All "Tangled" Up in Gender Norms

Promo image for new feature film Tangled © 2010 Disney

A couple of weeks ago, Disney released its new trailer for an upcoming addition to the Princess line of feature films/media properties, Tangled. Loosely based on the story of Rapunzel, the film is already gaining momentum via the Disney promotion machine, with toy line sneak peaks and now trailer gaining coverage online, along with a number of (strategically placed?) leaks that the movie will contain "swashbuckling action" aimed at broadening the usual Disney Princess audience, i.e. better targeting "boys". According to an LA Times article published back in March, despite the fact that the Disney Princess brand has an estimated value of about $4 billion and has completely saturated girls' culture at the moment, the perceived under-performance of The Princess and the Frog (which, by the way, grossed $267million worldwide despite its many faults) was enough to make Disney rethink its approach to Princesses altogether. As the article states, the biggest 'problem' with the The Princess and The Frog was that it didn't appeal enough to boys:

Brace yourself: Boys didn't want to see a movie with "princess" in the title.

This time, Disney is taking measures to ensure that doesn't happen again. The studio renamed its next animated film with the girl-centric name "Rapunzel" to the less gender-specific "Tangled."

I guess Princess Mononoke and The Princess Bride don't count. Anyway, the same article cites Ed Catmull, president of Pixar/Disney Animation Studios, who claims that the studio is taking an entirely different approach with Tangled than it has with previous Princess titles: "We did not want to be put in a box. Some people might assume it's a fairy tale for girls when it's not. We make movies to be appreciated and loved by everybody." As Jaime Weinman describes on MacLeans.ca, the resulting film has clearly been "focus-grouped within an inch of its life".

Like Weinman, I agree that the trailer is more than a little reminiscent of Shrek (comedic "bad-boy" hero/anti-hero, kung fu fighting princess, cute & quirky side kick, initial adversarial relationship between the love interests, etc.). It also has undertones of Charlie's Angels, Alladin, and a little bit of Bayonetta. Either way, the trailer implies that the film will deviate from the traditional format of Princess as (only) passive and sweet damsel in distress, tormented and imprisoned by an evil older woman (usually step-mother), to be rescued by a one-dimensional prince charming, primarily on the basis of said prince's immediate admiration of the princess' undeniable beauty. In Tangled, the prince is a thief, funny and on the run, charming in a roguish way I'm sure, but himself in need of "saving" of some sort. Though the princess is only revealed mid-way through, I saw this as a typical teaser strategy...the big reveal that in this version, Rapunzel is no prisoner waiting to let down her hair. Instead, her hair is a source of supernatural combat skills, a thing she controls and uses to overpower and entrap intruders. While I'm sure that the movie will ultimately resolve with its gender norms fully intact and gender roles restored to their usual, traditional configuration (it is Disney, after all), the trailer and premise depicted so far are surprisingly progressive...a sort of fractured, potentially subversive re-telling of an otherwise highly conservative fairy tale. Kind of cool, no?

I like Weinman's description of the film as likely incorporating themes and marketing strategies that can be seen as much more "boy friendly" than some of Disney's previous Princess offerings. But I kind of cringe at the idea that's been promoted in many of the other reviews/coverage of the trailer/campaign that I've read so far, which interpret and reduce "gender inclusive" as simply "for boys". For example, Grady Smith's review of the Tangled trailer is titled "A Princess Movie for Boys?" and states:

"After disappointing results for The Princess And The Frog, Disney is targeting boys and using contemporary CG animation with Tangled in hopes that it will join the box office ranks of How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda.

[...]

Rather than the subtle grace of poised princesses like Snow White and Belle, Rapunzel is a feisty teenager, proficient in tae-kwon-hair-do. The fact that she only has one line in the trailer (“BEST. DAY. EVER!”) further underscores Disney’s desire to attract boys to Tangled."

I don't think that there's any evidence that straying from narrowly defined, cookie cutter interpretations of female protagonists somehow needs to be understood as necessarily (let alone solely) male-targeted. And I certainly don't like the implication that a tough, grrl power-type heroine means that the movie is therefore "for" boys. There are a number of properties targeted to girls that contain progressive female characters (some of which are mentioned above), just as there are a number of properties that try to break down gender stereotypes and gendered audience segmentation (How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda are surely examples of the latter, albeit not perfect examples). Targeting a broader audience and moving away from "fairy tales for girls" could just as well mean "more diverse stories for girls" or better yet, "more nuanced, diverse stories for girls and boys". And from what I've seen of the property's other tie-ins and marketing initiatives, there's absolutely no evidence that Disney is turning its back on its girl audience or even diverging all that far away from its usual Princess strategies.

As seen, for example, in a recent article in The Independent exploring the new tie-in toys that Disney Consumer Products has planned around Tangled:

"Disney's big launch for next year is Tangled, an animated reworking of the Rapunzel myth which has inspired a range of girls' dolls with extremely long hair, which is made from special fibres that glow and twinkle, exploiting traditional play patterns that have been around since the invention of Barbie."

We might consider the following toys as exhibits A & B, courtesy of Disney fan site Stitch Kingdom (© 2010 StitchKingdom.com). Not exactly as evidence of the movie's gender inclusiveness, but rather as a counter to the argument that Tangled should be seen as "for boys" just because it focuses on comedy and action rather than romance and domesticity. Again - a sort of ironic way of using these particular toys, seeing as they are so traditionally gendered and so clearly DO promote conservative notions of domesticity and femininity.

CFP Alert: Write 4 Children & Red Feather

Head's up on a couple of publishing opportunities that are available to both academics and professionals conducting research on or involved in the production of kids' media/lit. The first was advertised on the new "Exploring Childhood Studies" email list recently launched out of the Rutgers-University Camden Department of Childhood Studies, and is more specific to children's literature. The CFP reads as follows:

As we are heading towards the summer we thought we would send out a quick Call for Papers - just in case you are lost for something to do in the long summer months. Send us articles and discussion papers on writing for children or children's literature or even a combination of the two. Authors, publishers, librarians, illustrators lecturers and researchers are all welcome to submit work. There is no restriction other than the piece will be peer reviewed. Work needs to be submitted to write4children@winchester.ac.uk by 1st September 2010.

Check the website for guidelines for authors: www.write4children.org

The "About" section of the journal website provides further details about the scope and mission:

Write4Children seeks to provide an international forum for peer reviewed research papers and debates about writing for children and children’s literature.

