Monthly Archives: June 2012

first HCG journal paper & I must be careful with my last name

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After a LONG journey doing research and learning to write research articles, the time to draw a BIG smile arrived.  Yes! First journal is out: Designing Hypercontextualized Games: A Case Study with LieksaMyst. Additionally, the article is special for several reasons, to mention two:

  • LieksaMyst is an exemplar case study showing how an idea turns to be a research project, and later re-transforms itself from a research project to a sustainable product
  • LieskaMyst makes evident the importance of non-digital objects and the on-site knowledge for the creation of digital games
  • and the list can continues but more in this publication and in a forthcoming dissertation 😛

I feel very honor and lucky to have the opportunity to work with a wonderful team all these years in order to achieve LieksaMyst. It has been a team work, without any question. In this moment I want to thank and congratulate specially to Mikko, Teemu, Liisa and Marketta for so many hours working together on this project. 🙂 Remember adding hours = days and later months and so on.

The article is also the result of an intense learning curve of doing research and acquiring the skill on academic writing (ask to my official and unofficial supervisors about this 🙂 oh boy! ).  Estee has been a outstanding English teacher for me, her quality control of my official writings is a blessing. She has assured that my spanish-english transforms to english-english.

So, this is the first step. We should remember the sky is the limit and there is much to do and share! 🙂

Ahhhhh! but this publication teaches me even at the very final stage something.  I was not careful enough and I did not stress on time that my last name is ISLAS SEDANO, and the article was left as Sedano as my last name. *sight*.

I am trying to get it fix, but let’s see if it works, it is not so simple. I should have know this already and be more careful. However, the lesson is very well learn right now. So, for those of us who use two last names: remember to be EXTRA careful while mentioning one’s last name.

first HCG journal article

first HCG journal article

times change: mobile phone and my personal data

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Week 24, 2012
Joensuu, Finland

When I was at the serious game workshop at Nordic DiGRA I realized I lost my mobile phone. I wanted to record something from the workshop and I could not to do it because I did not find my phone. Then, I started to think when and where I used my phone the last time and I realized:  I left my phone on the train. Auch!

My brain then started to spin in reference of what I have lost. Firstly came to my mind a couple of interviews I haven’t backed up, some new photos. The rest of the information I could recover (notes, phone numbers and most of the photos) because I had backed up, but still I feel uncomfortable thinking that an unknown person will have access to my personal data. Finally came the idea of the money, an expense not planned to have.

In the first workshop’s break I ran to the VR office and asked for help.  They offered me a phone number for lost items  (löytötavaratoimisto) but remember in Finland there are not public phones…..  Another approach was that a friend call to my mobile phone and if someone answers maybe I could recover it. However, since I have my friends’ phone numbers recorded in my mobile phone, I have no idea of their phone numbers by heart and I do not have a phone book with me neither. Of course digital backup of my phone is not traveling with me.

My solution: email. I still have my laptop with me. So, next was to get Internet access and I emailed Mikko and he helped me. Later I got an email from Eeva, because the personnel from the VR called her about my phone. Apparently, I will recover my phone!!! I am impressed about it!!! 🙂 and I am looking forward to have it back 😉

However the event let me thinking about my personal data. I have hear – read – discuss about security issues of personal data in reference to social networks. But now my thoughts go to a more simple device, just my mobile phone.  I do not connect to internet and social networks on my phone then that part is “safe” but still there is certain data exposure on my phone just because I use a  smartphone  beyond calling and sending SMS.

Things are changing fast. In the late 90’s I wouldn’t have imagine myself looking for my mobile phone via email. Still public phone boxes were surround me. I could call friends easily, with or without mobile phones because I had a physical agenda and some numbers I knew them by heart. My mobile phone did not have much extra information about myself.

Now the situation has changed and I haven’t though thoughtfully on this. I start to wonder if actually I am letting myself to be vulnerable by depending blindly on my mobile phone. Perhaps as times change it might be wise to think a bit about this and also change. The main question is how  and what do I want to change about this topic?

change

change

 

Photo source here

 

digra 2012

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Week 23, 2012
Tampere, Finland

Last time I was in Tampere was for the role-playing seminar. Right after the seminar, I went to the Salmokohta. I want and need to post about those events, and I will but somehow I am still digesting them.

