Back to School: 2011-2012

©2008-2011 *MAFIA11

The end of summer/start of fall is always a really crazy time for us university types. Summer projects (and courses) need to be wrapped up, new courses launched, new students welcomed, pre-existing students/contacts/research partners reconnected with, committees to work on and meetings to attend, emails and websites to write...not to mention all the fun stuff going on in Toronto this time of year (ahem, TIFF). I've fallen behind on just about everything - this blog, my writing, my research, my sleep - but am nonetheless feeling very much caught up in the giddy excitement that's permeating the campus right now. I love this time of year - the new school year and the change of seasons both inspire this great, tangible sense of hope and possibility, of newness. This is one of the most amazing dimensions of having never really "left" school - that September is still very much a marked, noticeable transition point, a new year we get to celebrate before everyone else, a partial reset button.

We had our first week of classes this week, and I just wrapped up the second first lecture of the two courses I'm teaching this term. Both are courses I've taught before, and both are filled with the familiar faces of students from my previous courses, which is really just too unbelievably fun. I think that this is going to be a stellar semester in both courses, and look forward to getting to know these new groups, their interests, projects, etc. I'm still in the process of updated the course blogs, but if you check them out sometime over the next little while, you can see what we're up to this semester:

Children's Cultural Texts & Artifacts:

Research Methods:

And to any new students who have just recently stumbled upon this blog: welcome!!!

Coming Soon! Gamercamp Jr

©2011 Gamercamp

For anyone who is or knows a kid between the ages of 9 and 13 with an interest in games and game design, you should definitely check out this new, very cool resource (and upcoming event) put together by the awesomely fantastic guys behind Gamercamp. Gamercamp Jr. is a website, a set of downloadable activity kits, as well as an upcoming in-person meet up, all aimed at introducing kids to game design concepts and language. The whole thing springs from Mark Rabo and Jaime Woo's (Gamercamp founders) vision and ongoing efforts to support the local production of more diverse, independent game ideas, designs, distribution, etc. I couldn't be more thrilled (and proud) to see them extending their mandate to kids...so often overlooked in discussions of advancing diversity within cultural production, and yet so unbelievably imaginative and awesome at inventing games and other play opportunities.  

You can check out (and download) the Game Making Kits here.

And here's the (cut+pasted from the official site) info for the Gamercamp Jr Meetup:

On September 10th, 2011, we’re having a local meetup for Gamercamp Jr. at the George Brown School of Design in Toronto where children and their parents/guardians will participate in hands-on activities, hear from professional gamemakers, and create their own games. The event is free and open to children from the ages of 9 – 13 and their parents. (We anticipate adapting future events to a wider age-range!)Grab your ticket starting August 6th, 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: We will not be able to admit children without adult supervision.

Can't wait to see what amazing things emerge out of this initiative. Huge kudos to Mark and Jaime for organizing this and for providing such a uniquely ethical, considered, awesome voice for inclusive game design in all its forms.

CFP Alert: iConference 2012

In case you missed it the first time, we're hosting the next iConference and it's going to be a blast. Submissions are due Sept.12 - hope to see lots of children's lit/media, digital media, copyright/remix culture, tech, design and games people there :)


Here's the (cute and paste) original CFP:


Now Accepting Submissions: iConference 2012
Toronto, Canada
February 7-10, 2012
http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/2012index

Greetings to everyone!

We are now accepting submissions for iConference 2012, our seventh annual gathering of scholars, researchers, and professionals who share an interest in the critical information issues of contemporary society.

The iConference will include peer-reviewed papers, posters, alternative events, and workshops—all intended to push the boundaries of information studies, explore core concepts and ideas, and create new technological and conceptual configurations. Our four-day event takes place in downtown Toronto, February 7-10, 2012. The conference theme is: Culture * Design * Society.
Authors and organizers can now submit papers, poster abstracts, alternative events proposals, and workshop proposals using our secure submissions website: http://bit.ly/iconf12sub. All submitting authors must provide basic information and agree to copyright parameters as a condition of acceptance and publication. Papers and poster abstracts will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

In addition, a Doctoral Student Colloquium is being organized, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Applications for the colloquium are now being accepted. Learn more at http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/doctoral. A Junior Faculty & Postdoc Colloquium is also in the works.

The iConference series is sponsored by the iSchools, a growing association of more than 30 Schools, Faculties and Colleges in North America, Europe and Asia—however, affiliation with the iSchools is not a prerequisite, and we encourage everyone to participate. Presenting sponsors of iConference 2012 include NSF and Microsoft Research.

