- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

CFP: Videogames and the Alien / Other
by Zach Whalen 02 Feb '06

02 Feb '06

(apologies for cross-posting) *CFP : Videogames and the Alien / Other* Second Annual University of Florida Game Studies Conference Gainesville, FL April 7-8, 2006 http://www.alien.gameology.org The University of Florida's Game Studies Group, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Digital Worlds Institute are pleased to announce the 2006 UF Game StudiesConference: "Video Games and the Alien/Other," which will be held in Gainesville,Florida, on April 7-8 2006. *Guest Speaker* Lee Sheldon, author of Character Development and Storytelling for Games whose writing credits include Agatha Christie: And then there were none [The Adventure Company], Uru: Ages beyond Myst [Cyan], The Riddle of Master Lu, and Dark Side of the Moon. This conference explores the figure of the Alien and the Other and the various functions it serves within video games. Since the original Space Invaders, video games have incorporated representations of difference in a variety of ways--specifically, the figure of the Alien features prominently as an enemy or source of conflict. This interdisciplinary conference invites both critical and practical works that engage the implications of this theme of alterity in video games and related electronic media. We invite presentations that explore the theme of difference in video games either through theoretical examinations of particular works or new media creations which represent the Alien artistically, programmatically and/or digitally. Accordingly, we offer two tracks for submissions: Theory: Academic papers critically analyzing a specific function of video games or new media in the context of the Alien. Praxis: Performances, installations, or demonstrations which communicate an idea related to the topic through the creation of digital media artifacts. These presentations should also be accompanied by a short oral explication of the central ideas and intellectual context. Submissions should include a sample of the work (e.g. a screenshot) if possible. Presenters should focus their submissions on one of several key themes: * Player-Characters and the function of the outsider * Gaming cultures and subcultures * Portraying gender, race, religion and the avatar * Monstrosity, bodies and avatars * Otherness and online societies (e.g. MMORPG's) * Xenophobia and alterity in representations of "enemies." * Designing the Alien/Other through AI and NPCs * Video game villains and anti-heroes Possible topics include but are not limited to: * The Other and the industry -- the role of independent game developers. * Localization and the alleged erasure of cultural difference through video games. * Marketing and approaching new demographics. * Becoming the Other in online role-playing communities. * Colonialism and Orientalism within historical simulations. * The representation (or lack) of religious pluralism in video games. * Representations of race, gender, and/or sexual preference in games. * The Evolution of the Alien/Other in games. * Becoming Other -- choosing a moral path in KOTOR or Black and White. * Subversive game play. * Psychoanalysis, video games and the other/Other. * Becoming Alien/Other in online games. * Alien/Other and the differences inherent in console or interface configurations. * Close studies of specific Alien/Others and tropes of Alien/Otherness. Abstract submissions should be approximately 250-500 words in length. Presentations will be 15 minutes with 5 minutes of question and answer. The deadline for abstract submissions is Wednesday, March 1, 2006. We accept abstracts in electronic form (preferred) or print. If possible, please submit proposals through our online system: http://www.alien.gameology.org/submission.php. Alternatively, send hard copies to: Zach Whalen Department of English Univ. of Florida 4008 Turlington Hall P.O. Box 117310 Gainesville, FL 32611-7310 OR zwhalen(a)english.ufl.edu

1 0

new issue on games and ethics
by Charles Ess 02 Feb '06

02 Feb '06

Hi AoIR-ists I'm pleased to announce that the current issue of the International Review of Information Ethics, a special issue on ethics and computer games, is now online, <http://www.i-r-i-e.net/current_issue.htm>. The issue was co-edited by AoIR Ethics Working Group members Elizabeth Buchanan and Charles Ess, and includes articles by our sister and fellow AoIRists Mia Consalvo and Dan Burk. (And perhaps others? Apologies if I've omitted a name - I don't have access to the membership list!) As we note in the forward, much of the especially popular discussion of computer games tends to come in the form of Manichean dualities, fueled by moral panics. By contrast, there is a striking lack of serious philosophical scholarship and reflection on the ethical issues involved - i.e., that takes into account the manifold complexities of what our German colleagues like to call e-games, including their social dimensions. We hope that the articles in this special issue begin to address that scholarly deficit - and thereby provide scholarship that is more guided by attention to the complexities of e-games (including their cross-cultural dimensions) and more extensive ethical and legally-informed reflection. Ideally, we hope these articles will help cut through the largely artificial and unproductive dichotomies of "Computer games: good or bad?" and help inform and shape more productive dialogue and reflection on computer games as a phenomenon of rapidly growing significance in both Internet research (especially Computer and Information Ethics) and our larger social and political worlds. If you find this issue, and/or specific articles of relevance and interest (ahem, say by Mia Consalvo or Dan Burk - smile), we would appreciate your calling these to your colleagues' attention. Thanks - and enjoy! Charles Ess Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies <http://www.drury.edu/gp21> Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC'06: http://www.catacconference.org Co-chair, ECAP'06: http://www.eu-cap.org Professor II, Globalization and Applied Ethics Programmes Norwegian University of Science and Technology NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway http://www.anvendtetikk.ntnu.no/pres/bridgingcultures.php Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23

