CDSC Spring Symposium 2018: Open Gameplay & Keynote with Matt Swanson

CDSC Spring Symposium 2018

Multiplayer: Critical Perspectives on Video Games and Online Environments

Games and online environments allow for infinite possibilities to create new personas and new societies that are radically different than real life.  But this freedom doesn’t mean that online everyone is equal and social inequities are not replicated.  Acknowledging that virtual worlds replicate the social values of their creators is a small part of the 2017-2018 WSU Common Reading book, “Ready Player One,” when one character reveals that offline they are definitely nothing like their avatar and they did this to embody a more privileged space in the Oasis, the virtual world at the core of the story.  The same goal – to complicate games and online environments – is something that guests for this symposium are all interested in doing in their scholarship and praxis.  The presenters will critique, interrupt, and challenge game play so our digital future is does not simply replicate and reinforce the inequity of our analog past.

Sponsors:

Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, WSU Libraries, Native Programs, English Department, History Department, Asia Program, Sociology Department, and Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies Department.

March 7th: Open Gameplay & Keynote with Matt Swanson (Facebook Event)

  • Wednesday, March 7th
  • 5:00-6:00pm, Open Gameplay of Never Alone, Spark 10
  • 6:00-7:00pm, Keynote with Matt Swanson, Spark Atrium

Game Producer and Project Manager Matt Swanson will present the keynote for the CDSC Spring Symposium. Swanson brings over fifteen years of project management, marketing and design experience to his role as Executive Producer at E-Line Media. With a passion for creating games, supporting creative teams, developing inspirational products and a drive for excellence, Matt oversees all aspects of production in E-Line’s Seattle studio. Most recently he guided production through the successful multi-platform worldwide launch of the award-winning Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna). Swanson’s talk will be preceded by open gameplay of Never Alone from 5-6 pm in Spark 10.

Verification of attendance available for Common Reading.

See the full schedule for the day-long symposium on March 8th

CDSC Spring Symposium 2018

CDSC Spring Symposium 2018

Multiplayer: Critical Perspectives on Video Games and Online Environments

Games and online environments allow for infinite possibilities to create new personas and new societies that are radically different than real life.  But this freedom doesn’t mean that online everyone is equal and social inequities are not replicated.  Acknowledging that virtual worlds replicate the social values of their creators is a small part of the 2017-2018 WSU Common Reading book, “Ready Player One,” when one character reveals that offline they are definitely nothing like their avatar and they did this to embody a more privileged space in the Oasis, the virtual world at the core of the story.  The same goal – to complicate games and online environments – is something that guests for this symposium are all interested in doing in their scholarship and praxis.  The presenters will critique, interrupt, and challenge game play so our digital future is does not simply replicate and reinforce the inequity of our analog past.

Sponsors:

Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, WSU Libraries, Native Programs, English Department, History Department, Asia Program, Sociology Department, and Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies Department.

See the schedule for the Open Gameplay & Keynote with Matt Swanson on March 7th

March 8th: Symposium and Workshops 

Symposium (Facebook Event)

9:00-10:00am

Dr. Megan Condis, Assistant Professor of English, Stephen F. Austin State University
Speaking Topic: Gender, Gaming, and Online Culture

Dr. Condis completed her PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her forthcoming book, Gaming Masculinity: Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Gendered Battle for Online Culture, examines the way video game fans compose their identities online.  She is a regular contributor to Unwinnable.  She also serves as a member of the Editorial Board for Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities (University of Nebraska Press) and the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds (Intellect Books).  She writes about gender and popular culture on her blog at https://megancondis.wordpress.com/ and on Twitter @MeganCondis.

10:00-11:00am

Dr. Edmond Y. Chang, Assistant Professor of English, Ohio University
Speaking Topic: Technonormativity

Dr. Chang’s areas of interest include technoculture, gender and sexuality, cultural studies, video games, popular culture, and contemporary American literature. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington and his dissertation is entitled “Technoqueer: Re/con/figuring Posthuman Narratives.”  This past fall, he taught a class at called “Ready Player Two: Critical Approaches to Virtual Worlds and Video Games.”  Recent publications include “Queergaming” in Queer Game Studies (University of Minnesota Press) and “A Game Chooses, A Player Obeys: BioShock, Posthumanism, and the Limits of Queerness” in Gaming Representation (Indiana University Press).  He is currently working on his first book tentatively called Queerness Cannot Be Designed: Digital Games and the Trouble with Technonormativity.