* Conference home: http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/2012index
* Submissions site: http://bit.ly/iconf12sub
* Last Year’s Proceedings: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1940761

Submission types:
* Papers:  We’re looking for original research, six to eight pages; papers will be refereed in a blind process, and accepted papers will be published in the ACM Digital Library.
  Submission deadline: Monday September 12, 2011
  Notification: Early November
  Final version due: Monday December 5, 2011

* Posters: We’re interested in posters presenting new work, preliminary results and designs, or educational projects. Poster abstracts will undergo a blind review, and accepted posters will have their abstracts published in the ACM Digital Library.
  Submission deadline: Monday September 26, 2011
  Notification: Mid November
  Final version due: Monday December 5, 2011
* Workshops: These can be half- or full-day and can focus on any area within information.
  Submission deadline: Monday September 19, 2011
  Notification: Early October
  Final version due:  Monday October 31, 2011 
* Alternative Events: These can include panels, fishbowls, performances, storytelling, roundtable discussions, wildcard sessions, demos/exhibitions, and more. All should be highly participatory, informal, engaging and pluralistic.
  Submission deadline: Monday September 19, 2011
  Notification: Mid November
  Final version due: Monday December 5, 2011

* Doctoral Colloquium: This year’s colloquium will be organized around the theme of “inquiry.” Applicants will submit a 1,000 word abstract addressing the question, “What is the nature of inquiry in the information field, what makes it similar to or different from other areas of research, and what challenges have you met in your own research in this regard?” Visit our website for details: http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/doctoral.
  Application deadline: Friday September 30, 2011
  Notification: Late November

ORGANIZERS

Conference Chair
* Jens-Erik Mai, University of Toronto

Papers Chair
* Jonathan Furner, University of California, Los Angeles

Posters Chair
* Paul Marty, Florida State University

Alternative Events Chair
* Philippa Levy, University of Sheffield

Workshops Chair
* Kelly Lyons, University of Toronto

Doctoral Colloquium Co-Chairs
* Hamid Ekbia, Indiana University
* Howard Rosenbaum, Indiana University

Keynote Speakers Chair
* Brian Cantwell Smith, University of Toronto

Publication Chair
* Yuri Takhteyev, University of Toronto

Social Media Chair
* Rhonda McEwen, University of Toronto

Program Committee

* Mark Ackerman, University of Michigan
* Alessandro Acquisti, Carnegie Mellon University
* Jack Andersen, Royal School of Library and Information Science
* Nick Belkin, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
* Jean-François Blanchette, University of California, Los Angeles
* Johan Bollen, Indiana University
* Geoff Bowker, University of Pittsburgh
* Amy Bruckman, Georgia Institute of Technology
* Donald Case, University of Kentucky
* Chen Chuanfu, Wuhan University
* Paul Clough, University of Sheffield
* Kevin Crowston, Syracuse University
* Ron Day, Indiana University
* Melanie Feinberg, University of Texas, Austin
* Robert Glushko, University of California Berkeley
* Sean Goggins, Drexel University
* Sara Grimes, University of Toronto
* David Hendry, University of Washington
* Steven Jackson, Cornell University
* Jim Jansen, The Pennsylvania State University
* Michelle Kazmer, Florida State University
* Anita Komlodi, UMBC
* Christopher (Cal) Lee, University of North Carolina
* Bonnie Mak, University of Illinois
* William Moen, University of North Texas
* Bonnie Nardi, University of California, Irvine
* Heather L. O'Brien, University of British Columbia
* Ee-Peng Lim, Singapore Management University
* Vivien Petras, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
* Kalpana Shankar, University College Dublin
* Elizabeth Shepherd, University College London
* Bo Xie, University of Maryland
Learn more at http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/2012index

Save Our Libraries

©2011 Our Public Library TO, campaign logo

I know that many of you (particularly those of you in Toronto and other parts of Canada) have been following the recent, very troubling, threat of funding cuts to our city's public library system...along with numerous other community services, arts and enormously important public fora and services. Many of you are already participating in campaigns to save the Toronto Public Library (TPL) against the proposed cuts and closures, while many more are bemoaning the parallels between the discussions this summer in Toronto and what's been happening in other cities and countries around the world over the past few years. I've posted about the Our Public Library campaign on twitter and Google+ a few times already, but want to republish my thanks and gratitude to everyone who's been taking action and speaking out against the possible privatization (or more simply destruction) of the Toronto public libraries and other community services. 

For those of us with an interest (professional or personal) in children's literature, media and culture, a threat to public libraries--and to children's services specifically (as is the case here)--is a particularly crucial issue to rally around. Children are major users of public libraries (in some cases, making up over 40% of patrons); there are all sorts of important correlations between library access/use and learning (and achievement); not to mention all the links between rights/wellbeing and access to information, culture, literature, ICTs, knowledge, community programming, and everything else the library currently provides.

For those of you who haven't been following this story, here's a very brief rundown, which I hope will also serve as a (renewed) call to action and support. In July, consultants hired by Mayor Ford and City Council to come up with recommendations for spending reductions proposed sweeping cuts to the Toronto Public Library, which would include branch closures, reduced hours, and cuts to children’s services. Here's the summary from the Our Public Library "Threat" page:

Mayor Rob Ford, launched a review of all city services as a prelude to a massive Toronto budget-slashing plan. The TPL is a target of this Core Services Review, a process with the goal of privatizing or shutting down municipal services. 

Following the lead of several American cities, we are likely to see our City Council privatize some or all of the TPL’s operations, unless we act to change this outcome.
How could a private company make a profit running a free service that is funded by taxpayers? The mandate of the private operator would be to reduce the level of public funding that now supports our libraries. At the same time, they need to make a profit. There is an inevitable conflict here which signals bad news for all library users, from children to seniors.  First, local branches of the Toronto Public Library would almost certainly be closed. Library users would see higher user fees, fewer books and less access to the information and other vital services our public libraries offer for little or no cost as hours of operation are limited. The cuts to library staff that have been going on for years will be accelerated. 

