Category: events

seminars, conferences, other events

ubimedia & media adventure seminars

Next week it is again the time of MindTrek mediaweek, the new media festival. I will be presenting in two different seminars, Mediaseikkailu (Media Adventure) is focused on educators, and I will be talking about kids and games; the second one is titled Ubimedia, and there my talk will be on pervasive games. Links: http://www.opeko.fi/mediaseikkailu/ & http://www3.hermia.fi/in_english/ubimedia_seminar/

cfp: gamers in society

We have published the call for papers for a new seminar in our annual series of game studies seminars — Gamers in Society, Play in Culture. See: http://gamelab.uta.fi/socialgamer-seminar/

autumn photos: Tampere, Berlin, Athens

Laura’s birthday party in Näsinneula: sparkling
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

I have uploaded some new additions of photos both into my Flickr albums and into into www.unet.fi/pics collections; from Tampere (Laura’s birthday in Näsinneula), Berlin (IPerG EB workshop) and Athens (Medi@terra/Gaming Realities conference).

medi@terra on multilayering of land

medi@terra on multilayering of land
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

The tightly packed days of medi@terra/Gaming Realities conference include many interesting presentations about reality and place becoming multiple, mixed, multilayered, hybrid. I’d actually claim that our reality, and lands we inhabit are always this kind of chimeiras; sites half-imagined, half put together by pieces we recognize from elsewhere. Athens is obviously a city to evoke reflections of this kind, pasts, presents and futures colliding constantly on its crowded streets.

gaming realities conference, athens

I will be travelling — to Athens (Greece) this time; this is where the DiGRA Assembly 2006 and Gaming Realities conference is taking place. It looks promising; check out the programme at: http://www.mediaterra.org/2006/en/conference.html

digra 2007 cfp

Please distribute: call for papers into the DiGRA 2007 Tokyo ‘Situated Play’ conference is out: http://www.digra.org/digra_conference/2007tokyo/digra2007cfp/

multiculturalism in games cultures

After two days in Berlin (IPerG EB meeting), next a couple of hours sleep in Tampere and then an early morning train to Helsinki; we have got visit from Seoul, Korea, and there is going to be talks about multiculturalism and comparative studies of games cultures. Please check out professor Sang-Min Whang’s public lecture, titled “Youth culture in online game worlds: Emergence of cyber lifestyles in Korean society”. Link: Games and Storytelling schedule page.

where do you go, internet?

where do you go, internet?
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

A snapshot from today’s seminar in the University of Tampere Faculty of Information Sciences. Here Tomi Heimonen speaks about mobile search. Other presentations included Tere Vadén on social issues of Web 2.0, and my brief on topical developments in digital games and games cultures.

Update: the presentations are now available at: http://www.uta.fi/hyper/seminaarit/internet/

sf and games panel

sf and games panel
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

Shot from the Finncon podium: a view of the audience, for a change. Our SF/FAN & Games panel was fun, even if the topic was rather loosely defined. Participants: Markku Lappalainen, Jyrki J.J. Kasvi (MP), Aleksi Kuutio, Lassi Kurkijärvi, Olli Sinerma, and me.

paasitorni

paasitorni
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

In today’s location, Paasitorni we had two papers, Kristiina Svensson on mimesis (or rather simulation of communication) in French surreal/satirical modern fiction, and Tanja Sihvonen on ‘script’ as a critical concept useful for literary, media and game studies alike. Rather promising stuff. Guest of Honor Jeff VanderMeer made a speech on the practical issues of cross-genre authorship, and also made an interesting point about certain “controlled inconsistency” being important for creating realistic sense of location. A city is always a footnote to another city. Another author from 1968 born generation, Justina Robson was also speaking about genre from the perspective of power (and money) relations of literary institution. Also rather disillusioned about academic world, discussion with Robson circulated around traumatic opposites like separation of emotion from intellect.