It will contain articles and discussions which:

• provide an international forum for high quality academic and pedagogic research into writing for children and children’s literature
• promote best practice and academic research in advancing international debates on writing for children and children’s literature
• stimulate debate in peer reviewed articles and discussions on controversial issues in writing for children and children’s literature: such as, race, class, gender, sexuality, drug culture, sex, multiculturalism and education

The second CFP of potential interest was forwarded to me some time ago by Alissa (Antle) when the journal was first announced. It now has its first issue out and available online, and looks like a very interesting forum for research and inquiries into various aspects of kids' visual culture. Some great subject matter here, for e.g. an analysis of depictions of children in Pixar films by Iris Shepard, a discussion of "tomboyism" in Joss Whedon's Fray by Amy Clayton, and a review of discursive representations of children, freedom and food by Charlene Elliott, etc. I also like the more casual tone adopted in the couple of articles that I've read so far. Here's the CFP, as posted on the journal website:

Red Feather facilitates an international dialogue among scholars and professionals through vigorous discussion of the intersections between the child image and the conception of childhood, children's material culture, children and politics, the child body, and any other conceptions of the child within local, national, and global contexts. The journal invites critical and/or theoretical examination of the child image to further our understanding of the consumption, circulation, and representation of the child throughout the world's visual mediums. Some sample topics include, but are certainly not limited to: studies of images of children of color; child as commodity; images of children in Africa, Asia, Middle East, South America, etc.; political uses of the child image; children in film; children in advertising; visual adaptations of children's literary works; child welfare images; children and war; or any other critical examination of the child image in a variety of visual mediums.

Red Feather is published twice a year, in February and September, and adheres to the MLA citation system. Authors may submit articles in other citations systems, with the understanding that conversion to MLA is a condition of acceptance.

Interested contributors please submit the paper, an abstract, and a brief biography as attachments in Word to debbieo@okstate.edu.

Going to Toronto!!!

© 1992 Jouannigot, Éditions Milan

I realized today that I've let some pretty important, as in life changing levels of important, events slip by without writing a single blog post about them! I blame Twitter and Facebook, where status updates provide the instant gratification of social interaction, in the form of immediate response/dialogue with friends and colleagues. But that's no excuse for failing to make an official announcement, so here goes:

First, I successfully defended my dissertation on May 3rd, and am now a doctor of philosophy. I might write something more about the final stages of that experience someday, but for now you can check out my defense Prezi. I've also posted my abstract and chapter outline on a separate page of Gamine Expedition. I should have some news about downloadable copies or at least some idea of possible (fingers crossed) publication opps by the end of the summer, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, if you're interested in reading the version submitted to the SFU library, just drop me a line!

Second, as of July 2010, I will be joining the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto at the rank of Assistant Professor, where I'm going to be researching and teaching in children's new media and literature. I am beyond thrilled and eager to become a part of the iSchool and its friendly, collegial and dynamic faculty; to contribute to the amazing, critical and important work that goes on there; to further develop my research interests in narrative and children's lit; to work with graduate students and foster linkages with children's libraries/librarians; and of course to experience everything that Toronto and UofT have to offer.

I'm particularly excited about all the opportunities for collaboration that this move will afford - both within the iSchool faculty and the larger (very impressive) academic community that I will now have access (and proximity) to, as well as in terms of all the children's media outlets and professionals located in and around T.O. (and Montreal, NYC, etc. etc.).

I'll have new contact info coming soon, which I'll post here and on all the appropriate sites/networks. Until then - YAY!!!!!

Don't Mess with Kids' Culture!

© Jeff Smith, 2006

There have been quite a few important developments of late within kids' culture that I've been meaning to comment on-- particularly around issues of representation and access in children's literature. We all know that kids' culture is a hotbed of controversy: frequently mobilized as a site of moral panic and censorship on the one hand, and used as a tool for hegemonic discourse and other forms of political expression on the other. Media scholars trace this phenomenon back to chapbooks, dime novels and the like, but there are earlier examples (games, toys, etc.) as well. While most of my work looks at how the same controversies resurface around videogames, traditional media forms such as books and comics remain a key locus/target for these types of debates. Book banning, for example, is still a shockingly common practice, and everyday children's librarians, authors, parents, and young readers become embroiled in complex negotiations about censorship, access and cultural rights - often with little public attention or outside support.

The recent development that I want to draw attention to involves an attempt led by a parent in Minneapolis-St. Paul to ban BONE graphic novels from the school libraries in her district. Making misplaced accusations that the series--specifically BONE: The Dragonslayer--contains depictions of "drinking, smoking, gambling and sexual situations between characters," her action made headlines...I think in large part because of how beloved & acclaimed the BONE series is, but also because of creator Jeff Smith's response. In addition to speaking out quite strongly against the ban and the complaints, Smith wrote a formal letter to the school board review committee and followed up on the story on his blog Boneville. My favourite part of his letter is the closing paragraph, which reads as follows:

Many, many children have learned to love reading because of BONE. I know this from meeting and talking to kids and their parents, teachers, and librarians at hundreds of book signings and school visits. I suspect that there are members of the review committee who can attest to this. Since the mid 90’s, millions of parents all over the world have read BONE with their children. This is the first time I have ever heard it suggested that it was age inappropriate. It is hard to imagine that any bad behavior could be seen to be encouraged in these stories. Frankly, I believe it is just the opposite.

The best part about this story is that the review committee voted 10 to 1 against banning the series, with one of the committee members commenting to the press that "educators should be careful what books they ban from the classroom" (read more here).

The BONE decision represents a tiny, but nonetheless important, victory for kids' rights (specifically Article 13*) in the ongoing battle to control what gets into kids' culture. This battle is not limited to conflicts over what constitutes as protectionism and what constitutes as censorship, however, but also involves more subtle forms of control...such as the homogenization and corporatization of content. These issues are often treated as distinct, but they ultimately push toward the same result - a cultural spectrum that is reduced to a narrow range of themes, images, and ideas that best reflect and reproduce a deeply conservative status quo.

Perhaps that's why the BONE story reminded me immediately of another "tiny" controversy that unfolded earlier this year, around Trenton Lee Stewart’s Mysterious Benedict Society book series. This time, it was readers and children's librarians who coordinated a public complaint to the series' publishers (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) for "whitewashing" the book covers, i.e. depicting all of the books' main characters as white on the covers, including a character who is described & depicted as having "light brown" skin within the text and illustrations of the books themselves. Check out children's lit blog Bookshelves of Doom for a comprehensive overview of the discrepancy. According to Rocco Staino, writing for School Library Journal, this is a surprisingly common practice in the children/youth book publishing world. For instance, over the past year, Bloomsbury USA has had to change the covers on two different books following public complaints that non-white characters were depicted as white on the books' covers. As with BONE, this story too has a happy ending - Little, Brown agreed to reprint all three books in the series with amended cover images. Go children's librarians!!!!

For more info/resources on these issues, be sure to check out:
Freedom to Read Week (CDN)
Kids' Right to Read Project (US)
Banned Books Week

*Article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states: "The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice."

Upcoming Event: G(irls) 20 Summit

Via the MAGIC Network, news that next month Toronto will be hosting the G(irls) 20 Summit, in lead-up to the upcoming G20 meeting (June 26-27). The event is aimed at acknowledging the importance of girls and women within global labor and economic processes, as well as fueling discussions, generating ideas, and creating opportunities for investment and education that would lead to more equal, sustainable and fair treatment of girls and women around the world. i.e. gather together grassroots ideas on "how to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that most impact women and girls." Here's an excerpt from their mission statement/About Us that gives a pretty clear picture of the issues the summit hopes to tackle.

