in government, education, philanthropy, and industry decision making; and Develop new skills and perspectives that are critical to becoming a leader in the field of digital media and learning. Current and former Fellows have led research investigations and published reports and articles on digital media innovations, industry trends, and policy solutions. They have also developed public presentation and media outreach skills, organized major cross-sector convenings, and contributed to the overall growth of the Cooney Center.

Lots more info on the site, so if you're interested, be sure to check it out (and apply!!!).

Updates Coming Soon!!!

Just a quick note to assure my readers that I haven't forgotten them...I've just been excessively busy with the start of a new year, new semester, and new project launches. Stay tuned for updates, which I promise are coming soon!