1 0

Educating Managers through Real World Projects
by Charles Wankel 01 Feb '06

01 Feb '06

Friends and colleagues: Educating Managers through Real World Projects is now available with research on best practices around the world in using work embedded e-Learning, action learning, consulting projects etc. in management education and development. Full information including chapter abstracts and an order form for your library is available at http://management-education.net/rmed4.html EDUCATING MANAGERS THROUGH REAL WORLD PROJECTS Introduction: Project Based Management Education Best Practice Robert DeFillippi and Charles Wankel Section I: Consulting Projects 1. Wharton's Global Consulting Practicum: Interdependence, Ambiguity, and Reflection Patricia Gorman Clifford, Wharton School of Business Jane Hiller Farran, Wharton School of Business Leonard Lodish, Wharton School of Business 2. Project Based International Business Consulting C. Patrick Fleenor, Seattle University Peter V. Raven, Seattle University Jerry Ralston, Seattle University 3. Real Real World Projects Mats Lundeberg, Stockholm School of Economics Pär Mårtensson, Stockholm School of Economics 4. Managing Divergent and Convergent Focus of Learning in Student Field Projects Susan Adams, Bentley College Section II: Service Learning Projects 5. Educating Managers through Service Learning Projects Karen Ayas, Rotterdam School of Management Philip Mirvis, Boston College 6. Real World Transfer of Professional Knowledge: A modification to internship learning Jan Brace-Govan, Monash University, Australia Irene H. Powell, Monash University, Australia 7. Creating actionable knowledge: Experimenting with service learning in a corporatist nonprofit regime Judith van der Voort, Rotterdam School of Management Lucas C.P.M. Meijs, Rotterdam School of Management Gail Whiteman, Rotterdam School of Management Section III: Action Learning 8. Action Learning as a Vehicle for Management Development and Organizational Learning: Empirical Patterns from Practice and Theoretical Implications Lyle Yorks, Columbia University, Teachers College 9. Action Learning for Management Development: Lessons from a Leadership Development Programme Richard T. Harrison, University of Edinburgh Claire M. Leitch, Queen's University, Belfast 10. The Manchester Method: A Critical Review of a Learning Experiment Tudor Rickards, Manchester Business School Paula J. Hyde, Manchester Business School K. Nadia Papamichail, Manchester Business School 11. A Management Education Model for Bridging the Academic and the Real World Eugene Baten, Central Connecticut State University David Fearon, Central Connecticut State University Cheryl Harrison, Quinnipiac University Section IV: A Potpourri of Project-Based Practices and Perspectives 12. Work Embedded e-Learning Paul Shrivastava, Bucknell University 13. Problem-based Learning Approaches in Management Education Oon-Seng Tan, Nanyang Technological University 14. Business Plan Competitions: Vehicles for Learning about Entrepreneurship Malu Roldan, San Jose State University Asbjorn Osland, San Jose State University Michael Solt, San Jose State University Burton V. Dean, San Jose State University Mark V. Cannice, University of San Francisco 15. The Role of the Student in Project Learning Timothy C. Johnston, University of Tennessee at Martin 16. A Design for Assessing Authentic Business Projects: Project-Organized Education in an Undergraduate Program Marjolein van Noort, Hogeschool Zeeland Georges Romme, Tilburg University _____________________________________ Collegially, Charles Wankel Associate Professor St. John's University, New York wankelc(a)optonline.net

1 0

European Safer Internet Day Conference Feb 7 2006 - Apologies for Cross-Posting
by Sangeet Bhullar 01 Feb '06

