Preconferences Focus on Video Games, Technology, Health and Community

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In each Newsletter leading up to the conference, we will highlight a few of the exciting preconferences that have been planned for Phoenix. This month, learn more about "It’s More Than Just A Game: Best Practices In Video Game Research Design and Methodology," "Third Communication and Technology Doctoral Consortium," "Health Communication Interventions Addressing Health Disparities," and "Communication and Community: Bridging Disciplinary Divides."

It’s More Than Just A Game: Best Practices In Video Game Research Design and Methodology

Time: Thursday, 24 May 11:00 – 17:00
Location: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State U located at 555 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85004, less than one block from the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel (ROOM 314)
Limit: 60 persons
Cost: $ 20.00 USD; $5.00USD Students (Registration includes pre-conference attendance, a catered luncheon on-site and food and beverage refreshments throughout the day.)
This preconference was sponsored by:

USC Annenberg School	West Virginia U	Michigan State U	ICA Game Studies Interest Group

Scholarly interest in video games has grown almost as fast as popular interest in the medium itself. Yet, the study of video games - be it experimental or critical - brings with it a nuanced set of challenges, as the medium often finds itself somewhere between video (analogous to television and film) and game (analogous to logic puzzles or sports competition). This issue of definition is not trivial, as it speaks to larger methodological concerns when attempting to understand both how video games are played and how game play affects us at the cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels.

Organized by the Game Studies Interest Group, this preconference will bring together scholars interested in studying video games to discuss best practices in designing research aimed at studying video games. Leading game scholars from diverse backgrounds have been invited to lead discussions in their areas of expertise by drawing from personal experiences and theoretical considerations within a variety of contexts and epistemological to studying video games. Notably, our preconference will be designed to support ongoing dialogues both during and following each session, providing attendees with a true "workshop" environment with which to refine their own research programs.

The goal of this preconference is to provide all attendees with an opportunity to reflect on and plan future video game research with a small group of similarly interested colleagues. To this end, attendees will be encouraged to submit a video game-related research proposal abstract (no more than 500 words) prior to the preconference that they are comfortable sharing with conference attendees. We will share these abstracts with our discussion leaders to help stimulate conversation during the events, and we will also post them to an accessible web page prior to the preconference so that other attendees can read through them and seek out potential collaborations at the event.

Attendees are encouraged to bring research ideas, laboratory notes, raw data sets and experimental designs with them to the preconference. During our workshop presentations, attendees are actively encouraged to work on their own projects with each other and the presentation discussion leaders; workspaces will be provided to facilitate this format.

Tentative Schedule of Events:
*All events held in The Executive Board Room (CRONK314) of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Communication, Arizona State U, 555 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85004

11:00 a.m. - Noon Informal lunch and "meet & greet"

• Wrap buffet, including:
• beef, turkey and vegetarian options
• pasta salad and Caeser salad
• cheese, bread and crackers board
• chicken chimichangas
• chips and salsa
• Other refreshments, including beverages, fruit trays and cookies, served throughout the afternoon
• Opening comments from Game Studies Interest Group representatives

12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. Data Acquisition: Best Practices for Understanding Players, Their Motives, and Their Experiences
As video games continue to soar in popularity, increased scrutiny has been placed on understanding gamers by policy-makers and scholars alike. Yet, our understanding of gamers is limited by the quality of data we are able to get regarding their makeup, motives, and experiences while playing. This panel will discuss how we study gamers from a critical, sociopsychological, and psychological perspective.
Workshop leaders include:

• Jeoren Jansz (Erasmus U, NETHERLANDS) on the psychology of gamers before and during gameplay
• Leonard Reinecke (U of Mannheim, GERMANY) on the intrinsic motivation of video game play
• John Sherry (Michigan State U, USA) on developmental processes in gaming from childhood through adulthood
• Gerald Voorhees (Oregon State U, USA) on using psychoanalytic and cultural studies as critical tools to analyze gamers
• Dmitri Williams (U of Southern California, USA) on working with game publishers to make sense of server-side player data

2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Constructing a Game: Better Research Through Better Stimulus Design
Having evolved from the two-dimensional monochromatic presentations of Pong, today’s video games represent the cutting edge of computing technology and narrative engagement to fully immerse users in vivid and interactive environments. While these aspects of gaming are central to their immense popularity, they present unique challenges to researchers wanting to understand the many nuances of the medium. This panel seeks to walk participants through these nuances by presenting a comprehensive look at video game design, from storyboard to special edition.
Workshop leaders include:

