On games and learning

This is also in Finnish only, but for your information: a short piece on games and learning that I wrote for WSOY who recently released their “Learning and Joy” (Oppi ja Ilo) pages: http://www.oppijailo.fi/index/aikuisille__tieto?id=35

Personal profile (in Finnish)

Just noticed that the University of Tampere information services has published a personal profile of me and my work on game studies, nice (only in Finnish, though): http://www.uta.fi/ajankohtaista/tutkijaprofiilit/2008/1011.html.

Speaking in November

My present list of speaking engagements in November includes at least these:

  • Power of computer games and empowerment in digital play (Tietokonepelien voima ja peleissä voimaantuminen), Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, yhteisistunto, Nov. 10th, Säätytalo, Helsinki;
  • The many faces of casual gaming: knowledge about today’s players (Casual-pelaamisen monet kasvot: tietoa nykypäivän pelaajista), Sanoma Entertainment, tiedotustilaisuus Nov. 18th, Helsinki;
  • Playfullness in social media – sociability in games (Pelillisyys sosiaalisessa mediassa – sosiaalisuus peleissä), IADE-luento, Nov. 19th, Taik, Finland;
  • Case digital games – Is the knowledge society on the way towards the ludic society? (Case digitaaliset pelit – onko tietoyhteiskunta matkalla kohti peliyhteiskuntaa?), The Finnish Parliament, Committee for the Future / Eduskunta, Tulevaisuusvaliokunta, Nov. 20th, The Information Society Academy/Tietoyhteiskunta-akatemia.

See you around, in some of those!

IR9.0 paper online: towards contextual gaming

I have published online an author’s version of my IR9.0 paper: “Play in the Mobile Internet: Towards Contextual Gaming”. Paper presented in the Internet Research 9.0 conference, Copenhagen, October 15–18, 2008. Online: http://www.uta.fi/~frans.mayra/Mayra_Contextual_Gaming_IR9-0.pdf – All comments are most welcome, this is very much work in progress!

6600 mAh battery for Aspire One

One of the obvious benefits from using these tiny new netbook PCs is taking them to the road. While travelling, there are two key variables that often go against to each other: the battery life and the weight. I have been experimenting with several different batteries in the Acer Aspire One, and at this time I’d recommend going for the most powerful battery available — the weight gain is not (at least for me) significant enough to outweight the increased lifespan. Particularly on travels with long working days, often with rare access to a power plug, a battery that can go on for the entire day is a true gift.

Here are some shots, featuring the original, Continue reading “6600 mAh battery for Aspire One”

Luka & Linux

A clip where Luka demonstrates how difficult it is for a novice to grasp the fine details of a Linux OS. “Password?! What password? Cookie, cookie!”

Autumn vacation

I have been spending this week with my family, after a few months of busy working and traveling schedule. It has been mostly raining (slowing down some of the gardening work), but this has allowed me to spend more time with my son (pictured). Luka is growing very fast, running around and learning new words and tricks every day. Glad we got these few days together to learn to know each other a bit better (last autumn, when he just had born, I was all the time traveling around the world, and promised to change the situation this year).

IR9.0

Ok, Internet Reseach conference 9.0 in Copenhagen is now over, and I am back home, recovering (I am having one week holiday wiht my family, so no email for a while, yippee). The conference itself was informative and fun, and it was nice to experience this kind of mixture of game researchers with researchers of other aspects of the Internet. My own paper dealt with that very question: what does it mean for game studies that games mingle and mix more and more with other online media, and ‘playfulness’ becomes a mode that is allowed in multiple contexts, including work and education related ones. “Towards contextual gaming” was my tagline. Anyways, thanks to Lisbeth and all the other organisers, and all the speakers and participants for interesting three days! You can explore IR9 photos in Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=ir9&m=tags

Canon 5D mk II, HD video with a SLR

This looks very promising: the next generation system cameras/SLRs are going to provide amazing video recording features, on top of the amazing photo capabilities. At least you are left stunned at the level of detail and low-light dynamics of Canon’s forthcoming 5D MK II that Vincent Laforet used for shooting a short film ‘Reverie’ over a weekend. You can see the behind of the scenes documentary here:

http://vincentlaforet.smugmug.com/gallery/6021407_xEg87/1/#378608891_Jd2CT-A-LB

Edit: the original film is again available through here:

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/10/10/without-further-ado-reverie/

You can also download some original raw movie files from here:

Reverie by Vincent Laforet
Reverie by Vincent Laforet

Social Gaming panel (MindTrek)

As my most probably final note, I think that this years’ MindTrek conference was actually pretty successful and managed to provide a nice balance of research/scholarship and practical/industry related presentations so that most did find at least something of interest. Here is my final photo, taken from the note I scribbled during the panel talk in session Social Gaming, chaired by Olli Sotamaa. It was fun and inspiring discussion — thanks all!