Three quarters of Toronto residents oppose closing local library branches as a way of cutting costs and seven-in-ten oppose library privatization.

Or, if you'd prefer a video summary, here's the one that's been making the rounds:

The announcement and the Our  Public Libraries TO campaign led to a petition, which you can sign here, as well as a very strong pro-library presence at last week's marathon city council meeting (22+ hours, 169 concerned citizen speakers), which you can read more about here, and a now infamous battle between the Fords and the fabulous Margaret Atwood. During all this, City Councillor (and the mayor's brother) Doug Ford has said some pretty inflammatory things, which helped enormously in raising public interest and awareness (including the much cited, "“we’re going to be outsourcing everything that is not nailed down” and the famously erroneous "I’ve got more libraries in my area than I have Tim Hortons").

Final decisions about the cuts have been postponed until September 19th, so keeping the campaign alive will be tough but key. A number of councillors have already sided against cuts to the TPL, but a lot can happen in six weeks. So be sure to spread the word often and loudly. And remember that this is just one of many fronts upon which this battle is being fought these days.

Resources:

• Our Public Library TO campaign website
• Phil Bradley's Save our Library posters - from the recent UK campaign
• Follow Margaret Atwood's Twitter
• Follow (and add to) the #savetpl twitter topic
• Use the library - visit your local branch, take out lots of books. If you don't have one already, sign up for a TPL library card asap
• Let me (and everyone) know about things, events, actions you're taking to fight the proposed cuts (to the TPL, arts funding and/or any other essential community service), and I'll be sure to repost it across my networks!

Summer Reading List

With beach/cottage season well underway, questions about good summer reads and recommendations have been coming up with alarming frequency. Everyone has their own ways and resources for answering these questions, of course, and I'm no exception. Out of a series of twitter and blog posts (many of them on YA librarian sites), coincidences and other people's recommendations, I've compiled the following list of "must reads" for the summer (and beyond). And I figured I'd might as well share them here, just in case something catches one of your eyes as it did mine. First a disclaimer - these are books I'm going to read, but haven't read yet, so can't vouch for their quality, availability, etc. This is just a list of the books that are currently on my nightstand or Kindle inbox, books that have caught my eye for one reason or another, which I may or may not review or even mention again after summer's end. (that said - if you read or have read one of these and want to chat about it - let me know!!!).

1.

The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland 

in a Ship of Her Own Making
by Catherynne M Valente

So clearly, any book with this awesome of a title is going to pique some immediate interest. After reading the description, the glowing endorsements from a wide range of notable sources - from Neil Gaiman to Cory Doctorow, and watching the adorable neo-gothic promo video, I'm putting this one at the very top of the summer reading list. The book used to be available free online, and a huge chunk of it still is on the author's website, but really this is an example of using the web to launch something wonderful, and I'm definitely keen on supporting that by tracking down a print copy. The story itself sounds lovely, and from the reviews it also sounds like Valente does some pretty cool (even critical) twists with standard fairy tale tropes in order to create something fresh and original. The basic premise (at least from what I can glean from the the back cover...I'm sure it's more complex) is: A girl named September gets whisked away to Fairyland where she meets amazing creatures (including a "book loving Wyvern" - gotta love that) and is enrolled in a series of adventures and quests. Here's a short promo video about the book put out by the publisher:

2.

The Boneshaker
by Kate Milford 

(illustrations by Andrea Offermann)

Another book that features a heroine who makes things (squee!), I discovered The Boneshaker at the Columbia University book store. I admit that I was first intrigued by the cover - the shock of red hair, the  girl in coveralls, the gears and steampunk-esque objects. The story is set in small town Missouri in the 1910s, and the mix of history, magic, and gorgeous illustrations are all very promising. The School Library Journal describes the heroine, Natalie Minks as a 13-year-old who "likes machines—the way they make sense, the way all the gears and cogs fit together to make something happen." Her life is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious (and perhaps magical...or even demonic) snake-oil salesman, who sounds a little like Leland Gaunt from Stephen King's Needful Things. The book was also reviewed on a few blogs I like, including Great Imaginations and Book Aunt.

3.

Boneshaker
by Cherie Priest

So, after I picked up that copy of The Boneshaker, I looked it up online to find out more about it and the author. And in so doing, I found out that there's a better known book (a SciFi channel essential book in fact) by the same name (Boneshaker) by Cherie Priest that fits more squarely within the steampunk genre, is part of a series, and has a massive following online. After reading through the author's website dedicated to the "alternate-history world setting" described in the books (The Clockwork Century), it turns out that I'm going to have to read this one too! It sounds fantastic - in the (alternate) late 1880s, a mom sets out in an airship to rescue her son, last seen headed toward a destroyed Civil War era Seattle (destroyed by her mad-inventor-late-husband). Also, there are zombies. How have I not heard of this book until now, I wonder?

4.