01 Feb '06

Apologies for Cross-posting Dear all, I am sending you some information on the annual European Safer Internet Day Conference 2006 that may be of interest. For more information see: http://www.internetsafetyzone.co.uk/root/news Please circulate to interested colleagues. Kind regards, Sangeet Dr Sangeet Bhullar Director WISE KIDS 40 Wood Crescent Newport NP10 0AL Wales Tel: 44 (0)1633-673339/ 44 (0)7900911940 <http://www.wisekids.org.uk/> http://www.wisekids.org.uk -----Original Message----- From: Catherine Mcquade [mailto:cmcquade@uclan.ac.uk] Sent: 20 January 2006 13:47 Subject: European Safer Internet Day Conference Feb 7 2006 Dear all, The Cyberspace Research Unit, University of Central Lancashire, warmly invite you to attend the UK conference being held at the Museum of London as part of European Safer Internet Day activities on February 7 2006. The theme of this year's conference will be: Children and User Generated Content: Implications For The Roles and Responsibilities of Different Stakeholders. This promises to be exciting and informative event, presenting expert opinion, latest research findings and discussion of ways to approaching current issues in children and young people's use of emerging technologies within a digitial human rights context. A full agenda for the conference and details of how to register are attached below. *Please ignore any earlier versions of the agenda you may have received. If you have any further queries, please contact Neil Malone at namalone(a)uclan.ac.uk or on 01772 894258. Regards, Catherine Catherine McQuade Research Assistant Cyberspace Research Unit Department of Forensic Science University of Central Lancashire Preston PR1 2HE Tel: (01772) 894258

1 0

New JCMC issue online
by herring＠slis.indiana.edu 01 Feb '06

01 Feb '06

The JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION is pleased to announce its latest issue: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/ --------- Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Volume 11, Issue 2, January 2006 --------- Organizational Blogs and the Human Voice: Relational Strategies and Relational Outcomes - Tom Kelleher and Barbara M. Miller Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment - Nicole Ellison, Rebecca D. Heino, and Jennifer L. Gibbs Ouch!: An Examination of the Self-Representation of Disabled People on the Internet - Estelle Thoreau Community Participation and Internet Use after September 11: Complementarity in Channel Consumption - Mohan Dutta-Bergman Student Perceptions of Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Communication in Face-to-Face Courses - Yun-Jo An and Theodore Frick The Politeness of Requests Made Via Email and Voicemail: Support for the Hyperpersonal Model - Kirk W. Duthler Primacy and Recency Effects on Clicking Behavior - Jamie Murphy, Charles Hofacker, and Richard Mizerski The Internet and Tobacco Cessation: The Roles of Internet Self-Efficacy and Search Task on the Information-Seeking Process - Traci Hong The Effects of Communication Modality on Performance and Self-Ratings of Teamwork Components - Thomas D. Fletcher and Debra A. Major IMing, Text Messaging, and Adolescent Social Networks - J. Alison Bryant, Ashley Sanders-Jackson, and Amber M. K. Smallwood On and Off the 'Net: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era - Dmitri Williams Preliminary Development of a Model and Measure of Computer- Mediated Communication (CMC) Competence - Brian H. Spitzberg --------- The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Susan C. Herring, Editor-in-Chief http://jcmc.indiana.edu/ ---------

1 0

Brian Cugelman is out of the office.
by Brian Cugelman 31 Jan '06

31 Jan '06

I will be out of the office starting 30/01/2006 and will not return until 01/02/2006. For Internet or CMS matters, contact Cecile Gunera cgunera(a)unfccc.int. Sincerely, Brian -------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Cugelman, Webmaster, Information Services United Nations Climate Change Secretariat bcugelman(a)unfccc.int +49 228 815 1521 http://www.unfccc.int

1 0

Cfp (reminder): HCI Issues in Computer Games (Special issue - Interacting with Computers Journal)
by Panayiotis Zaphiris 30 Jan '06

