Sparklebliss Tumbling

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I'm trying to get better at doing things with video, so I made an unboxing video of the Murder, She Wrote board game that I bought on eBay.

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Do you play Star Wars: The Old Republic?

If you play Star Wars: The Old Republic as the member of a guild, you might be interested in participating in this research study looking at team judgments of information in video game guilds. Information on the study and the researcher is below.

Team Judgments of Information I am conducting a study with the University of Washington Information School. I am looking for study participants to learn more about how teams of online game players make judgments about information. Are you currently a member of a Guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic? *U.S.-based servers only If so, you are eligible to participate in a study to learn more about how teams of online game players make judgments about information. Participation is voluntary. If you would like to volunteer, I will observe you playing the game in the game world with your Guild and may ask to interview you. The interview will last about 60 minutes or so. If you would like to participate or learn more about this study, please contact: Natascha Karlova [email protected] Please note: The confidentiality of information sent by email cannot be guaranteed. This study is being conducted with the University of Washington Information School.

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Gaming's Feminist Illuminati

Are you a member???(Designed with love & misandry by Elizabeth Simins)

T-shirt for all your feminist gaming needs.

[nyhistory]

January 24,1890: After months of public attention and anticipation, Nellie Bly, a reporter for the New York World, arrives in New York, completing her round-the-world trip in 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes, beating the pace set in Jules Verne’s fictional Around the World in 80 Days.

McLoughlin Bros., Round the World with Nellie Bly [board game], 1890. New-York Historical Society, The Liman Collection, 2000.44.

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I was pretty sad that I can't play this game -- it looks like a standard "race to the finish" type board game, I am still really interested in it given my background in American Studies and my current interest in gender and gaming.

But, hey, guess what? The New-York Historical Society, whose post is above, sells a reproduction "puzzle game" (assemble your own board) version for $18.95. [link]

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Afrofuturism: A Reading List for Black History Month

This is a longer version of a list of reading recommendations generated for a poster on Afrofuturism I designed for the IIT Department of Humanities. This list was made in collaboration with Sean Cashbaugh (University of Texas), John Cline (independent scholar), and Shannon Frech (Trafalgar Square Publishing), Melanie Haupt (University of Texas), ad Shirley Thompson Marshall (University of Texas).

There are a lot more books, articles, and other works that are part of Afrofuturism. If you would like me to add something to the list, just message me -- I'll try to keep it updated.

Novels

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, Samuel R. Delany

Kindred, Octavia Butler

The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead

Birth of a Dark Nation, Rashid Darden

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Amos Tutuola

The Kundalini Equation, Steven Barnes

Mumbo Jumbo, Ishmael Reed

The Famished Road, Ben Okiri

My Soul to Keep, Tananarive Due

Nonfiction (biographies and critical works)

Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra, John F. Szwed

Discourse on Colonialism, Aimé Césaire

The Wretched of the Earth, Franz Fanon

Black No More, George Schuyler

Race in American Science Fiction, Isiah Lavender

Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs, Michael Veal

New Musical Figurations: Anthony Braxton's Cultural Critique, Ronald M. Radano

Astrofuturism: Science, Race and Visions of Utopia, De Witt Douglas Kilgore

Black Space: Imagining Racein Science Fiction Film, Adilifu Nama

Afrofuturism:  The World of Black Science Fiction and Fantasy Culture, Ytasha Womack

Poetry

Life on Mars, Tracy K. Smith

Quantum Lyrics, A Van Jordan

Other Media

Social Text issue 71: Afrofuturism, Alondra Nelson (editor)

The Shadows Took Shape, exhibit at The Studio Museum (which includes this rad Tumblr: shadowstookshape)

"Space Traders," a short film by Reginald Hudlin based on the short story by Derrick Bell: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpbz6g_space-traders-full-movie_news

"Afrofuturism: A Talk with Artist Coco Cufsco -- Black Subjectivity Meets Science-Fiction": http://www.afropunk.com/m/blogpost?id=2059274%3ABlogPost%3A1002489

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Call for Participants in Documentary Project on Women in Gaming Culture

My colleague Jennifer deWinter and I are putting together a short documentary project, and we are looking for contributors. Please pass along the call here and consider participating. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.

Call for Participants in Documentary Project on Women in Gaming Culture

Tentative Title: Trolls Under the Bridge: Vitriolic Comments Directed at Women in Gaming Communities

Jennifer deWinter, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Carly Kocurek, Illinois Institute of Technology

In gaming culture, a number of participants rely on social media to connect with others, play games, and seek support. Indeed, social media provides a mechanism by which we can share and comment on our work and others. However, women suffer from a disproportionate amount of hostile commentary in social networks. In other words, women will post a game or a critique of a game or participate in an online game, and if comments are enabled, then these women are frequently attacked with aggressive and sexually explicit language. This pattern, we find, is the dark side of gaming, denying women recognition for their skills, thoughts, and creative processes.  Further, as games go online and involve social components, these verbal attacks tend to happen directly to women players—with men attacking women players over in-game chat. Women are forced to choose between being driven away by these treatment from what is no longer a safe place or staying and trying to navigate a situation that has no clear end.

We are seeking contributions from women engaged in gaming culture as players, critics, scholars, creators, and the like. We are planning a scholarly documentary in which women read the comments that they have received for making public their participation in the gaming community.

To participate in this project, all we ask is that you

provide a brief written account of the situation—what did you do that invited commentary, and

use a video camera and video record yourself reading your choice of comments.

Once we have collected a number of these videos, we intend to edit them together to emphasize the long string of terrible comments directed at people, and this project intends to put a face on those people.

Accompanying this video would be a short narrative that explores these comments, contextualized in gaming culture.

The final piece will appear in Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. All participants will be credited in this project.

If you are interested in participating, please email your name and your situation to either Jennifer deWinter (jdewinterATwpiDOTedu) or Carly Kocurek (ckocurekATiitDOTedu) by January 15th. Videos to be submitted by February 15th