Now, I am back in Tampere for the Nordic DiGRA conference. The community is special, and I learning to know them. Well, I start to join the community since late 2005, so little by little I have gotten to know them. This community approaches research from a different perspective than how we do in my research group at EdTech. In here the stress is more on culture. So, for someone like me who studied a “technical” degree and somehow is practical, it takes me a time to tune in. I assume this is because I was taught to  see and analyze our world differently. However, that offers me an opportunity to learn a lot too. It takes personal energy, but to be able to understand the discourse of others interested in the same artifact of study is a rich experience. At the end our world is made from different persons who have different views.

From this morning, I realized I need to reflect more in:

  • Utopias
  • Perceptions
  • Believes
  • Habitus
  • Authentic
  • Aspirations
  • As we notice concepts related to identity, the key issue!
Opening of Nordic DiGRA 2012

Opening of Nordic DiGRA 2012

 

workshop on basics of game design @ jtel ss

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Week 23, 2012
Joensuu, Finland

On May 21 I gave my first workshop at an international event.  I am thankful with JTEL for the opportunity.

When I wrote the workshop proposal, my naïve mind was thinking that I might have an afternoon for it. Once the program showed up, I realized I only had 1.5 hr, which it is not much time in order to run a practical workshop.

The program also let me know that other sessions would talk about games.  I am aware that gaming is relatively new in for the JTEL community. So I decided to focus directly on the basics, and still put hands on 😉  So, instead to design a game as a puzzle, as originally was designed, I pushed to have a game using dices. For that, I needed to seek for dices in Joensuu.  Oh my! That was an adventure. But at the end of the day I got all the material for my workshop:

Material for the workshop basics on game design @ JTEL 12

Material for the workshop basics on game design @ JTEL 12

It was funny to bring all that non-digital technology tools to an event that focuses on digital technology, but well, one knows it is what one must do 😉

How was the workshop? Well one should ask that question to the participants actually.

Participants of the workshop basics on game design @ JTEL 12

Participants of the workshop basics on game design @ JTEL 12

On my side, I did my best and I learned a lot.  Now, I am aware that I still I should cut my presentation a bit so that the participants have more time to put hands on. Also, I MUST learn how to close the exercise session or give feedback there is something there I am missing, and for that, of course I need to pay more attention to the experts….

I felt delighted for those who gave positive feedback, thank you! 😉 But overall, I hope the participants got valuable 1.5 hrs of their time while we were together, while gathering information and an experience of the facinating world of games.

Something very interesting happened thanks to the workshop. Dr. Igor Mayer joined the workshop, and I was unaware about who he was. However, at the end of the session he suggested some improvements for the slides, e.g. correct the year of the Huizinga publication, which I had typed wrongly. UPS!!! Now it is correct in the slides, no panic!

As it happens often to me, what I enjoyed more is to listen to others and make questions. Dr. Mayer has been around in the game research world for a time already, however as my attention has been mainly on DiGRA community, I had been a bit careless with the S&G community, so I could not connect right away. After talked to Dr. Mayer, I got eager to re-read several S&G journal articles, which in theory I had read but it seems I did not process them as I should. I really indentify with the vision of Dr. Mayer and I am grateful for the opportunity to talk with him, undoubtedly, he illumined me with his experience, constructive feedback and valuable information.

The fun thing was that at Dr. Mayer’s keynote, he pointed out one of the slides I presented at the workshop (Garner Hype Cycle in slide 26) with a different perspective. That was a rich episode. I felt it as a conversation, so cool!

At the end of the JTEL SS, I understood the purpose of a workshop, which I had no idea earlier. If I understood well, at least one of its functions is to explore ideas. Hmmm… I usually like workshops, but now I know that I will be a workshop  fan!

Summarizing:

  • From my workshop I learn A LOT and I had fun. Thank you JTEL for the opportunity and overall thank you to all the participants of my workshop.
  •  The whole JTELLSS was a great event. We share knowledge and undoubtedly it was built a sense of community. I should be able to do a proper post of the event, but later in time, I am lacking behind in other writing duties. However this post is the first of the series

 

2012 JTEL – Workshop: Basics of Game Design