Happily Ever After
by various (including some of my fave) authors

The Amazon description for this book is simply: "a star-studded book of fairy tales, featuring an introduction by Bill Willingham (Fables) and stories by Gregory Maguire, Susanna Clarke, Karen Joy Fowler, Charles de Lint, Holly Black, Garth Nix, Kelly Link, Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman, ..." Enough said :)

5.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

by Trenton Lee Stewart 

(illustrated by Carson Ellis)

This is an oldie, but by all accounts a very goodie. My cousin Zack recommended that I add this series to my list, because it's really about time I read them for myself. I've written about these books before, impressed by some of the fan activity that emerged around them, but agree that I really should experience them firsthand. The Mysterious Benedict Society is a group of "gifted children looking for special opportunities," who embark on adventures, solve mysteries and use their minds and cooperation to defeat a motley crew of villains (and young villains in training). Thanks for the suggestion Zack!


6.

Peter and Max
by Bill Willingham
(Illustrations by Steve Leialoha)

From author Bill Willingham, a novel based on the world and characters from his award-winning Fables comics/graphic novel series (which also happens to be my current absolute favourite comic series). I'm about halfway through this one and it's every bit as gripping as Willingham's amazing comic series...he doesn't just have a great knack for transforming fairy tales characters and themes into something utterly new, playful, dark and epic, but his descriptions are rich, his character development extremely strong, his plot devices unexpected, strong and compelling. The story here follows characters who don't regularly appear in the comic series - Little Bo Peep, Peter Piper and his evil brother Max. If you haven't read the comics yet, this book would serve as a great introduction to Willingham's style - even though you'll be missing half of the experience (the half told through Buckingham's illustrations...though I should add that Leialoha's illustrations here are lovely).


7.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay 

by Michael Chabon

I have no excuse in the world for not having read this yet - award winning, much acclaimed, and written by someone I totally admire and often cite in my work, I clearly should have read this years ago. I'm almost done and every bit as impressed as I thought I'd be. The story follows the exploits of two young Jewish cousins, boys/men who create a wildly successful comic book (well, series of comics) around a superhero called the Escapist leading up to and during WWII, while grappling with deep and very difficult feelings about what's happening in Europe, while also trying to save their family members left behind in Prague. The book is a blend of magic and myth and very real issues, oscillating between the stories the two boys (later men) dream up for their superhero, their own superhero-origin-like backstories, and an alternate history of WWII-era New York. 

And, because my list of academic books to read is constantly acquiring too many new titles to ever get through, it would be great to knock a couple off before classes begin in September. Two that I'd especially like to get to sometime over the next couple months:

Ian Bogost's How to Do Things With Videogames

and David Gauntlett's Making is Connecting

BRB!

July is turning into a pretty hectic month, and as a result Gamine Expedition is going on a short, temporary hiatus. I'll be back soon with some updates from NYC and some of the stuff I've been working on here. Until then, I hope we can stay in touch through Twitter.

Slides from TEDxLibrarians TO

As promised, here are the slides from my talk this past weekend at TEDxLibrariansTO. I'll post the video link if/when it becomes available. And if for some reason there's no video, I can post a transcript of the talk itself...especially since the slides alone aren't all that informative about the actual contents of the talk, just the subject matter and examples used.

The talk touched upon two key themes:

• games as stories and forums for storytelling (don't worry...not all games, just the ones with narrative dimensions), and 
• how librarians are in a perfect position to become thought leaders (or crusaders, or provokers) in the collection, protection, support and management of digital games (in kids' culture, in public spaces, in non-commercially controlled spaces, in anti-censorship discussions, etc. etc.).

TEDxLibrarians_SMGTalk

TEDxLibrariansTO - This Saturday, June 25

A few weeks ago, I was floored and honored to receive an invitation to speak at TEDx LibrariansTO, an independently organized TED event put together by two Toronto-based public librarians (Shelley Archibald and Fiacre O’Duinn) under the theme "Librarians as Thought Leaders." I accepted, of course, and am very happy to be listed among the amazing line-up of speakers the event will showcase - including my brilliant and lovely colleagues Siobhan Stevenson (Faculty of Information, University of Toronto) and Melanie McBride (Ryerson University, EDGE Lab), as well as John Miedema (author of Slow Reading, & Open Reading blog), Amy Buckland (McGill University Library, informingthoughts.com), Eric Boyd (Sense Bridge, digitalcrusader.ca) and Mita Williams (University of Windsor Library, New Jack Librarian). Here's the description from the event site:

Who inspires you?

We live in a time that is in need of inspiration. The aspirations of both individuals and society have always had a home within libraries and have traditionally found a voice through librarians.

The theme for TEDx LibrariansTO is Librarians as Thought Leaders. Come to the event and experience this incredible opportunity to hear librarians speak to the differences we make in the world and how we have, can and do lead and transform society.

The organizers of the event also launched a video challenge (which runs until Saturday), inviting anyone who wants to participate to submit a video that examines/explores/challenges the theme "Librarians as Thought Leaders." The submissions are collected/displayed on the TEDxLibrarians Youtube Channel - and they are absolutely worth checking out... the ones I've seen so far have been fascinating, thoughtful and inspirational.