• Ashish Amresh (Arizona State U, USA) on the mechanics of video game design
• James Gee (Arizona State U, USA) on viewing video games as learning experiences
• Sven Jockel (U of Erfurt, GERMANY) on using "off the shelf" video game engines to create experimental environments
• Wei Peng (Michigan State U, USA) on best practices of developing or choosing treatment and control stimuli in games research
• Bonnie Nardi (U of California-Irvine, USA) on viewing game design through the player’s own ethnographic lens

3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The Spread Gun Isn’t Always The Most Accurate: Pairing Up Methodology With Research Questions – Collaborative Workshops
The first session focused on data acquisition techniques and the second section focused on stimulus materials. Building from the above discussions, the final panel of the day will discuss how to apply certain methods to certain research questions. Directly following this discussion, preconference participants will break into smaller groups to collaborate on projects.

This session will end with closing comments and research charge by preconference organizer Nicholas David Bowman (West Virginia U)
Scheduled Workshop Leaders:

• Ashish Amresh (Arizona State U, USA) is an Assistant Professor in the College of Technology and Innovation and is leading the Computer Gaming curriculum initiatives at Arizona State U, where he founded the Computer Gaming Certificate and the Camp Game summer program.
  Dr. Amresh’s workshop discussion will cover some basics of design, mechanics, controls and flow in video games, as well as potential connections between design methodology and experiential learning. He will then facilitate a discussion with attendees on how these themes may influence game studies from a Communication perspective.
• Jeoren Jansz (Erasmus U, NETHERLANDS) is a special Professor of Communication and Media in the Department of Media and Communication.
  Dr. Jansz's workshop discussion aims to address motivational issues in videogame research. Different theoretical perspectives (e.g., U&G, SDT) have contributed to the emerging empirical tradition of measuring what motivates people to play. A critical assessment of available concepts and theories will obviously be part of the workshop; however its focus is on discussing the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods (quantitative and qualitative) and measurement instruments. The workshop will be truly interactive: participants are invited to submit their own past research or planned future research to be discussed during the meeting.
• James Gee (Arizona State U, USA) is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State U
  Dr. Gee's workshop discussion will focus on the topic of learning within video games and the task of studying how video games facilitate learning. He will introduce his own extensive work in this area, provide recommendations for approaching the study of games for learning, and then facilitate a discussion with attendees about potential research designs in this area.
• Bonnie Nardi (U of California-Irvine, USA) is a faculty member in the Department of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the U of California, Irvine.
  Dr. Nardi's workshop discussion will focus on ethnography as a critical methodology for studying how video games are actually played by human persons conceived holistically as sociocognitive agents. Ethnography entertains questions beyond (or in addition to) narratology or play analyzed statistically as decontextualized variables. Her new book Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method (Princeton U Press) provides inspiration for her remarks.
• Wei Peng (Michigan State U, USA) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State U who is also affiliated with the Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) lab and the Health and Risk Communication Center, both at MSU.
  Dr. Peng's workshop discussion will examine best practices of developing or choosing treatment and control condition stimuli in video game related experimental studies to ensure internal, external, and ecological validity.
• Leonard Reinecke (U of Mannheim, GERMANY) holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the U of Hamburg and is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in the research team of Dr. Peter Vorderer at the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the U of Mannheim, Germany.
  Dr. Reinecke's workshop discussion will present an argument for video games as intrinsically motivating experiences. Research has demonstrated the ability of video games to satisfy a set of intrinsic needs crucial for psychological well-being and vitality. Need satisfaction is a robust predictor for selective exposure to games and game enjoyment, which situates need satisfaction as a crucial motivation to engage in game play.
• John Sherry (Michigan State U, USA) is an Associate Professor of Communication at Michigan State U who is affiliated with Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) lab and the Media Interface and Network Design (MIND) lab, both at MSU.
  Dr. Sherry's workshop discussion will argue that games are more than just content; they are intellectual challenges. Thus, game researchers cannot rely on motivational theories from content-dominate media and must rethink the influence of player motivational orientations. This workshop will focus on the theoretical and methodological implications of game play motivations, including how these motivations vary in childhood and adulthood.
• Gerald Voorhees (Oregon State U, USA) is an Assistant Professor of Media and Cultural Studies jointly appointed in the Department of Speech Communication and the New Media Communication program.
  Dr. Voorhees's workshop discussion will present thoughts on using critical studies perspectives to understand video gamers. Critical perspectives on games encourage researchers to interrogate how the experience of gameplay is imbricated in relations of power. This talk discusses cultural studies and psychoanalytic approaches as critical tools for analyzing gameplay as an increasingly important site where culture and identity are constructed, circulated and contested.
• Dmitri Williams (U of Southern California, USA) is an Associate Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, where he is a part of the Annenberg Program on Online Communities (APOC).
  Dr. Williams's workshop discussion will focus on the benefits/challenges of partnering with game publishers to conduct research, e.g., acquiring access to large-scale datasets on the back end of MMOs. He will describe this process, highlight some of his own extensive work through such partnerships, and facilitate a discussion about how attendees may be able to use this method in their own research.
• Sven Jockel (U of Erfurt, GERMANY) is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Digital Media at the U of Erfurt where he chairs the Master’s program on Children, Adolescents and the Media.
  Dr. Jockel's workshop discussion will investigate the strengths and weaknesses of using "off-the-shelf' video games in research design. Many video games – particularly PC games – come equipped with map and engine editors that allow users to create new content for their own use. As a foundation for this discussion, he will share his experience using the Aurora Toolset in creating stimulus material for a series of experiments. Aurora provides an intuitive but powerful toolset that allows experimenters to craft both action- and story-related gaming content for use even with low-powered PCs.