Women carry out two-thirds of the world's work hours, they receive one-tenth of its income and own less than a hundredth of its property. When a girl or woman earns income, she reinvests 90% of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40% for a man. With 3.3 billion girls and women, it is easy to understand how vital girls and women are to the well being of their families, their communities, and their countries.

A pivotal study conducted by GS shows that educating girls and women leads to higher wages, lower fertility, reduced maternal and child mortality, and better health and education for current and future generations. Simply put, investing in girls and women and creating opportunities for them is imperative to building strong, healthy families, communities and countries. Strong and healthy countries boast productive and high performing economies, just societies and political stability.

And here's the description of how the G(irls) 20 Summit fits in:

On June 26th and 27th, G20 leaders will gather in Toronto to discuss measures to promote global financial stability and ways to achieve a sustainable economic growth and development. All organizations and businesses striving for economic growth and development understand the need to utilize all resources -- financial, material and human.

Similarly, world leaders must recognize the importance of leveraging the world's 3.3 billion girls and women in the search for innovative, sustainable and socially responsible solutions to global challenges.

That's why, from Jun 16th -18th, twenty girls from the G20 countries will come together in Toronto to present, discuss and promote tangible, innovative and scalable solutions. If you are a passionate, forward-thinking, solution-oriented girl between the ages of 18-20 from a G20 country you could be one of the G(irls) 20 Summit change makers.

By visiting the website (http://www.girlsandwomen.com/), you can apply to attend the G(irls) 20 Summit (deadline passed), join the Girls & Women campaign, contribute ideas & solutions, and find links to the group's Facebook and Twitter profiles.

You might also want to check out the UN's 2009 MIllennium Indicators Report for more data on promoting gender equality within the areas of economic growth & labour.

Free Comic Book Day 2010

©Ted Naifeh, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things FCBD edition, May 2003

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day - wherein, on the first Saturday of May, comic book stores across North America do their part to spread love and appreciation of comic books/graphic novels by giving away selected free issues to anyone who comes into their stores. The annual event is geared toward expanding readership by introducing people to comics (generally) and by introducing comic readers to new titles. This is a wonderful event - one that I have benefitted from enormously in previous years, through free issues introducing me to indie comics/titles (including my beloved Courtney Crumrin, as depicted above), different distributors, titles I had heard of but never taken a chance on, etc., etc. Check out the official website for the locations of participating stores near you.

And if you're into it, I definitely recommend:

a) making a day of it, by doing a comic book store "crawl" (different stores will be giving away different titles, so visit as many as you can)

b) GETTING THERE EARLY!!!! (seriously, even less popular locations can sell out fast)

c) while you're there, don't be afraid to ask the clerks for recommendations about other (non-free) titles that may be of interest - these people generally know A LOT about comics and graphic novels and Free Comic Book Day presents the perfect opportunity to get in there, break the ice, and get some advice.

d) a good way to try out additional (non-free) new titles while you're there, without spending too much money, is to buy some back issues - although a small few titles gain in value over time, many many DO NOT - if you're willing to delve into an older (not 1st, but older) issue, they're often available at a fraction of the cost of a most recent issue

I'm sure there's a lot more I could list here, but these are some good basic starting points.

Enjoy!

Speaking Engagement: 2010 Consumer Privacy Consultations

As I discussed previously, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is holding a series of public consultations this spring, exploring emerging issues around online tracking, profiling and targeting of consumers. The consultations arrive in Toronto this Thursday (April 29), for a full day of discussion about issues relating to advertising, location-based/geospatial tracking and children's online privacy. What I may have neglected to mention is that I will be part of the afternoon panel on Children's Online Privacy, along with the very awesome Matthew Johnson, Media Education Specialist at the Media Awareness Network, kids' privacy researcher Dr. Jacquelyn Burkell (Associate Professor with the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, at the University of Western Ontario), and Catherine Connors, "mommy blogger" and author of www.HerBadMother.com. I believe there will also be an industry rep, though I'm not completely sure who as of yet.

The event is open to the public, but has reached capacity (!). Fortunately, the entire thing will be webcast through the Office of the Privacy Commissioner website. Should be a very interesting day, and I encourage you all to check out the webcast and subsequent coverage, as well as the advertising industry's preliminary response to the idea of broadening privacy protection in Canada (for e.g.) (btw - if you've guessed that they're largely against it, you're right!). Particular issues that I hope to raise/address include the conflation of marketing research and consumer data collection, and the growing importance/depth of corporate use of non-personally identifiable information -- particularly in examples such as Habbo Hotel's Habble and Echometrix's PULSE services.

CFP Alert: Upcoming Conferences on Gaming & Tech (in Canada!!!)

With my PhD defense a mere one week away, I haven't had much time to keep up with the news these days. But my "to do" list for this week includes submitting abstracts to two upcoming conferences that will likely be of interest to some of you. One has an imminent deadline, but has a great line up of confirmed speakers and a very compelling focus, and looks to be well worth dedicating part of an afternoon to crafting an abstract for. The other is being held at my new home in Toronto, and sounds absolutely amazing. Anyway, you can see for yourself below. Here's the basic info, with links to the full details:

THE ONLINE VIDEOGAME: NEW SPACE OF SOCIALIZATION

Bilingual colloquium (French/English)
October 28 , 29 and 30, 2010
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

To play is a vital function for the development of individuals. Play is an activity of socialization which enables learning of the rudiments of social interaction. Since the middle of the twentieth century, our societies have placed more value on the playful practice at all ages. As such, playing is more and more present in numerous spheres of society. Huizinga (1938) and Caillois (1958) assert moreover that any playful activity is social, by definition, and gets its real meaning when it is practised in groups. For Gadamer (1960), the charm of playing lies primarily in the fact that it exercises a fascination in the player. Online videogames gather more and more followers worldwide as this phenomenon becomes more important from day to day. It is no longer necessary to question play as a way to spend time. Through the intervention of videogames, play has also become a way to develop social networks, learn new communication skills and tools, a way to learn a foreign language, a place to keep or develop friendships, an opportunity to participate in an online community, or even a way to be exposed to new cultures. Online videogames have become a media of socialization, that is to say, devices of mediation and mediatization which allow people to share large-scale information thanks to its network of exchanges and meetings. Such spaces of socialization arouse interactions convenient to the construction of the “self” and to the renewal of the representations of others and the world. Online videogames can facilitate socialization and be a carrier of values which are not necessarily different than those found in society. Online videogames can also be a place that facilitate values that are not necessarily present in society in general.

