Simulating History

The students of the “Imagining Immersive Worlds” course (IASC 3F00) at Brock University presented their Second Life prototypes on April 6. The class projects launch attracted faculty members and students from other years in the Interactive Arts and Science Program.
The “Anatomy Online” team, Casey Scott and Matt Clare introduced the development process and explained the potential applications of their educational augmented reality prototype in Second Life. “Anatomy Online” is a virtual museum in which one uses multimedia (such as PowerPoint, and potentially video/audio) to learn about different parts of the human body while navigating through a three-dimensional space. Matt and Casey explained that “Anatomy Online” is an augmented reality tour for high school students. They both maintained that their prototype is adaptable to accommodate other subjects taught in public schools.
The second team, “Relic Raceway”, talked about both the challenges and advantages of developing a game in Second Life. Brad Bouwers, Corey Sherman, Sarah Drew, Michelle Chan, and Christian Barrious took turns in the presentation to provide a deeper insight into their different roles in their teamwork experience and the different design stages of the game. The “Relic Raceway” game provides the player with different play options, diverse play experiences, and so it could be played more that one time: the game can be played in single or multiplayer moods, and as a first or third-person game. Moreover, the player can move through the game world on foot, using different vehicles, flying, and by using teleporters. “Relic Raceway” is story-driven and the player is able to communicate with non-player characters. The audience of the “Relic Raceway” presentation applauded the visuals (especially the animated textures) and the diverse play experience. I was personally proud and impressed by both presentations and the hard work the IASC 3F00 students put to meet their design goals.

The Simulating History lab and Brock University are hosting the Playing With Technology In History conference on April 29th and 30th, 2010 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The conference will host guests from across the globe who are involved in digital studies and gaming. Activities will include a day of un-conference activities where participants will explore technology and history through play. The second day will be a collaborative effort to discuss and revise various papers that have been submitted.

Click here to visit the conference website.

Planning for The Interacting With Immersive Worlds 2011 conference (to be held in the spring of 2011) is underway. “Serious Play” will be the theme of the conference. One keynote speaker has already been booked: Jon-Paul Dyson, Director of the National Center for the History of Electronic Games (NCHEG) at New York, USA. Dyson is also the vice president for Exhibit Research and Development at Strong National Museum of Play. You can expect a call for papers to be announced soon.
The Interacting With Immersive Worlds 2009 conference was a great experience for me, as the Conference Coordinator, as I had the opportunity to interact with world-class scholars. The conversations I had with Espen Aarseth and Janet Murray were very exciting, which makes me feel truly privileged – as a PhD candidate – to be able to discuss in person some theoretical issues that are part of my doctoral work with their original authors. I invite other faculty and graduate students to join us in 2011.

Salutations!

Here’s an update on the recent activities of the Simulating History lab:

• Adam (Research Associate) and Spencer (Programmer) have put many hours into the on-going bibliography of articles, books, and other resources that are important in Digital Media studies and for Simulating History. The bibliography will be available on the website when it is ready, so stay tuned!
• If you haven’t noticed yet, the blog is undergoing some massive renovations. These will make things easier to find and easier on the eyes. Some of the new features are seen in our “For Researchers,”“For Educators,” and the forthcoming “For Students” categories. Depending on your interest in our project, these categories will highlight all the posts and pages that might prove useful.

There are more exciting developments underway, so we’ll try to make sure we keep our readers informed.

Enjoy the holidays!

The preparations for Interacting with Immersive Worlds 2009 are underway, and the response to our Call for Papers was overwhelming. We're looking forward to a full slate of presenters.

Interacting with Immersive Worlds 2009 is the second Brock University conference focused on the Interactive Arts and Sciences. In 2007, presenters and attendees from a multiplicity of disciplines heard keynote presentations by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Claremont Graduate University), James Gee (Arizona State University), Chris Csikszentmihalyi (MIT Media Laboratory), and Denis Dyack (Silicon Knights).

The 2009 conference will be just as provocative, with keynote speakers such as Janet Murray (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Espen Aarseth (IT University of Denmark). It will also feature an evening tour, wine tasting, and dinner party among the vines, at a Niagara winery.

The 2009 Conference paper presentations will be divided into four categories: Challenges at the Boundaries of Immersive Worlds, Critical Approaches to Immersion, Immersive Worlds in Education, Immersive Worlds in Entertainment.