iSchool researchers present work at Playful by Design Conference

iSchool researchers presented their work in game studies and design at the Playful by Design Conference, which was held on January 10 in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. The conference included presentations on topics such as the gaming industry in Portugal and the U.S., games for learning, serious games, and emerging technologies.

Teaching Associate Professor Judith Pintar presented the keynote, "Playful by Design: The Illinois Model for Interdisciplinary Game Studies." In her talk, she discussed how the Game Studies and Design Program at Illinois emerged from the interdisciplinary Playful by Design community at UIUC.

"The development of the Game Studies and Design Program at the University of Illinois is a story about the possibilities that arise when we reject the notion that the Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Science and Technologies fields should operate separately and in competition with each other," said Pintar. "A Playful by Design model derived from our experience may be helpful to other institutions interested in developing transformative and community-engaged academic programs in game studies and design on their campuses."

Other presentations included:

  • "Biofeedback Technology: Games for Well-Being" by Teaching Assistant Professor David Hopping
  • "Gameful Pedagogy: Towards a Students' Bill of Rights" by Informatics PhD student David A. Hopping and Pintar
  • "Game Studies and Design Should Be Interdisciplinary: Why and How" by Director of Informatics Programs Lisa Bievenue
  • "Emerging Technologies and the Impact on the Game Industry" by Game Studies Coordinator and Adjunct Lecturer Dan Cermak
  • "Cognitive-Behavioral Game Design: Creating Serious Games for Serious Fun" and "Playing with Words: Growing Games from Books" by Postdoctoral Research Associate Katryna Starks

The conference was supported by the Instituto Politécnico de Gestão e Tecnologia; Universidade Lusófona; a grant from the European Union Center at the University of Illinois, entitled "Languages of Intercultural Practice Across the Atlantic;" and the Game Studies and Design Program at Illinois.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool researchers work with diverse groups to improve user experience

iSchool faculty are studying ways to improve user experience, with a common goal of improving technology and applications for the needs of individual users. These researchers are working with diverse groups to gain feedback, and several current projects are focused on experiences for users with disabilities.

Kim defends dissertation

Doctoral candidate Jenna Kim successfully defended her dissertation, "Evaluating Pre-Trained Language Modeling Approaches for Author Name Disambiguation," on June 11, 2024.

Jenna Kim headshot

Desai defends dissertation

Doctoral candidate Smit Desai successfully defended his dissertation, "Designing Metaphor-fluid Voice User Interfaces," on June 10.

Smit Desai

Student says ‘thank you’ with a helicopter ride

Last month, Michael Ferrer showed appreciation for one of his MSIM instructors in a unique way—by inviting him for an insider’s look at his work as a reservist in the Illinois Army National Guard. For the ILARNG BOSS Lift, which took place on June 18 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, Ferrer selected Michael Wonderlich, iSchool adjunct lecturer and senior associate director of business intelligence and enterprise architecture for Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS) at the University of Illinois.

Michael Wonderlich and Michael Ferrer hold a U of I flag in front of a military helicopter

Project helps librarians use data storytelling to advocate for public libraries

A toolkit for public librarians can help them use data to communicate the value of their services and justify their funding needs. The Data Storytelling for Librarians Toolkit helps librarians present data in story form using narrative strategies. It was developed by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign information sciences professors.

Kate McDowell