Indeed, the experience as much as the manners and representations in videogames contribute to the moulding of cognitive modes, to the development of both technical and social skills and, in a more general way, to the reconfiguration of one’s relationship to the world. From this perspective, it is imperative to explore the modes of socialization shaped by online videogames and to question the various forms of instrumentalization, of domination, of exclusion, as well as forms of dependence and addiction which this kind of community can facilitate. The criteria from which the players give a value and organize their relations into a hierarchy with other players is potentially defined by the customs and contexts of online videogames. The observations, the descriptions, and the analysis of the manners and representations that are connected to the experience of online videogames become essential as a generation is subject to building their social referents partially through playful cyber universes. This type of study is justified all the more as players become imbedded in innovative modes of socialization, rehabilitation, social reintegration, and learning, not only in school and at home, but also in their workplace. This colloquium aims to make inventory of the researches within game studies, while online videogames are becoming more and more popular. Topics include (but are not limited to) the following themes:

• Forms of socialization in online videogames
• Communicational stakes in online videogames
• Questions of ethics and aesthetics in online videogames
• Innovations and types of appropriation in online videogames
• Questions of law, economy, and politics in online videogames
• Design of games and the communications tools in online videogames
• Therapeutic and educational customs in online videogames

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: The persons interested to participate in this colloquium have to submit an abstract treating of the higher presented theme (max. 3000 characters, included spaces), as well as a short biographic note. Abstracts should be sent to: recherchehomoludens@gmail.com

CALENDAR
Abstract deadline: April 28, 2010
Notification of Acceptance: May 17, 2010
Full Paper deadline: August 27, 2010
Colloquium dates: October 28, 29 and 30, 2010

INVITED SPEAKERS: Mia Consalvo, PhD; Nicolas Ducheneaut, PhD; Sébastien Genvo, PhD; Miguel Sicart, PhD; Bart Simon, PhD; T.L. Taylor, PhD.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE : The colloquium is organized by the research group Homo Ludens (Université du Québec à Montréal), with the collaboration of Technoculture, Art and Games (Concordia University)

Charles Perraton, professor at the Department of social and public communication (Université du Québec à Montréal) Magda Fusaro, professor at the Department of management and technology (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Coordination : Maude Bonenfant, postdoctoral researcher, Technoculture, Art and Gaming (Concordia University) recherchehomoludens@gmail.com

And here's the second one, with a little more breathing room on the submission deadline:

DIY CITIZENSHIP: CRITICAL MAKING AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Download the Call for Papers (PDF)

A renewed emphasis on participatory forms of digitally-mediated production is transforming our social landscape. ‘Making’ has become the dominant metaphor for a variety of digital and digitally-mediated practices. The web is exploding with independently produced digital ‘content’ such as video diaries, conversations, stories, software, music, video games—all of which are further transformed and morphed by “modders,” “hackers,” artists and activists who redeploy and repurpose corporately-produced content. Equally, communities of self-organized crafters, hackers, and enthusiasts are increasingly to be found online exchanging sewing and knitting patterns, technical guides, circuit layouts, detailed electronics tutorials and other forms of instruction and support. Many of these individuals and collaborators understand their work to be socially interventionist. Through practices of design, development, and exchange they challenge traditional divides between production and consumption and to redress the power differentials built into technologically-mediated societies.

“DIY Citizenship” invokes the participatory nature of these diverse “do-it-yourself” modes of engagement, community, networks, and tools—all of which arguably replace traditional with remediated notions of citizenship. The term “critical making” refers to the increasing role ‘making’ plays in critical forms of social reflection and engagement.

This interactive conference seeks to extend conversations about new modes of engaged DIY citizenship and politics evidenced by the exponential increase of DIY media, “user-generators”, “prosumers,” “hacktivists,” tactical media interventionists, and other ‘maker’ identities. We invite scholars, activists, artists, designers, programmers and others interested in the social and participatory dimensions of digitally-mediated practices, to engage in dialogue across disciplinary and professional divides. All methodological and theoretical approaches are welcomed. Submissions may include paper proposals, works of art and/or design, short video or audio segments, performances, video games, digital media, or other genres and forms. Potential topics include: the relation between social media and the ‘making’ of new forms of citizenship engagement—thus, for example, making movements; making community; making news; making play; making bodies; making health; making public; making education; making networks.

Plenary speakers include:

Anne Balsamo, Professor of Interactive Media in the School of Cinematic Arts, and of Communications in the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Southern California, co-founder of Onomy Labs, Inc. a Silicon Valley technology design and fabrication company that builds cultural technologies.

Suzanne de Castell, Professor (media, educational technologies) Faculty of Education Simon Fraser University, Vancouver: educational media theory, research, design and development, Founded Canadian Game Studies Association, co-editor of Loading…

Ron Deibert, Professor (Political Science), University of Toronto, Director of the Citizen Lab; a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects; co-founder and VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon Inc.

Paul Dourish, Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, co-conspirator in the Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction, and author of Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction, MIT Press.

Henry Jenkins, Provost's Professor of Communications, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California. Blogger, henryjenkins.org. Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. Currently doing research for MacArthur Foundation on youth, new media, and the public sphere.

Jennifer Jenson, Professor of Pedagogy and Technology, York University, Toronto: video game designer, co-editor of Loading…: The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association

Natalie Jeremijenko, artist whose background includes studies in biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering. Jeremijenko’s projects which explore socio-technical change have been exhibited by several museums and galleries, including the MASSMoCA, the Whitney, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt. Jeremijenko is the director of the environmental health clinic at NYU, assistant professor in Art, and affiliated with the Computer Science Dept.

Steve Mann, professor of Applied Engineering, and Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto, proliferate inventor including wearable computing, hydraulophone, and concept of 'sousveillance': "the effects a surveillance device has on others"

Trebor Scholz, Professor of Culture and Media Study, The New School, New York: media activist, writer, and artist, founder of the Institute for Distributed Creativity. In the fall of 2009, Dr. Scholz convened The Internet as Playground and Factory conference

Conference organizers: Prof. Megan Boler, University of Toronto; Prof. Matt Ratto, University of Toronto.

Please submit a 250-word proposal or description of work/presentation and a one-page artist or scholarly CV to submissions@diycitizenship.com by May 20, 2010. Please include up to five images of work to be shown/discussed or a web URL if appropriate. Notifications will take place by June 15, 2010. For more information, contact info@diycitizenship.com or visit our website at www.diycitizenship.com

Presenters will be invited to submit completed papers for an edited collection with a university press and/or a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.

Neat-o!

Pink Shirt Day!!!

©PinkShirtDay.ca

Today is Pink Shirt Day in Canada, part of rapidly growing movement to support kids who take a stand against bullying. The idea links back to two teen boys from Nova Scotia, who came up with the idea a couple of years ago as a way to show solidarity with a fellow student who was being bullied for wearing pink. Here's an excerpt from the CBC News coverage of the event when it happened in 2007:

Two Nova Scotia students are being praised across North America for the way they turned the tide against the bullies who picked on a fellow student for wearing pink. The victim — a Grade 9 boy at Central Kings Rural High School in the small community of Cambridge — wore a pink polo shirt on his first day of school. Bullies harassed the boy, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up, students said.