11:00am-12:00pm

Dr. Kishonna L. Gray, Assistant Professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the New College, Arizona State University  
Speaking Topic: Intersectionality in Online Environments

Dr. Gray is also a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.  She previously served as a MLK Scholar and Visiting Professor in Women & Gender Studies and Comparative Media Studies at MIT.  Her work broadly intersects identity and new media although she has a particular focus on gaming.  She is the author of Race, Gender, & Deviance in Xbox Live (Routledge, 2014) which as been described by T.L. Taylor “an insightful, original, and compelling piece of research.” Her current monograph is tentatively titled “On Being Black And…The Journey to Intersectionality in Digital Gaming Culture” and is currently under contract with LSU Press.  Her work has been featured in both academic and public outlets.  She’s is also a featured blogger and podcaster with “Not Your Mama’s Gamer.”  Follow her on Twitter @KishonnaGray.

Workshops (Facebook event)

1:30pm – 3:30pm

Matt Swanson – An Overview of the Game Creation Process

Edmond Chang – #WeNeedDiverseGames: Close Playing Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Games

3:30pm – 5:30pm

Megan Condis – Introduction to Creating Interactive Games with Twine

Kishonna Gray – Designing Games for Empathy

DH by Design: Alternative Origin Stories for the Digital Humanities

The story of the digital humanities is often narrated as a decades-long history of the computational manipulation of print. What alternative histories are concealed by such a story? How might we imagine DH differently if we move beyond a focus on text toward multimodal expression and design? What audiences might such work reach? This talk will trace some of the alternate histories of DH, paying particular attention to the visual and the political by engaging the work of feminists, artists, and scholars of color. This talk will also consider how scholarly evidence might be engaged anew through the aesthetic possibilities of the digital archive. By taking up the work of the Vectors Lab, Tara will approach these questions through concrete examples of digital scholarship today.

Join us for Tara’s talk at the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, 4th floor Holland Library, Thursday, March 3rd, 3:30-5:00pm

Digital Foundations Workshop: Operating Systems Basics

Digital Foundations Workshop: Operating Systems Basics 

Have you ever wanted to know more about your computer and why it runs so many processes and services? This workshop will cover a number of topics ranging from a short history of the evolution of modern operating systems to a survey of modern general and specialty operating systems. The session will end by breaking down the Windows 10 task list.

This is full outline of the topics to be covered: 1) Quick History of Operating Systems and the Graphical User Interface; 2) Parts of an Operating System; 3) General Use Desktop Operating Systems (Windows, Linux, macOS); 4) Mobile Operating Systems (Android, iOS, Windows 10); 5) Specialty Operating Systems (Server Operating Systems, Embedded Systems: Real-time Operating Systems, etc.); 6) Breaking down your Windows 10 Task Manager process list.

Led by Alex Merrill, Head of Systems and Technical Operations, WSU Libraries

Monday, December 4th, 2017, 3:00-4:00pm, CDSC, 4th floor Holland Library

Registration is not required for this workshop, but please bring a laptop, tablet, or smartphone if possible

Questions? Please contact Kristin Becker: kristin.carlson@wsu.edu

Digital Foundations Workshops

The CDSC offers a series of intensive workshops for WSU students seeking hands-on instruction in the foundations of digital literacy. Facility with digital tools has become a fundamental prerequisite for joining any contemporary profession and, as with reading and writing skills, college instructors across the disciplines expect students to arrive on campus with a foundational level of digital literacy. Such expectations mean that many students never receive explicit guidance in how to write emails, organize files, or engage in online communities. These workshops fill that general education gap by helping students cultivate essential skills and develop good digital habits for the future. We intend the workshops to serve all interested students, regardless of major or prior experience. Workshop sessions will be 30-40 minutes, with 20-30 minutes for questions and one-on-one assistance. Grad students, staff, and faculty are also always welcome.

