I just got the news from Mark at Games for Change that their annual conference this year will feature as a keynote speaker the Honorable Sandra Day O’Conner, former Supreme Court Justice, for the June 4th all-day event in New York City. What the Honorable Ms. O’Conner is going to say about computer games is a mystery to me, but I’m intrigued.
The Games for Change Annual Conference brings together a unique mix of game designers, games industry reps, non-profit professionals, educators, and foundation officers for a rich series of discussions on how to leverage the media of digital games to promote social change. I had a great time last year helping organized a mixed-reality event in Second Life from the conference, and blogging about the panels. I’m looking forward to playing with the latest social issues games and hearing from the expert panelists this year, including:
- Jim Gasperini, creator of Hidden Agenda
- Chris Crawford, Balance of Power and Balance of the Planet
- Ken
Eklund, creator of World Without Oil - Henry Jenkins, Professor of Humanities and Co-Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies program
- James Paul Gee, Chair in Literacy Studies at Arizona State University
- And many other heavy-hitters in the social games space
The conference will take place at Parsons. Early registration for the event has just opened. The full event invitation follows…
The 2008 Fifth Annual Games for Change Festival early registration
launched today! Please join us at Parsons the New School for Design in
NYC for our annual event bringing together non-profits, educators, game designers and activists of all stripes to explore the growing movement and emerging field of games for social change.
We are pleased to announce our closing keynote this year will be the
Honorable Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, scheduled for 4pm on June 4th.
As well as leading scholars Jim Gee and Henry Jenkins in a keynote conversation on June 3rd at 4:30pm.
Featured panelists include: Jim Gasperini, creator of Hidden Agenda and
Chris Crawford of Balance of Power and Balance of the Planet fame; Ken
Eklund, creator of World Without Oil; Michael Levine Director of the
Joan Ganz Cooney Center; Shelley Pasnick, head of the Center for
Children and Technology, Mary Flanagan Director of the Tiltfactor Lab,
Tracy Fullerton of USC’s EA Innovation Lab, and representatives from
Participant Productions, the MacArthur and Knight Foundations, PBS, and
Electronic Arts, among many others.
You will find our usual excellent blend of provocative panels, informal
working groups, funders meetings, ample networking opportunities and
the ever-popular Expo Night where you can see – and play – the new
games firsthand, sponsored by Microsoft.
Check out the festival site here: http://www.gamesforchange.org/conference/2008/index.php
And don’t forget the pre-festival workshop for newbies on June 2nd. We
are happy to announce that this beginners workshop for non-profits new
to the field, Let The Games Begin: A 101 Workshop for Making Social
Issue Games was a MacArthur Foundation DML Competition award- winner
out of more than 1000 applicants! A separate registration for that day
will be available from the festival site on April 9th.
We are thankful for the generous contributions of our sponsors AMD and Microsoft, as well as Parsons the New School for Design.
We look forward to seeing you all there!
Mark Smith
Mark@GamesForChange.org