My own presentation will highlight the narrative and storytelling dimensions of digital games, and consider how games present new challenges and opportunities (but especially opportunities) for librarians as curators, cultivators and advocates of children's culture and cultural autonomy. But really I want to provide an entry point for more librarians to start seeing games as potential forums for stories and storytelling, and to take on a more prominent role in digital game curation, the protection of intellectual freedoms (especially when children and youth are involved), and other areas that librarians are particularly excellent at.

One of the challenges of preparing a presentation that will be filmed and broadcast for this type of event is negotiating a new set of copyright requirements. I usually benefit enormously from the fact that my work is academic--educational and critical--and my presentations normally fall under fair dealing/fair use exceptions. But even though this event is also educational, critical and non-profit, the TEDx guidelines require that any images (or clips, music, etc.) used are used with permission or appropriate license. Which meant spending some time hunting down images licensed under creative commons attribution license. But I also took this as an opportunity to reach out to some of the creators of my favorite "examples" - the games and blogs that I most love referencing in my teaching and research. Which also happen to be largely independently owned and operated...by, as it turns out, amazingly supportive and enthusiastic people who not only gave me the permissions required, but also words of encouragement, advice and access to all sorts of high-def materials. So a very special thank-you-in-advance to Superbrothers, Tale of Tales, and Rule of Rose Mysteries.

TEDxLibrarians is a day-long event that will take place this coming Saturday, June 25th, from 8am to 4:30pm, here at the University of Toronto (St. George campus). Tickets are available here, and of course the talks will be filmed and posted online at some point in the future (eep).

Kudos to Moshi Monsters' Rebecca Newton for her Fantastically Ethical Stance on 3rd Party Data-Mining - Yay!

©2008-2011 MindCandy - Moshi Monsters characters

Via Irina Slutsky in this morning's AdAge online, a new article examining some of the rationale behind going "ad-free" in popular kids' social networks Moshi Monsters and Togetherville, as well as "ad-light" in Everloop. The article has some good points about how hard it is to control who registers, and provides some troubling insight into Everloop's approach to consumer socialization (highlighting how much I really do need to find out a lot more about that particular site).

But what really caught my attention were the comments from Moshi Monster's Rebecca Newton, who openly and earnestly discusses the links between third-party advertisers and data-mining, and condemns covert corporate surveillance in a way rarely seen outside of the academy and advocacy sectors. Here's an excerpt from the AdAge article:

Online playgrounds with colorful names such as Everloop and Togetherville aren't only popular with small fry, but also investors. Everloop just raised $3.1 million and Togetherville was acquired by Walt Disney Co. earlier this year for an undisclosed sum. Moshi Monsters, a 3-year-old kids' social-gaming network, has already raked in $100 million this year, but not one dime of it was from advertisers.

"Believe me, we get asked to incorporate branding and advertising all the time," said Rebecca Newton, chief community and safety officer at Moshi Monsters, which expects to have 70 to 80 million members in 200 countries by the end of this year. "But it's complicated. When kids tell their friends they just had a mocha latte at Starbucks, they don't understand that now Starbucks has their name and knows that they went to a Starbucks in Des Moines on Third Street on Thursday and had a mocha latte and they start getting coupons for 20 mocha lattes.

Later in the article, Slutsky describes Newton as "very passionate on the topic," describing how Newton sees sophisticated ad/data-mining techniques as unfair and "...exploitative on a high level -- getting information from a kid who doesn't know what they're doing."

Now - this is not to say that Moshi Monsters doesn't contain other forms of promotional content. It is cross-promoted in a variety of Moshi Monster toys and products, and includes a pay-to-play membership level promoted through the same type of velvet rope marketing found in other virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and BarbieGirls. BUT - all that said - it's extremely important and wonderful that they've taken such a hard stance against covert data-mining/corporate surveillance and the various manipulations this practice enables. I don't know for sure that this means they don't do it themselves, of course, but I would be very surprised (and dismayed) if they did, after being so openly against the practice. Which, by the way, is very often omitted from industry discourses altogether, particularly in discussions of kids and rights and risks.

So huzzah and yay to Moshi Monsters and to Rebecca Newton for not only acknowledging (& articulating) the unethical implications of corporate surveillance, but for setting a high standard that I hope others in this business will emulate. (Note: and if the first comment left in the comments section is any indication, Moshi Monsters aren't the only ones adopting a more ethical stance to kids' information - check it out).

Coming up next week: NxNE in Toronto

©2011 nxne festival

For those of you in the Toronto area, be sure to mark your calendars and check out the line-up for next week's North by Northeast (nxne) Music Festival and Conference. The event (now in its 17th year) runs from June 13 to June 19th, and boasts a fantastic program of concerts, (music-themed) film screenings and a number of industry + academic panels on a variety of media-related topics. It's also the place to find out about new and up-and-coming bands, as unsigned artists/bands are featured alongside indie favourites (incl. Swervedriver, yay!) and major-label headliners. In addition to getting my own live music/film watching fill, I'll be participating in the Interactive (a.k.a. Conference) component of the festival...here's the description from the official website:

NXNE Interactive (NXNEi) is a digital interactive media conference like no other. It brings together content-creating artists, tech entrepreneurs, digital marketing gurus, web business experts, and social media aficionados for four days of workshops, presentations, and panels that explore the newest ideas in bridging the gap between creativity and the interactive world.