Digital Foundations Workshop: Digital Mindfulness

Digital Foundations Workshop: Digital Mindfulness

Do you feel overwhelmed by the number of emails and texts you receive each day? Confused by the number of websites and electronic resources assigned for various classes? Or frustrated by the pressure you feel to keep up with friends and family on social media? Digital mindfulness helps us focus our attention at any given moment, and draws our awareness to how we feel when engaging in digital practices. This workshop will introduce you to the basic concepts of mindfulness as they apply to the use of technology. It will also help you develop an individual plan to understand and therefore manage your personal digital tendencies. Mindfulness does not make the pressures of our technology-rich lives disappear, but it offers a path to sanity through better understanding of how we behave when confronted with digital communication options.

Led by Kristin Becker

Wednesday, October 25th, 2017, 3:00-4:00pm, CDSC, 4th floor Holland Library

Registration is not required for this workshop.

Please bring a laptop, tablet, or smartphone with you.

Questions? Please contact Kristin Becker: kristin.carlson@wsu.edu

Digital Foundations Workshops

The CDSC offers a series of intensive workshops for WSU students seeking hands-on instruction in the foundations of digital literacy. Facility with digital tools has become a fundamental prerequisite for joining any contemporary profession and, as with reading and writing skills, college instructors across the disciplines expect students to arrive on campus with a foundational level of digital literacy. Such expectations mean that many students never receive explicit guidance in how to write emails, organize files, or engage in online communities. These workshops fill that general education gap by helping students cultivate essential skills and develop good digital habits for the future. We intend the workshops to serve all interested students, regardless of major or prior experience. Workshop sessions will be 30-40 minutes, with 20-30 minutes for questions and one-on-one assistance. Grad students, staff, and faculty are also always welcome.

Using Scalar for your Research and in your Classroom

Thursday, October 5th, 1:00-4:00pm, CDSC, 4th floor Holland Library

Scalar is a free authoring and publishing platform designed for presenting digital scholarship online in alternative, engaging, and collaborative ways. Scalar support easy media integration, and includes a range of annotation, timeline, mapping, and other visualization tools.

Workshop participants will have an opportunity to work hands-on with Scalar, and CDSC staff will guide a discussion for planning and working with Scalar in your classroom, and as a tool for presenting your digital scholarship. Participants are encouraged to bring possible project ideas to share with the group, and can bring media or content to work with if desired.

Two examples of Scalar sites are In the Shadow of Sludge:the Legacy of Coal Waste in Appalachia, and Sailing the British Empire: The Voyages of The Clarence, 1858-73.

Register here (limit 12 participants)
Bringing your own laptop to work on is encouraged, but not required.

If you have any questions, please contact the CDSC.

Digital Foundations Workshop: The Invisible Digital Literacy: Understanding Social Media Surveillance, Privacy, and Data

Digital Foundations Workshop: The Invisible Digital Literacy: Understanding Social Media Surveillance, Privacy, and Data

While much of our online identity is self-constructed, there is also another identity that Beck (2015) defined as the invisible digital identity. This identity lies “under the hood” of the digital spaces that we occupy. In order to better understand the invisible digital identity, this workshop will seek to develop a digital literacy in understanding the terms of service (ToS) of social media and the ways in which we can begin to identify how algorithms aggregate and sell our data. As such, this workshop will be both hands on and discussion based in navigating what we own, how we’re protected, and what we can do to safely use and navigate social media spaces.

Led by Lucy Johnson

Tuesday, October 10th, 2017, 3:00-4:00pm, CDSC, 4th floor Holland Library

Registration is not required for this workshop.

Laptops are encouraged, but not required.

Questions? Please contact Kristin Becker: kristin.carlson@wsu.edu

Digital Foundations Workshops

The CDSC offers a series of intensive workshops for WSU students seeking hands-on instruction in the foundations of digital literacy. Facility with digital tools has become a fundamental prerequisite for joining any contemporary profession and, as with reading and writing skills, college instructors across the disciplines expect students to arrive on campus with a foundational level of digital literacy. Such expectations mean that many students never receive explicit guidance in how to write emails, organize files, or engage in online communities. These workshops fill that general education gap by helping students cultivate essential skills and develop good digital habits for the future. We intend the workshops to serve all interested students, regardless of major or prior experience. Workshop sessions will be 30-40 minutes, with 20-30 minutes for questions and one-on-one assistance. Grad students, staff, and faculty are also always welcome.