Sponsors:
This year’s program is made possible through the generous support of the following institutions:
Annenberg School of Communication, U of Southern California; Department of Communication, Michigan State U College of Communication Arts and Sciences; Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State U College of Communication Arts and Sciences; Department of Communication, West Virginia U Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

We also wish to acknowledge the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State U, and Dean Christopher Callahan for their generous support in hosting our pre-conference.

Preconference Organizers: Nicholas Bowman, West Virginia U; Rabindra Ratan, Michigan State U; D. Yvette Wohn, Michigan State U; Zeynep Tanes, Purdue U; Elizabeth Newbury, Cornell U

Contact Person: Nicholas David Bowman, West Virginia U, Nicholas.Bowman@mail.wvu.edu

Third Communication and Technology Doctoral Consortium

Time: Thursday, 24 May 9:00 – 17:00
Location: The Doctoral Consortium will be held off-site. The exact place will be announced later.
Limit: 15 persons, after the review process
Cost: $ 75.00USD (Includes morning and afternoon refreshments, and lunch. Transportation on your own)
Sponsored by the Communication and Technology Division

Goal of the Doctoral Consortium: The consortium intends to bring together Ph.D. candidates working on Communication and Technology to give them the opportunity to present and discuss their research in a constructive and international atmosphere. The goals of the event are to provide feedback and advice to participating Ph.D. candidates on their in-progress research thesis. Moreover, the doctoral consortium will provide the opportunity to meet experts as well as fellow Ph.D. candidates from different backgrounds working on related topics. During the consortium, students will be invited to present their work, following which they will receive feedback from their fellow students and faculty participants, all of whom will have read the proposals in advance of the Doctoral Consortium. In addition, one faculty participant will be assigned to respond in detail to each proposal. Besides the presentations of proposals, there will also be discussion of other topics such as ethics, research methods, publishing the thesis, and positioning one’s work for the job market.

Applicants must be advanced to candidacy, and have their dissertation proposal topic. Ideally, students will be in the early stages of their dissertation, where feedback would be helpful in refining and advancing their work. To apply, students must submit a proposal describing their research. The Communication and Technology (CAT) Division is primarily concerned with the role played by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the process of communication. It is committed to enhancing theory and methodology pertaining to adoption, usage, effects, and policy of ICTs. Areas of research include human-computer interaction, computer-mediated communication, mobile communication, and other technologically mediated social interaction and networking in all contexts (interpersonal, group, organizational, societal/cultural) and at all levels of analyses. CAT invites papers that make an innovative and original contribution to our understanding of ICTs, with the primary focus on communication aspects of particular technological characteristics. Papers in which technology is not a specific object of investigation but is instead the context or backdrop for a communication study should be directed to other ICA Divisions. As CAT, the Doctoral Consortium welcomes papers that follow any and all disciplinary approaches (psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and policy studies, among others) and all methodological orientations (quantitative, qualitative, critical, cultural, historical, legal, and institutional, among others).