I'll be participating on a panel on June 18th (noon) called "Is it still (app)licable? Kids' entertainment across multiple screens", with Zinc Roe president/founder Jason Krogh, Family Channel/Disney content manager Nicole Mickelow, and Brunico Communications senior online writer Wendy Goldman Getzler. It's going to be pretty darn interesting and multifaceted (each of the panelists comes from such different backgrounds/perspectives). There's a great line-up of industry leaders, indie media makers, advocates and academics...including fellow SFU alum Steve Anderson and Kate Milberry, UofT's Siobhan O'Flynn, as well as Kate Raynes-Goldie and Steven James May from York/Ryerson, Colin McKay from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, and many many more (a snapshot of which is featured in this short promo piece created by BizMedia):



You can find out all the necessary details on the nxne website, including info about the event, the schedule, and presenter bios. See you there!

Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure Delights & Inspires

©2011 Cassie Creighton, screenshot from Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure

The story of Cassie, age 5, and Ryan, age 33, a daughter-father team who participated in this month's Toronto Indie Game Jam (TOJam) 2011 -- where they made the incredible, hilarious and adorable Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure -- has made its way all over the internets this week, and for good reason. Theirs is a great example of how game design can provide families with an amazing and above all unique forum for collaborative and creative play. Now, Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure by no means an amateur production - Ryan Henson Creighton is president of Untold Entertainment and an experienced game developer, and his daughter, Cassie, looks to be something of an expert when it comes to magical equidae and is by all accounts a seasoned gamer in her own right. Nonetheless, a very inspiring example, and one that is becoming increasingly accessible (a.k.a. possible to emulate) through UGC game platforms, events like TOJam and other developments that are opening up game design to kids and parents of all skill levels.

If you missed some of the news coverage this week (here, here and here for instance), you can read more about it on the Untold Entertainment blog. Or, you know, just play the game yourself on the Untold Ent. wesite. It's even listed on JayisGames, how cool is that?!!!

YouTube's Copyright School, Pirating vs. Fair Use

A couple of months ago, Youtube published a video aimed at educating young people about copyright, featuring (and made by the creators of) The Happy Tree Friends. Entitled YouTube Copyright School, the video relays a lot of the same kind of info found in the anti-piracy ads you see at the cinema - albeit in a humorous and much less cloying format. I've embedded the video below:

Specifically, the video explains copyright infringement - going over the different components of its official/legal definitions, and what that could mean in terms of repercussions.

What I'm particularly interested in is the video's treatment of fair use. This portion of the video starts at 2min:35 sec and ends near the 3min:00sec mark. Here, the voiceover states that

"Mashups or remixes of content may also require permission from the original copyright owner, depending on whether or not the use is a "fair use."

It then breezes through a definition of fair use...and really this paragraph is read out at lightening speed, in a sort of jumbled cadence that makes it seem much more complicated than it is. A sharp contrast to the slow and considered description of copyright infringement given just moments before. Not only is the pacing and tone different, but the language used is different as well.

"In the United States, copyright law allows for the fair use of copyrighted material under certain limited circumstances without prior permission from the owner......"

For some reason, the definition of fair use isn't written in child-friendly language, or read at an easy-to-follow speed. Everything else in the video is relayed in an accessible, child-friendly language. Why not this? In the end, the video makes it seem as though fair use is way too complicated for anyone but a lawyer to even begin to understand. No mention at all is made of fair use protections for parody, commentary/criticism, etc., or of the importance of key factors such as the amount or portion used (in relation to the work as a whole) and whether the purpose of use is commercial or non-commercial.

Another problematic framing occurs in the video's explanation of the counter-notification process: the user's right to contest or respond when a claim of copyright infringement has been made against them. It's great that the video touches on this, AND of course that Youtube has an easy to use form for counter-notification. But in the very next breath, the music and voiceover become markedly foreboding -- warning that if the process is ever misused, the user could end up in court. It then states, "And then you would get in a lot of trouble. That's how the law works." The overall result is that counter-notification is presented as a dubious and risky process to get involved in. Not exactly encouraging or even all that accurate of a depiction of users' rights here.

It may also be worth pondering how this particular representation of copyright compares to the site's own policies when it comes to the authorship rights of its users. For instance, while Youtube does indeed acknowledge that its users retain full ownership of their original content/creations, they also claim worldwide royalty-free license to use/reproduce, etc. that content anywhere and anyhow. Here's the relevant excerpt from their Terms of Service agreement:

"For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your Content. However, by submitting Content to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content in connection with the Service and YouTube's (and its successors' and affiliates') business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels."

Nothing very unique about this particular set of claims, but it's noteworthy that they aren't included in the Youtube Copyright School overview either. Which is kind of puzzling I think, particularly given that the video positions itself as educating users about the subtleties of copyright on Youtube. Additionally, corporate TOS claims over user submissions are some of the least talked about and least understood (not to mention questionable) dimensions of online copyright out there right now. AND one that all users -- not just those using borrowed/stolen materials -- become embroiled in the moment they upload a video or post a comment.

