[ecrea] Culture, Business and Community around Games - PhD Course

please find below the invitation to a PhD course we are organizing in
August in Uppsala:

*Culture, Business and Community around Games - PhD Course*
We are pleased to announce and invite you to a PhD course at the
department of Informatics and Media at Uppsala University with the topic
"Culture, Business and Community around Games". The course will be given
in English.

In order to understand games as a medium it is not enough to look at the
software sold in the paper box. Electronic games like all media exist in
an environment of cultures, communities and practices.The digital
information and communication infra structure surrounding games is a
fertile ground for actors like organizations, companies and
business-oriented individual who are serving the community and in turn
living from it. Implications on game design are as clearly visible as
the influences of game design on the community and culture of the game.
In this environment that emerges around games it becomes more and more
important to take the whole picture into account to be able to
understand games and gaming.

With such an understanding of the importance of the environment of games
this course is designed to bring together leading researchers and
practitioners who are working with different perspectives on games.
*Sébastien Genvo *will elaborate a theoretical framework about an
increasing process that occurs within the digital sphere, the process of
"ludicisation". More than ever, diverse digital technologies take ludic
forms and the term "game" is applied to areas that are increasingly
heterogeneous. As we will see, this brings about a profound change in
our representations of what is and what constitutes a game. How can we
study these mutations of game forms? What does it imply in terms of game
studies and game ontology? *Steven Bachelder *will give an account of
the design of games for sociability from a scholarly point of view while
*Mirjam Eladhari* will present some technical approached to the creation
of AI and life in games in connection to social play.*Olli Sotamaa *will
explain the connection between gaming culture and game development.
*Juho Hamari *is an expert for business models in the game industry and
for virtual economies and will present this side of gaming. There are
plans for guest speakers from the industry but it is not clear right now
if we will be able to have them.

The aim of this course is to open a platform for academic exchange and
for presentation of ongoing research inspiring creative and critical
discussion. Participants will get possibilities to present their work in
progress and get feedback, to create connections and to ask questions
that are actually concerning them at the point they are at right now.

This course is meant for PhD students. The topics the participants can
be but are not limited to digital communication, social media, online
communities, new media business models, online and game cultures, the
computer game business and electronic games, play and players.
Theoretical, analytic and empirical work is welcome. The presentation of
cutting-edge ongoing research is encouraged. Participants can send in a
paper they are working on. Each paper will get special feedback from a
senior researcher and another participant who sent in a paper.

The second focus of the course will be practical information about
activities in the field of media science for PhD students. The
presenters are going to share their experience of how one can be active
editing a book, organizing a research forum and publishing online as PhD
students. The aim of this is to empower young researchers and to show
ways and opportunities to get active in the scientific community as
early and independent as possible.

When:22-24 August 2011 (3 full days)
Where:Ekonomikum, Uppsala University, Uppsala,
Responsible Organizers:Associate Professor Else Nygren, PhD Student
Patrick Prax, Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University,
Sweden
**


Keynote Speakers:
*Steven Bachelder, *Professor in Art and Design with a Specialization on
Convergent Media, Department of Game Design, Narrative and Time-based Media.

*Sébastien Genvo,*Associate Professor, Paul Verlaine University - Metz
(IUT Thionville - Yutz), France. Former game designer at Ubisoft Paris.
**
*Mirjam Eladhari,***PhD, Gotland University, University Lecturer in Game
Design with Specialization in Character Development and AI for Computer
Games, Departmentof Game Design, Narrative and Time-based Media.

*Olli Sotamaa, *PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Information
Studies and Interactive Media, University of Tampere, Finland.

*Juho Hamari, *(M.Sc. Econ) is a researcher at Helsinki Institute for
Information Technology HIIT and a Doctoral student in Information System
Science at Aalto University School of Economics, Finland.

ECTS:3 ECTS with paper, 1½ ECTS without

Costs: The participation in this course is free. However, the
participants *need to organize and pay for travelling, accommodation and
food themselves*. There will be a free BBQ evening.
Application Requirements and Deadline:
To apply to this course please sent
1.An academic CV with your publications and presentations on conferences
2.A short outline of your dissertation project and the state of your
work on max. one page
3.A one-page abstract of your paper and presentation
to (Patrick.prax /at/ im.uu.se)<mailto:(Patrick.prax /at/ im.uu.se)>not later than
*_27^th of June_*_._ You will be informed about the acceptance latest
11^th of July. Papers for presentation need to be submitted latest 25^th
of July.
Participants will be chosen after the relevance and quality of their
work. Submitting a paper will be positive for your application. The
number of participants will be limited to 12.

Preparations:
A package with required reading consisting of text preparing the
presentations of the speaker and the submitted papers of the
participants will be sent to the participants about one month before
course start. Each PhD student will be asked to comment specifically on
the presentation by one of the other PhD students. Students who present
a paper will be notified about which paper they will give detailed
feedback to at the same time.
Website:
You can find the course information on the web under
http://www.im.uu.se/education/PhD+Studies/human-computer-interaction/PhD_kurs/.


--
Patrick Prax
PhD student, Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University
(Patrick.Prax /at/ im.uu.se)
Office phone: +46184711135 Mobile: +46760427398


----------------
ECREA-Mailing list
----------------
This mailing list is a free service from ECREA.
---
To unsubscribe, please visit http://www.ecrea.eu/mailinglist
---
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Postal address:
ECREA
Université Libre de Bruxelles
c/o Dept. of Information and Communication Sciences
CP123, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, b-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------