30 Jan '06

Reminder call for papers... CALL FOR PAPERS INTERACTING WITH COMPUTERS JOURNAL Special Issue of Interacting with Computers on “HCI Issues in Computer Games” http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~zaphiri/Announcements/games.html Guest Editors Panayiotis Zaphiris & CS Ang, Centre for HCI Design, City University London Introduction to special issue topic Computer Games are at the forefront of technological innovation and their popularity in research is also increasing. Their wide presence and use makes Computer Games a major factor affecting the way people socialize, learn and possibly work. Computer Games are also beginning to attract the attention of educators and education technologists. With this special issue of Interacting with Computers we wish to explore the relationship between Computer Games and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Are current HCI techniques and methodologies appropriate for designing Computer Games? Do we need new Computer Game focused HCI methods, theories and paradigms? What are the new challenges when it comes to evaluating Computer Games? This special issue of Interacting with Computers is inviting contributions from both the academic community and industry. It will focus on issues surrounding the analysis, design, development and evaluation of Computer Games and the issues surrounding them. Potential topics include (but are not limited to) the following: * Design approaches and techniques suitable for Computer Games * Usability studies regarding Computer Games * Theoretical and/or pedagogical foundations for analysing Computer Games * Within-game and/or out-game activities and their HCI analysis * Computer Games and Online Communities * Social and Cultural Issues and Computer Games * Accessibility of Computer Games * Transfer of gaming metaphors to business applications "Interacting with Computers" is an interdisciplinary journal of Human-Computer Interaction, published by Elsevier. More information about this journal can be found at: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/525445/descrip… IwC special issues contain only 5 - 6 papers, each of no more than 10,000 words (so acceptance will be fairly selective). Submission: Papers should be submitted through the manuscript management system at http://ees.elsevier.com/iwc/ by the 10th of April 2006. The style standard is that of the American Psychological Association (APA), more details about which can be obtained from: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPAFormatting.html Important dates: Full paper submission: 10th April 2006 (Monday) Response to authors: 8th May 2006 (Monday) Final version of papers: 5th June 2006 (Monday) Planned publication: September 2006 Dr. Panayiotis Zaphiris (zaphiri(a)soi.city.ac.uk) and CS Ang Centre for HCI Design, City University London Guest Editors Special issue of Interacting with Computers on HCI Issues in Computer Games -- Dr. Panayiotis Zaphiris Senior Lecturer Center for Human-Computer Interaction Design City University London, EC1V 0HB Tel: +44-(0)-20-7040-8168 Fax: +44-(0)-20-7040-8859 zaphiri(a)soi.city.ac.uk http://www.zaphiris.org/ -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.23/243 - Release Date: 27/01/2006

1 0

wikipedia: Congressional staffers make more than 1, 000 changes to Wikipedia (fwd)
by elw＠stderr.org 29 Jan '06

29 Jan '06

fascinating stuff. (forwarded from dave farber's interesting-people listserv..) --elijah ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tom Fairlie <tfairlie(a)frontiernet.net> Date: January 29, 2006 12:16:56 AM EST To: dave(a)farber.net Tom Fairlie www.stopthebuck.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Rewriting history under the dome By Evan Lehmann, Sun Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- The staff of U.S. Rep Marty Meehan wiped out references to his broken term-limits pledge as well as information about his huge campaign war chest in an independent biography of the Lowell Democrat on a Web site that bills itself as the "world's largest encyclopedia," The Sun has learned. The Meehan alterations on Wikipedia.com represent just two of more than 1,000 changes made by congressional staffers at the U.S. House of Representatives in the past six month. Wikipedia is a global reference that relies on its Internet users to add credible information to entries on millions of topics. [...] In November and December, The Sun has learned, users of the House's IP address were temporarily blocked from changing content because of violations described by the site as a "deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia." More... http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_3444567 ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as elw(a)stderr.org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/

1 0

e-commerce and fake trust
by Frank Thomas 29 Jan '06

29 Jan '06

Hi, The New York Times today runs two stories about the treatments of fakes by eBay http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/technology/29ebay.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/technology/29ebayside.html It seems that the reputation system can easily be managed in favour of sellers of fakes. So, creating reputation by a technology is not as easy as eBay pretends. A real surprise. I guess the reputation systems lacks a certain dose of social control based on actors that are outside the systems, and are nor immediate benefactors, as market organiser, seller, and buyer are. Creating fake reputation can easily be extended to stolen goods. I recently looked for a copy of a SPSS stats package and saw a SPSS version 13 with a perpetual ! licence, for below 100$. The seller only had excellent reviews. People get really inventive when they try to fraud. F. Thomas -- .......................................... Dr. Frank Thomas FTR Internet Research 93110 Rosny-sous-Bois France -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.23/243 - Release Date: 27/01/2006

1 0

DISABLED-FACULTY a new discussion list
by Charles Wankel 29 Jan '06

29 Jan '06

Colleagues, I have started a new discussion list for disabled-faculty and those interested in them as a research topic. DISABLED-FACULTY will be a place for networking and exchange of information on the reasonable accommodations requested by faculty at universities and other higher educational institutions in which they teach and research. Topics will include discussions of the legal and social contexts that germane issues are nested within and specific cases and situations. This discussion forum is co-sponsored by the Academy of Management HR, MED and SIM divisions. However, faculty members from all disciplines are explicitly sought to join us. To join go to: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=disabled-faculty&A=1 Collegially, Charles Wankel wankelc(a)stjohns.edu Disabled-Faculty List Director

1 0