To Do List: NYU Game Center "No Quarter" Exhibit

©2011 NYU Game Center

I'm in NYC right now, enjoying a bit of down time, a.k.a. writing time between conferences, and all I can really say is WOW. It's been gorgeous since we got here, and since my partner is currently doing a postdoc research semester at Columbia, we've had quite a swath of Manhattan to discover and explore. I'm currently being hosted by the fantastically generous and awesome people at the Adaptive Design Association (thank you Jason!) - which means I get to do my work surrounded by amazing toys and ingenious cardboard creations designed to improve the lives of children with disabilities. And tomorrow, I get to attend the opening of the 2nd annual ‘No Quarter’ Exhibition of Games at the NYU Game Center. And then next week it's the Future Babycastles Opening Block Party. And hopefully in and amongst, I'll get to meet some of the very inspiring designers, artists and scholars et al. involved in this whole, amazing NYC indie game scene. Huzzah!

Here's the info for tomorrow's event, reproduced from the NYU Game Center blog:

Thursday, May 12th, at 7PM is the Game Center’s No Quarter Exhibition of Games, featuring new work by Terry Cavanagh, Ramiro Corbetta, and Charley Miller, as well as a showing of Clock by Luke O’ Connor.

One of the primary missions of the Game Center at NYU is to foster the development of creative and groundbreaking independent games. To this end we started the No Quarter Exhibition last year by commissioning three games from independent game makers, including the IGF nominated Nidhogg by Mark ‘messhof’ Essen, as well as Recurse by Matt Parker, and Deep Sea by Robin Arnott. You can find pictures from last year’s event on this link.

This year we’re continuing the tradition by commissioning new games from Terry Cavanagh, the creator of VVVVVVVV, Ramiro Corbetta, a game designer on the IGF Award winning Glow Artisan, and Charley Miller, a New York-based designer of board and big games. We’ll also be showcasing Clock, by Luke O’ Connor, which premiered at the New York indie arcade, BabyCastles.

Additionally, we’re proud to announce that we’ll be unveiling the NYC Winnitron at No Quarter! The Winnitron is a free-to-play arcade cabinet entirely devoted to playing independent games. We’re happy to be part of this exciting project and look forward to having this machine at our event! For more information about the Winnitron project follow the link here. 

The games will be premiered at the No Quarter Exhibition opening party on May 12th, and will then be be on display and available to the public for the rest of the month.
RSVP is not required for this event.
Refreshments will be served

Heading to TASP 2011!!

This week, I'm heading to The Association for the Study of Play (TASP)'s Annual Conference, which is being held at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester (NY). I'm going to present a paper I've been working on, entitled "Digitizing the Bedroom: Children’s Domestic Gaming as Consumption, Production, Subversion and Play," which draws on findings and conclusions described in my dissertation, as well as from some of the new research I've been conducting this past year on UGC Games. I'm going to be presenting a different (more theoretically focused) version of this same paper at CCA next month, and I'm really looking forward to testing it out in these two very different venues/audiences. I'm also really curious to see what kind of feedback I'll get from each :)

Updated May 5, 2011: And here's the Prezi:

Digitizing the Bedroom: Children’s Domestic Gaming as Consumption, Production, Subversion and Play on Prezi

From e-Books to Immersive Story Worlds

Last Friday, I gave a presentation at the Toronto Public Library as part of a training day for children's librarians and service providers. It was a wonderful experience - presenting to such an engaged audience always is - and I got a load of great questions at the end. I left the event feeling inspired and very optimistic about future initiatives and possible collaborations in providing an informed, critical but also child-focused voice in the emerging (and complex) area of digital literature/storytelling. I also ran into some of my new favourite people in TO, which was wonderful :)

Here's a copy of the presentation:

From e-books to immersive story worlds: on Prezi

Postdoc Opp in Childhood Studies

©2011 Centre for Children & Young People

Via the "Exploring Childhood Studies" mailing list, info about a new postdoc opportunity at the Centre for Children & Young People in Australia. From the university website, it looks like applications are due May 6th, so anyone interested in applying had better get cracking. Here's the announcement in full:

The Centre for Children & Young People (CCYP) at Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia is currently welcoming enquiries from highly motivated and appropriately qualified researchers wishing to apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship. The CCYP is well known for its interdisciplinary research interests linked to Childhood Studies.

For more information on this Postdoctoral Fellowship opportunity please contact Professor Anne Graham at: anne.graham@scu.edu.au and visit: http://www.scu.edu.au/research/index.php/82/

Sprockets 2011 Starts Tomorrow!

©2011 TIFF Sprockets

For those of you in the Toronto area, be sure to check out Sprockets, The Toronto International Film Festival for Children and Youth, which starts tomorrow (April 5th) and runs until April 17th. In addition to an impressive roster of films for and/or about children and teens, from Canada and around the world, as well school days for elementary and high school students, the event includes two public weekends. The public weekends are open to the general public, feature a number of films, hands-on activities and special guests. Here's a brief description from the official website:

An enriching experience that is much more than just a day at the movies, Sprockets includes two public weekends for ages three and up and a two week long School Programme for students in elementary and secondary schools. Featuring the best of Canadian and international cinema for children and youth, Sprockets offers a compelling selection of features and shorts on diverse subjects in a variety of genres and styles. It provides a rare opportunity to watch films that kids around the world are lining up to see and that in many cases may not be available again in Toronto.