Two Grade 12 students — David Shepherd and Travis Price — heard the news and decided to take action.

"I just figured enough was enough," said Shepherd.

They went to a nearby discount store and bought 50 pink shirts, including tank tops, to wear to school the next day. Then the two went online to e-mail classmates to get them on board with their anti-bullying cause that they dubbed a "sea of pink." But a tsunami of support poured in the next day.

Not only were dozens of students outfitted with the discount tees, but hundreds of students showed up wearing their own pink clothes, some head-to-toe. When the bullied student, who has never been identified, walked into school to see his fellow students decked out in pink, some of his classmates said it was a powerful moment.

[...]

The students' "sea of pink" campaign did not go unnoticed outside the province. U.S. talk show host Ellen DeGeneres expressed interest in their story, and other schools are talking about holding their own "pink day."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/18/pink-tshirts-students.html#ixzz0l5umd1Fa

The cause has since been taken up by a number of schools, organizations and celebrities, including Christy Clark of CKNW's The Christy Clark Show, who also manages the official PinkShirtDay.ca website. Show your support today by wearing pink and be sure to spread the word!!!

Jackie Marsh on Digital literacy and play in MMOs/vws for children

Live Blogging alert - I'm writing this post from Jackie Marsh's keynote address on "Digital literacy and play in MMOs/virtual worlds for children," at the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub workshop on kids' virtual worlds. Jackie' is presenting some of her findings from a larger ongoing project on Children's playground games and songs in the new media age project, in collaboration with Rebekah  Willett and Andrew Burn.

Key points:

• Young children in Sheffield, UK, average 2 hours/day of media use
  
• Family scaffold kids' emergent digital literacy
  
• Growing independence among even younger children - 64% of 3-5 year-olds can use a mouse, 37% can turn on a computer by themselves and 56% have used a computer by themselves.
  
• Place of the child in the family (older siblings) very important to children's use - how they are introduced, when, etc.
• Key features identified in commercial vw's for children: customizable avatars, avatar homes, games which earn in-world currency, free chat and safe-chat servers, moderators, links to out-world toys and texts and tie-in products. 
• On this latter point - highlights the importance of online/offline linkages as the products themselves move to mobile technologies. Highlights the importance of market-based hierarchies.
• Her own data derived from a very specific case - "primary school serving a primarily white, working class community in an area of socio-economic deprivation" - 175 kids aged 5 to 11 surveyed, three 11 year olds selected for a series of interviews and online sessions (taped and observed). Much of the more detailed data about Club Penguin and Barbie Girls came from these 3 respondents. 
• 52% of the kids surveyed used virtual worlds on a regular basis. Average of 2 visits per week.
• Most popular CP and BC
• Gender patterns in terms of preferences and choices of virtual worlds - none of the boys surveyed reported going to Barbie Girls. 

Jackie's most recent work focuses in on Club Penguin - a vw that was particularly popular among their subject group at the time of the study. Jackie did a great job of summarizing the contents of the site, identifying the carry-over that occurs between traditional playground behaviours and in-world activities, opportunities for literacy (of various kinds), the importance and emphasis that is placed on commercial relations (disparities between paying and non-paying members. 

She also looked at Barbie Girls (oh no! just like my thesis!!), and the lack of diversity in terms of gender (female only) and ethnicity (depictions of which are limited to skin-tone, and only a few options are possible) of the avatars, and the enormous linkages made between commercial content/branding of Barbie texts and the game - emphasis on shopping, emphasis on V.I.P. memberships and emphasis on Barbie products.

Key Points about these case studies:

• Marsh identifies evidence of the subjectivities of consumption that are constructed in these sites - many examples of children describing themselves in consumer terms & enjoying consumption play (shopping, browsing catalogues, trying on items). But also frustration about purchases of pre-fabricated goods that offer little flexibility or affordances. Key complaint that wigs and hats couldn't be combined on Club Penguin, frustration that the Puffles run away if not taken care of. 
• Online/offline networks - children played with siblings, relatives and classmates, often in pre-arranged sessions. Also played with unknown others. 
• The children interviewed expressed using a range of criteria for accepting in-world friends (if the avatar name was "weird" or "normal" - if the player's igloo was "posh" or "plain"). This latter point shows the integration of social and economic capital in children's negotiation of social relations in-world.
• Classmates who played together online and offline tended to have larger friend networks (around 9 vs. 7). 
• Genres of play: fantasy play, games with rules, "rough and tumble" play (snowball fights, other play that uses avatar movement for contact), socio-dramatic play. In this last category, Marsh noticed a lot of adult-themes, going to the disco, having parties, pretending they're getting "drunk". Ritualized play - playing at flirting, trying to tip the iceberg in CP. 
• Various instances and types of digital literacy - reading the CP Times every day, reading postcards from other players, keeping up with the game lore (reading the books in the reading room, reading the instructions), using CP as an instant messaging service (definitely a chat room). Reading, comprehension, following instructions, etc. 
• She went over 6 different types of literacy identified in CP - she has a paper coming out shortly that describes and explores these, so I won't bother reproducing them here (but I will link to the article once it's available). Suffice to say that many of the forms of literacy identified revolved around social relations and identity construction/expression.
• Among the kids surveyed, Marsh found that many used/viewed Club Penguin-based machinima on Youtube 
• For example, David Cook's  "Time of My Life" - created by a young girl Ineuit2, a self-described 13 year old girl who runs a Club Penguin fan site). Kids use other forums to discuss and coordinate these - for instance, a player advertised for extras for his upcoming CP machinima on a Shaun The Sheep discussion forum, much to the dismay of Shaunthesheep purists.
• Frames that these vw's introduce - the implications for education (as well as some implications that certainly carry over to policy and ethical decisions), including the need for recognition of online activities outside of school, firewall considerations, critical digital literacy - esp. as children are now co-authoring new forms of multi-modal texts (which I'm very interested in myself).

Jackie's talk was followed by a response by Heather Horst, who is a member of the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, and has done work on kids' digital culture - including Neopets. Among other things, Heather highlighted 3 themes she wanted to raise for further discussion:

• The first, a series of questions involving time and temporal dimensions of virtual worlds - the transience that many kids' express in terms of the worlds, new media use, and their lives/life changes, schedules, age, etc.
  
• The second, space and geographies of play - particularly as this is influenced by the various affordances of the devices/worlds, etc., involved. What guides children's movement between the various genres, sites, technologies, platforms and usages they engage in. For example, getting around design limitations or parental restrictions by moving on to a different device.
• The third, the issue of agency and change - as children age, develop forms of literacy, etc. What's the relationship/role of the low barriers to entry that are usually contained within sites like CP, or within popular culture/commercial culture more generally. How do these worlds contribute to children's agency and dignity - opportunities/challenges, barriers, etc. Are the worlds subject to workarounds, resistance, remixing, do kids actively attempt to change the worlds?