Digital Foundations: Creative Commons

Digital Foundations: Creative Commons

Have you ever wondered if you have the right to use an image in a presentation or on a website? Or maybe you’ve wanted to adapt an existing piece of music, change up a design, or include someone else’s infographic in your paper? Creative Commons licenses can help answer some of these questions by clarifying the intentions of authors for how they would like their work to be shared, used, and reused by others. This workshop will cover the basics of Creative Commons licenses—what they are, how to find CC-licensed material, and how to license one’s own work.

Led by Talea Anderson

Tuesday, September 12th, 2017, 3:00-4:00pm, CDSC, 4th floor Holland Library

Registration is not required for this workshop.

Laptops are encouraged, but not required.

Questions? Please contact Kristin Becker: kristin.carlson@wsu.edu

 

Digital Foundations Workshops

The CDSC offers a series of intensive workshops for WSU students seeking hands-on instruction in the foundations of digital literacy. Facility with digital tools has become a fundamental prerequisite for joining any contemporary profession and, as with reading and writing skills, college instructors across the disciplines expect students to arrive on campus with a foundational level of digital literacy. Such expectations mean that many students never receive explicit guidance in how to write emails, organize files, or engage in online communities. These workshops fill that general education gap by helping students cultivate essential skills and develop good digital habits for the future. We intend the workshops to serve all interested students, regardless of major or prior experience. Workshop sessions will be 30-40 minutes, with 20-30 minutes for questions and one-on-one assistance. Grad students, staff, and faculty are also always welcome.

Creating Videos in the Classroom Using Adobe Spark

Thursday, September 21st, 1:00-4:00pm, CDSC, 4th floor Holland Library

Adobe Spark Video is a free Web-based tool for educators and students who want to share their work through visual storytelling. As a participant in this workshop, you will learn how to use Adobe Spark Video as a tool in your classroom to work with digital media. CDSC staff will provide ideas and suggestions for working with students and media files. The topics we will cover include: the Adobe Spark tool, creating a login, managing a classroom project, using video templates, creative commons licensed media, and file organization.

Register here (limit 12 participants)
Bringing your own laptop to work on is encouraged, but not required.

2017 CDSC Summer Fellows Showcase

Monday, September 11th, from 2:30-4:00pm in the CDSC (4th floor Holland Library)

For the second year, the CDSC sponsored three fellowship projects at the WSU Pullman campus. The six-week summer fellowships offer faculty and graduate students project planning assistance along with technical training for projects that use digital tools, technologies, or platforms to develop research and teaching agendas. The 2017 Summer Fellows were selected from a competitive pool of applicants  to pursue projects that develop digital pedagogy and online teaching resources. We will showcase their work with a public presentation of their research.

Reception to follow.

Julie M. Staggers is an Associate Professor in the English Department. Her current book, Rhetoric, Risk, and Secrecy in the Atomic City, explores the development of a secrecy culture at the Hanford Site, the Manhattan Project’s plutonium production facility during World War II. Her fellowship project involves documenting pivotal incidents in Hanford’s history of secrecy, safety, and contamination. She will also create an online space for recruiting participants and collecting oral histories from nuclear whistleblowers. The materials—and technology skills—she is developing at the CDSC will support a new research project investigating whistleblowing as a form of “acquired literacy” in technical workplaces.

 

 

 

Pierce Greenberg is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology. His dissertation analyzes the characteristics of communities near hazardous coal waste impoundments in Appalachia. His project at the CDSC involves archiving and aggregating information about the history and risks associated with coal impoundments (mining waste stored in dams). A key element of the project is creating a publicly accessible map and database of coal impoundment locations. Parts of the fellowship project grew out of the research he recently published in Rural Sociology.

 

 

 

Robert R. McCoy is an Associate Professor in the History Department. As a public historian, his work focuses on memory and historical narratives, with a special interest in the narratives created about Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. His most recent book is The History of American Indians (ABC-CLIO/Greenwood) co-authored with Steve Fountain. His project at the CDSC marks the beginning stages of a long-term digital public history project on the Spokane River.

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