Health Communication Interventions Addressing Health Disparities

Sponsored by the Health Communication Division
Time: Thursday, 24 May 9:00 – 17:00
Location: Phoenix Sheraton Downtown Hotel
Limit: 50 persons
Cost: $ 100.00USD (Includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch on your own)

Communities and Universities Addressing Health Disparities in India

Over the last 5 decades, the gaps between the haves and have-nots have consistently increased in the realm of access to healthcare services, quality of healthcare services, access to health supplies and technologies, access to and usage of health information and health prevention services, vulnerability to certain types and categories of diseases, and health outcomes. Burdens of morbidity and mortality vary dramatically within and between populations across the regions of the globe, mapping out the dramatically differential patterns of economic growth experienced in different sectors of the globe.

These gaps continue to persist within the US and across the globe, between nation states and also within nation states. There are more and more people across the globe who do not have access to what would be considered basic healthcare. The disparities in health typically play out in the realm of social class, race, and gender, but they also play out in other realms such as age, geographical area of residence (rural/urban), and nation state (north/south, first/third, east/west). Health disparities are a global problem that calls for innovative and systematic solutions, drawing upon multiple paradigms and utilizing multiple theoretical approaches and methodological insights.

In recent years, multiple intervention programs have been developed, implemented, and evaluated in the field of communication in an attempt to address these healthcare disparities. These approaches use a wide range of methodologies employed at a wide array of levels ranging from the micro to the meso to the macro. The theoretical foundations of these approaches to health disparities are varied and so are the corresponding methodologies and applications. Although their theoretical commitments are widely divergent, these health communication programs seeking to address disparities share an underlying thread in their conceptualization of communication solutions to the issues of disparities in health.

The proposed preconference brings together the works of a diverse group of leading health communication scholars working on communication solutions to the problems of health and healthcare disparities, and creates a space for training and dissemination of ideas through hands-on sessions on various approaches to interventions addressing health disparities. It proposes to present scholarship on disparities across a variety of geographical contexts, and utilizing a wide range of theories and methodologies. The ultimate goal of the preconference is to offer a space for collaboration and debate among the community of health communication scholars working on the topic of health disparities. Based on a case study, the preconference will embrace a dialectical-dialogical approach that will highlight debates, discussions, and collaborative entry points for health communication scholarship on health disparities.

The preconference will be set up as combinations of brief lectures and hands-on workshops to train participants in the different aspects of development of health communication interventions addressing health disparities. The different workshops will bring together scholars working in the areas of health disparities that will collaborate with small groups of workshop attendees on developing research questions, research design, and research methods for addressing healthcare disparities.

Workshop Sessions:

• Theoretical Overview of Health Disparities Research in Health Communication
  Gary Kreps
  Mohan J. Dutta
• Mass Mediated Health Disparities Campaigns
  Jeff Niderdeppe
  Elisia Cohen
• Social/New Media and Health Disparities Interventions
  Dave Buller
  Kathryn Greene
• Community-Based Health Disparities Research
  Mohan J. Dutta
  Melinda Villagran
• Wrap-up: Future Directions for Health Disparities Research
  Gary Kreps

Communication and Community: Bridging Disciplinary Divides

Time: Thursday, 24 May 9:00 – 17:00
Location: Phoenix Sheraton Downtown Hotel
Limit: 25 persons
Cost: $50.00USD (Includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch on your own)
Sponsored by the Urban Communication Foundation

This seminar brings together scholars and professionals from multiple areas within the communication disciplines, and also from other related fields such architecture, design, and urban, planning, Our purpose is to explore and discuss theoretical perspectives, new and ongoing field research findings, as well as case studies aimed at enhancing our understanding of: (a) communication patterns in urban communities, (b) how these patterns are shaped by and shape the physical, built, and social environment of the places we live in, (c) how the communication ecologies we construct in the process of our everyday lives impact our well-being, and (d) the positive and negative ways in which policy interventions influence the communication environment of cities. In addition, this seminar offers an opportunity for researchers interested in urban communication to explore possibilities for collaboration that can lead to the development of research grants, new books and other publications, new courses, and conferences. Within the framework of the conference theme, "Communication and Community," the research papers and field projects selected for presentation and discussion will that bridge traditional disciplinary boundaries and seek to connect individuals and groups in community settings.