A great talk all around - very enjoyable and comprehensive. I'm very much looking forward to the discussion that will ensue, as well as tomorrow's workshop.

Sources of interest: kzero.co.uk: Virtual Worlds Universe Reports, which lists user populations for a large number of virtual worlds for kids, plotted by age. Very cool data and data visualizations. 

UGC Games Go Portable

Image ©Nintendo, Inc. Via About.com

As regular readers of this blog already know, my next research project (which I'll finally be launching this summer) is on UGC (user-generated content) games designed for kids. My main case studies so far are LittleBigPlanet, Kodu and Spore, but I've been keeping an eye out for other titles to add to the list. I'm still in the process of figuring out the "what" and "how," but I know that my first priority is in finding games that allow players to both create a substantial part of the gameplay - entire levels, entire story lines, etc. - and share that content with other players.

Walking through the games section at HMV over the weekend, I saw that the genre has spread to portable game devices much more quickly than I had previously realized. Some of the titles I was already well aware of (LittleBigPlanet for the PSP, the Spore spin-offs), but others were totally new (e.g. WarioWare DIY). This could potentially open up a whole new angle for my project (especially if there are cross-system linkages). Here's a very brief "list-in-progress" of the portable UGC games I've seen so far (keep in mind, I haven't even started looking into iPhone games). If you know of others, please post in the comments section and let me know!

WarioWare D.I.Y. (Rated E, Nintendo DS)

Released just last week, this offshoot of the Mario Bros/Wario franchise allows players to create their own mini-games, design graphics and music, and produce comics using a variety of customizable options and UGC tools. The games and other content can then be uploaded and shared with other players - the games can be either played or viewed (not quite sure) on the Wii. Here's the official website.

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Rated E, Nintendo DS)

Released last October (2009), this sequel to the original "draw your own hero" game (released in 2007), allows players to insert their own hero, items, obstacles, solutions and other content into the game world by using the stylus to "draw" in elements. The big difference with this one (and I'm not sure about this, just from what I've observed from the PR materials), is that you can now impact the gameplay mechanics AND share the content with other players (who own the game). Here's the official website.

Scribblenauts (Rated E10+, Nintendo DS)

By the creators of Drawn to Life, this game got a heck of a lot of attention when it came out last year. The idea is similar to Drawn to Life, but with more emphasis on puzzle solving, and instead of drawing your solution you type in a word, which makes an object appear in the game. The list of possible words is extensive (well over 20K). The game also includes a level editor, through which players can design/customize levels which they can then share with others through the DS WiFi system. Here's the official website.

LittleBigPlanet PSP (Rated E, Sony PSP)

Just like the original PS3 game, but without the multiplayer mode. Players can complete up to 30 existing levels to find tools, sticker switches and costumes which can then be used to create custom Sackboy/girl avatars and custom levels. Levels can be designed from scratch or from a template - and player designs can be uploaded to an online server where they can be shared with the rest of the player community. Here's the official site.

Spore Creatures & Spore Hero Arena (Nintendo DS)

These spin-offs of EA's Spore, are portable, mini versions that allow you to create creatures and explore the world, encounter others, make friends and/or do battle. There looks to be some significant avatar customization involved, but this is one I'll have to play before I can determine if the game itself really qualifies for the project. Here's the official Creatures webpage and the official Hero Arena page.

Will the Spore spin-off games count? I'm not sure how much players control the gameplay/level design, or if customization/UGC is limited to avatar design. The customization and UGC that goes into avatar design and "virtual doll play" is certainly important, but not quite what I'm hoping to investigate in this project. The idea is really to examine games that give players tools to design the game space, environment, story line, gameplay. And, of course, to share the products with other players, particularly within commercially constructed (and controlled) distribution systems.

I'm already seeing some of the early issues I'm going to have operationalizing this, but for now, delineating a sample and figuring out what my criteria is are probably key.

Any suggestions about games I should look into adding to the list? I know I'm already forgetting some of the games I saw over the weekend, and would like to work out a more comprehensive list over the next couple of weeks as I head into the project launch. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Speaking Engagement: Public Lecture on Children's Virtual Worlds & Rules of Play

Screenshot from Disney's Toontown (2008)

I'm very happy to announce that I've been given an amazing opportunity to deliver a public lecture at the University of Toronto Faculty of Information next week. The talk, entitled 'Playing by (and with) the rules', will provide an overview my dissertation findings and future research plans (i.e. next steps), along with a discussion of the larger social, ethical and policy implications of some of the ongoing trends I've identified within children's digital play culture. Here's the abstract and info:

"Playing By (and With) The Rules"

Thursday, March 25, from 4-5:30 pm

Faculty of Information, Bissell Bldg (Room 728)

Abstract: Virtual worlds are now a prominent feature of the children’s digital landscape, as well as a compelling site of study for exploring children’s evolving relationship with new media technologies. Popular children’s virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and Webkinz appear to epitomize the “web 2.0” emphasis on participation and social networking. Upon closer examination, however, it is clear that along with these exciting new opportunities, virtual worlds also present children with a number of important challenges. For one, many of the most popular children’s virtual worlds are owned and operated by media and toy conglomerates, including Nickelodeon, Disney and Mattel. Accordingly, their contents are organized around commercial priorities such as promoting products, avoiding controversy, protecting corporate copyright regimes, and fostering a form of transmedia intertextuality aimed at enrolling children in an ever-expanding, multi-modal, cross-promotional narrative experience. This presentation will examine how these priorities not only shape the design and management of children’s virtual worlds, but also manifest as powerful “rules of play” that children are expected to (but do not always) follow. I will explore how virtual worlds serve as a locus for the ongoing negotiation that occurs between children, parents, corporations, and regulatory bodies about the nature and function of digital play, branded entertainment, and cultural participation within children’s everyday lives. Lastly, I will discuss how the outcome of this negotiation could have significant implications for the current and emerging information practices of younger children, particularly in relation to issues of authorship, cultural rights and children’s participation in the production and sharing of digital content.

Free Admission • General Seating • All Welcome

****Update: You can now view the Prezi slides for this presentation by clicking here.

Jack Zipes Talks Fairy Tales at UBC

Image still from Fractured Fairy Tales: The Phox, The Box & The Lox (1999)

Heads up, children's media fans in the Vancouver area - you're about to get the chance to hear the wonderful and prolific Professor Jack Zipes (Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota) discuss his ongoing and thoroughly fascinating work on fairy tales. UBC's Green College is currently hosting Zipes as Cecil H. and Ida Green Visiting Professor, through which he will be giving a series of public and community lectures from March 23-27, on various aspects of his research on the evolution and function of fairy tales within childhood and children's media (literature, films, tv). Here's a copy of his bio, as posted on the Green College site:

Jack Zipes is one of the world’s leading authorities on fairy tales, writing about and translating them. An internationally renowned scholar and author of more than 50 books on many subjects, he has through his writings transformed research on fairy tales, particularly with respect to how they function in the socialization of readers. His books include Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre (2006), Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Children’s Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling (2008), Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion (1985, 2006) and The Enchanted Screen: A History of Fairy Tales on Film (coming, 2010). His translations include The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1987), The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse (1995), and most recently Lucky Hans and Other Merz Fairy Tales by Kurt Schwitters (2009). Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota.