The festival also includes a number of events geared toward the industry, including a day of panels on contemporary issues in children's media production. I'll be participating as a speaker on a panel examining Transmedia Entertainment, which I'm very much looking forward to.

Just to add to the awesomeness, this year's festival takes place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, where the Tim Burton exhibit is still going strong until April 17th.

See you there!

Awesome Resource Alert!!: 'Playtimes: A Century of Children's Game and Rhymes' Website Launches

©2011 The British Library Board

Two of my favourite UK children's scholars, Jackie Marsh and Rebekah Willett, have been collaborating (along with a number of other scholars) on an amazing project for the past couple of years now, examining "Children’s Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age." Out of this project, Marsh, Willett and their expanding team of researchers, assistants, educators and child participants have now published several incredibly important and useful documents - articles, literature reviews and reports that are challenging some key assumptions and reshaping our knowledge of contemporary play practices (in the UK specifically, but with implications for many other areas as well). Their findings (to date) are attracting an increasing amount of press coverage, as you may have seen in the recent Guardian articles describing how children still "delight in playground games," using them as a forum for engaging with cultural themes, characters and narratives.

Today, the British Library launched a very cool new website, in conjunction with Children’s Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age project, entitled: Playtimes: A Century of Children's Games and Rhymes. The site, along with all the other project initiatives mentioned above, are all well worth checking out. Here's the official announcement (reproduced from the site), including information about the Playground Games/Songs project's upcoming one-day conference (earlier this week):

Playtimes: A Century of Children's Games and Rhymes

Launched today, Playtimes features unique audio recordings and film footage of children's games from 1900 to the present day.

In the sixties, seventies and eighties, folklorists Iona and Peter Opie documented how the games of the time included fragments of advertising jingles, pop songs, theme tunes and soap operas. The British Library has digitized the Opies’ field recordings, making them available alongside older and newer recordings on the Playtimes website.

Children’s Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age

Tuesday 15 March 2011, 12.00 – 17.00 (at the British Library Conference Centre)

Please join us for a conference to report on the AHRC funded research project, featuring a keynote address by Professor Michael Rosen, former children’s laureate.

The conference will launch a new British Library website: Playtimes: A Century of Children’s Games and Rhymes. The site contains new material collected during the project, selections from the Library’s ‘Opie Collection of Children’s Games and Songs’ and films and photographs from other nationwide archives.

This conference is suitable for educationalists and researchers.

To attend, please contact Gyta Nicola (E: G.Nicola@ioe.ac.uk T: 020 7763 2164) by 31/01/11.

PAX-East 2011!!!

Over the next couple of days, I'll be checking out new tech, new ideas and generally enjoying massive doses of gamer-y goodness down at PAX-East in Boston. After trying (and failing) to attend one of these  PAX festivals for several years now, I'm beyond excited. Though hoping to catch the keynote by I LOVE BEES/Reality is Broken author Jane McGonigal, I'm going to be dedicating most of my efforts to meeting inspiring indie designers, very cool/important foundation founders, and trying out as much of the available new soft/hard ware as possible. Not sure how much I'll be online, but will try to tweet my progress (if any) at my usual: @smgrimes.

LBP2: Hansel & Gretelbot Project

©2011 Wexfordian, Comphermc, Morgana25, rtm223, Hilightnotes, xkappax, Catiers, GruntosUK,

CENTURION24, Jaeyden, Cuzfeeshe and steve_big_guns? 

or is it ©2011 SOE/PlayStation???

As part of my ongoing study of LittleBigPlanet (1 & 2), I've been watching a very cool, player-made (Media Molecule driven) initiative unfold over the past few weeks, entitled The Hansel & Gretelbot Project. As described on the official UK PlayStation blog:

Hansel & Gretelbot is the creation of 12 community members, names you may well recognise:

Wexfordian, Comphermc, Morgana25, rtm223, Hilightnotes, xkappax, Catiers, GruntosUK,CENTURION24, Jaeyden, Cuzfeeshe and steve_big_guns.

A few months ago the Community Molecule set them a challenge – could they create a full game experience? Their own complete LBP Theme, using the new LBP2 tools to develop all original story, mini-games, bosses, cutscenes, music, and voices.

The team was gathered, designs were drawn up, themes were picked and building began...

The game/levels were launched in late-February as a free download (just like any other player-made level (at least so far)), and I've got to say I'm pretty impressed. The game levels themselves are, well, admittedly a bit buggy at times, but the collaborative aspects, the narrative and the overall creativity more than make up for it. The game pack includes cut-scenes, voice-overs ("acting"!), and a nice diversity in terms of the gameplay. What's particularly interesting about this project, though, is what it represents in terms of Media Molecule's relationship with its emerging "star" player/designers. Add to this a consideration of the ways in which those "beta levels" for LBP2 were released during the months leading up to the game's official launch (with plenty of press coverage at every step along the way) - which really blurred the line between player-made and employee-made - and the result is some pretty fascinating, and potentially quite important, developments in terms of the changing relationships between play/production/consumption/labour taking place within the gaming culture (and industry).