Zipes' work has been an invaluable resource to me, ever since my early days as an undergrad writing about Disney Princesses. I've particularly enjoyed his discussions of subversion and transgression in fairy tale storytelling traditions, and his descriptions of how visionary media creators like Jim Henson have managed to translate these elements (at least partially) into film and television. For example, in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry (1997), Zipes proposes that whereas many children’s media texts, such as Disney’s fairy tale films, employ “techniques of infantilization, narrative strategies of closure, and the exaltation of homogeneity” (p.96), there are also some that work to challenge hegemonic conventions. As mentioned, Zipes points to the works of the late Jim Henson (including The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, Sesame Street and The Storyteller) as key examples of subversive children’s media texts. Using bricolage, multimedia pastiche, satire and parody, these texts subvert their own authority by transgressing established norms and conventions (such as "breaking the fourth wall” or having characters step “out of character” to question a particular plot development) and reviving pre-Industrial, oral storytelling traditions that invite children “to explore the tale’s manifold meanings” (p.99). Rather than simply promoting conformity to established scripts, structures and consumer behaviours (although these features may nonetheless also be present), these texts can be seen as “challeng[ing] the creative and critical capabilities of young viewers” (p.95).

Reading through next week's schedule of talks, Zipes will likely address this aspect in further detail, along with more thorough discussions of gender, Disneyfication, and the ways in which certain versions of fairy tales get lost while others become the "authoritative" texts. I've reproduced a very brief outline of the schedule below, but if you want to see a more detailed overview, I recommend visiting the Early Romance Studies Research Cluster website, which includes descriptions of each talk/event. I have a major scheduling conflict that will take me out of town for most of these talks, unfortunately (or fortunately, given that the reason for my trip could ultimately lead to major awesomeness, including opportunities to set up similar events in the very near future). But I'll definitely try my best to be at the Tuesday lecture on feminist interpretations of fairy tales and the fireside chat.

Jack Zipes, Folklore and Fairy Tale Scholar at UBC

March 23-27, 2010

Green College and ISGP Weekly Lecture

RADICAL VISIONS: FEMINIST INTERPRETATIONS OF FAIRY TALES IN PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES, AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Green College Coach House,

6201 Cecil Green Park Road, UBC

5 – 6:30 pm, Tuesday, March 23, 2010, with reception to follow

FIRESIDE CHAT WITH JACK ZIPES

Piano Lounge, Graham House, Green College,

6201 Cecil Green Park Road, UBC

8 – 9 pm, Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Special Lecture

UTOPIAN TENDENCIES OF ODDLY MODERN FAIRY TALES

Dodson Room #302, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre,

1971 East Mall, UBC

12 – 12:50 pm (followed by discussion), Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Co-presented with the UBC MA in Children’s Literature Program

Arts Wednesdays Public Lecture

DE-DISNEYFYING THE FAIRY-TALE FILM

UBC Robson Square Theatre,

800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC

6 – 7:30 pm, Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable

DISCOVERING BURIED FAIRY TALES: ADVENTURES OF A SCHOLARLY SCAVENGER

The University Golf Club,

5185 University Blvd, UBC

9 am, Saturday, March 27, 2010 (Registration and coffee from 8 am)

* TICKETED EVENT: For prices and details, see the VCLR website

Looking Awry at My Little Pony & Other Precious Things

My Little He-Man Pony - Original artwork and photo by © Mari Kasurinen.

A quick post today, to point you towards some of the fascinating work that STS scholar, MIT professor and "big thinker" Sherry Turkle is currently working on. Turkle is well known within new media/internet/game studies for her early work on online identity, particularly The Second Self and Life on the Screen. Her more recent work, however, which is captured in a series of edited volumes published by The MIT PRess, provide an elaboration of Turkle's ongoing inquiry into the relationships between people, technology and material culture...with an emphasis on how "things" - tangible, material, physical objects - mediate and shape both our usage and relationships with technological forms, digital practices, etc. My interest in this work was ignited by a recent post on BoingBoing, relaying a cute and thought provoking story contained in one of Turkle's edited volumes, Falling for Science: Objects in Mind (as discussed in an interview Turkle gave a few months ago). This particular volume is a collection of interviews with MIT students and established computer/scientists about the material objects that provided an initial entry point into developing a personal interest in science, tech, or math (STEM).

What captured the attention of BoingBoing contributor Maggie Koerth-Baker, and mine as well, was computer scientist Christine Alvaradoa's story about the crucial role played by My Little Pony in inspiring her interest in math (and, I would assume, programming). As Alvaradoa writes (in Falling for Science):

I had several small plastic Ponies that I used to play make-believe with my friends. But I had one larger, plush My Little Pony, a bright-green stuffed horse with a vivid pink mane and tail that I played with all by myself. I would sit for hours on my own, braiding and rebraiding its tail. I developed a system for braiding the tail of my Pony that taught me about mathematical concepts-- from division to recursion.

[...]

When I started, I took the hair on the Pony's tail and divided it into three pieces for braiding. Soon I became bored with a single braid. I then divided the tail into nine pieces and made three groups. I braided each group of three until I had three braids, then took these three braids and braided them together. Soon I was up to starting with twenty-seven pieces (nested down to nine braids, then to three and then one) and then on to eighty-one. All the while I was learning about math: I saw that division is the process of taking a large number of things and grouping them into a smaller number of groups. In order to end up with one even braid at the end, I had to be able to divide the initial number evenly by three, then by three,and then by three again, until I ended up with just one braid.

Her description is very reminiscent of the Sadie Plant's comparisons of weaving and computer programming. What's particularly fascinating is how Alvaradoa transformed the pleasures of manipulating the tangible features of her My Little Pony doll into a new form of emergent, educational play.

This article led be back to Turkle's website, and then to the other two installments of the"objects" series, which sound just as fascinating. The first, Evocative Objects: Things We Think With, makes the argument that "We think with the objects we love; we love the objects we think with," featuring writings, memoirs and essays by scientists, humanists, artists, and designers that explore the power of everyday things. The second, The Inner History of Devices, features chapters applying a variety of methods (with an emphasis on "intimate ethnographies") to explore the ways in which the things "we make [are] woven into our ways of seeing ourselves." She's now taken the discussion to another level with a new solo contribution, Simulation and Its Discontents. Here, Turkle takes on some of the larger philosophical questions raised by the shift from tangible objects and systems to digital/virtual simulations. An impressive body of work - all published within the last three years. Incredible.

While I obviously haven't had the chance to make my way through the collection as of yet, I'm really looking forward to figuring out where Turkle and her collaborators situate themselves within the field of technology studies and the parallel discussions of these same issues that have been unfolding within the realm of philosophy of technology. In any case, this work is sure to be compelling and worthy of focused exploration.

For an overview of some of the themes and theoretical paradigms that Turkle is engaging with in this series, be sure to watch her TechTV Big Thinkers interview from last summer.

And for more examples of transformative and interesting My Little Pony appropriations, you should definitely check out Mari Kasurinen's awesome sculptures, as seen in the (borrowed) image above.

[For those of you do watch the interview = On a personal note, I was struck by how profoundly I related with her comment about how irrational childhood fascinations with stationary stores were once said to be a sign of a lifelong passion/talent for writing. Who knew!?!]

How Indie Games Have Helped Me Appreciate Games for Kids

At the DMLC last week, during the discussion period that followed our panel presentation, a delegate humorously thanked me for doing the work that I do so that others don't have to. It was a comment full of good intentions and was certainly received as such (both by myself and by the audience), but it is also a comment that I in fact receive quite often. For while studying kids' games certainly sounds like (and is) a lot of fun, the clunky, promotion-laden contents of many of the commercial games that I research can definitely make in-depth analysis and concerted exploration a bit of a challenge. It's actually a dimension of my research that I've thought a lot about, both in terms of a methodological issue as well as a potential source of researcher bias. After all, adult assessments of children's culture are always going to be problematized by issues of perspective, varying (often biased) "standards," ideological notions of children/childhood, and the necessarily "outsider" status of the adult academic.

For the seasoned gamer (as well as many non-gamer adults for that matter), playing a game designed specifically for kids is often quite a different experience from playing a game designed for teens and adults. This is particularly true of games that are designed for kids specifically rather than for a general audience of "Everyone", and even truer when looking at MMOGs. Rather than the usual themes of violence, exploration and epic adventure that shape so many fantasy MMOGs, kids' MMOGs tend to be characterized by an emphasis on lightness, casual gameplay, positive feelings (such as happiness and kindness) and commercial/popular culture. Playing these games can also be oddly underwhelming. Like many digital games designed for children, technical features and aesthetic qualities are usually much more basic (not just more accessible, but more barebones) than those found in successful mainstream games. The customizable options available in kids' MMOGs are quite limited when compared to those available in T-rated MMOGs. The different areas and activities are fragmented and unintegrated. The “mise-en-scenes” (for example, the visual background and soundscape) are static and minimalistic. And the game mechanics are crude and oftentimes “clunky” -- delayed by time lags and program glitches.

So, in order to be able to immerse myself in these worlds and begin to appreciate their unique attributes and hidden complexities, it has been essential that I first cast aside any pre-existing biases about game design and aesthetic "standards" (as best I can anyway). Many of these biases are likely the result of many years of keeping pace with the perpetual race for technological and artistic innovation that has driven the growth of the commercial games industry since the early 1990s. While comparison to mainstream games and MMOGs is at times useful, particularly when comparing children’s game design across platforms and industry sectors, it is important that I avoid letting these comparisons dictate or obscure analysis of children's games on their own terms.

In fact, some of the strongest criticisms of mainstream game development in recent years are aimed at the perceived state of creative stagnancy produced by the industry’s narrow emphasis on “technological advancement.” As Fullerton, Chen, Santiago et al. describe, “Design advancement in the industry is generally limited to feature advancement within the existing domains of market genres. […] The exploration of new genres of games is considered risky in all regards: gameplay, technology, design and market viability." Like film before it, an important source of resistance and challenge to the status quo is found among the independents, who lack the big budgets required to compete in the industry’s endless race toward technological advancement, but as a result also have more freedom and impetus to attempt different types of innovation.

Accordingly, some of the most critically acclaimed games of the past few years have come out of independent game design studios, such as flOw, Flower and Cloud (created by Chen and produced by Santiago, who now run That Game Company), World of Goo (by 2D Boy), The Path (by Tale of Tales) and Okami (by the now defunct Japanese independent Clover Studios) (AND Braid, Submachine, Scarygirl, And Yet It Moves, Today I Die, etc., etc., etc.). Each of these “indie games” won multiple awards for originality and design innovation, and was widely celebrated by both the industry and the gaming culture (of players, fans, and critics). Yet none of them feature the type of "realistic" three-dimensional graphics, expansive level structures and expensive production qualities found within the mainstream games that usually set the hegemonic standard.

Instead, the emphasis within the indie games mentioned above is on the uniqueness of the graphics, on unusual innovations and manipulations of the gameplay mechanics, and on contributing to the advancement of something other than a Moore’s Law vision of technological advancement. Okami features a Japanese scroll-inspired game environment upon which the player can “paint” new objects and actions using the game controller to manipulate a giant virtual paintbrush. In World of Goo, the individual levels are spatially limited and contain simple, cartoonish graphics. However, the game is remarkable in the innovation of its physics, with which players must interact in increasingly complex ways in order to create structurally sound bridges and towers out of living gobs of goo. The main goal of gameplay within both flOw and Cloud is to attain a particular emotional state. There are no points or missions other than exploration, immersion and emotional investment in the gameplay process itself. Because these games are attempting to push and even break open existing standards and expectations of what a digital game should look and feel like, they defy established modes of comparison and evaluation.

Even within the established digital game industry, increasing attention is now placed on innovation, with the various console systems that now (or soon will) enable kinetic gameplay, multi-modal games that players can access across a variety of platforms, and a reconsideration of game design fundamentals. This is in fact particularly the case within child-inclusive games, most notably found in numerous titles released by Nintendo over the past couple of years, including Wii Sport, Super Mario Galaxy, Cooking Mama and Super Princess Peach. What this growing movement in game design demonstrates is that simple can be sophisticated, and that innovation cannot always be measured by size, scope and the number of pixels alone.

In terms of how this relates to the current discussion, there are many potential overlaps between indie games and children’s MMOGs. After all, children’s virtual worlds are a new phenomenon, and represent a clear break from the norms that have developed over the course of the past decade within MMOG design, including the tendency to develop games that specifically (and oftentimes exclusively) target a core gamer demographic consisting of young men between the ages of 14 to 32 years. Not to mention the fact that the games’ developers tend be outsiders themselves in relation to the established digital games industry. Perhaps some design limitations and a different set of emerging standards should be expected as new voices break into game development, and as new player communities are introduced into the existing MMOG culture.

Anyway - just some thoughts I've had about my process and about how to further contextualize my research &/or findings. I've never actually taken on or addressed this comment head on, and thought it might be time to hash out what my position actually is. My own growing love and appreciation for indie games, casual games and puzzle games has developed concurrent to (and possibly intertwined with) my ongoing study of kids' games, so there's also a definite "chicken or egg" phenomenon going on here. But the key theme that I take away from all this is that a shift in perspective has allowed me to find joy, meaning and value in a much broader spectrum of digital games (and game designs), which has not only helped my research but has also enriched my leisure experience immensely.