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May 26, 2006

Call for Academics for ARG Whitepaper

From Christy Dena:

Needed: Academics who have investigated Alternate Reality Games

Hello All,

I would much appreciate if you could circulate the following call to places
you think appropriate:

================

Needed: Academics who have investigated Alternate Reality Games

I'm writing a section on ARGs and Academia for the upcoming IGDA ARG SIG
whitepaper. I'm after approaches from all fields using all sorts of
methodologies, and by researchers at different levels of candidacy or
postdoctoral status. Since there are many investigations in development
around the world I'm including unpublished insights and findings along with
published ones.

For your information, here is part of the successful abstract I submitted to
the SIG:

Alternate Reality Games have captured the imagination of players and
academics from its beginning. Academics have analysed the form through
comparative analysis with other arts types both contemporary and historical;
have employed the aesthetics of ARGs as illustrations of cultural phenomena;
have utilised ARGs to interrogate the nature of reality and fiction;
utilised ARGs design for pedagogical applications and have also proposed
reframings of methodologies in light of the unconventional form.
Consistently, however, they have tried to understand the emergence of this
form. Some of these academics are players, some are not. Some are
independent scholars, some have made ARGs a subject of a PhD, the PhD or a
post-doctoral investigation. Papers have been given at conferences, in
journals and articles offered online. Their investigations into what an ARG
is, the implications of the form on entertainment, the design of ARGs and
the creative heritage of this form provide well researched and measured
considerations that offer unique contributions for the benefit of players,
designers, researchers, industry and media.

I have already contacted some academics around the world but I'm sure there
are those I have overlooked in error and those I am not aware of. Either
way, if you're an academic who has investigated ARGs, in any capacity, I
want to you to contact me! I'll be gathering this information over the next
month. Email Christy Dena at cdena at cross-mediaentertainment.com.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Christy

Posted by AdamMartin at 03:15 AM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2006

Timeline

Outline of schedule for the 2006 ARG SIG Whitepaper

Call for Authors - 1 May 2006

Call for authors goes out to ARG SIG Mailing List and to relevant news sites such as ARGN
300-word outlines submitted by authors

Outlines - 14 May 2006

Outlines reviewed and comments sent to authors
Revised outlines selected for inclusion in whitepaper

First Drafts - 1 July 2006

All authors submit first drafts of their topics
Drafts reviewed, edited, comments sent to authors

Final Drafts - 1 August 2006

All authors submit final drafts of their topics
Whitepaper assembled, converted to PDF, etc
Final editing of overall paper, typesetting, etc

Publication - Mid August 2006
Just in time for GDC Europe

Posted by AdamMartin at 08:08 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2006

Jim Gunshanan

I've worked with Mike Monello and Brian Clark as a PM/writer for Audi's "Art of the Heist," Sharp's "Legend of the Sacred Urns," and a few other previous, ARGish (ARGesque?) interactive marketing campaigns. I recently finished working on a GMD-produced ARG for GM called "Who Is Benjamin Stove?", during which I also had the great pleasure of working with Brooke "Sleep Is For The Weak" Thompson and Dave "Evil Genius" Szulborski.

Posted by AdamMartin at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2006

Social - Brighton, England - July 2006

After the success of our GDC event, it's the UK's turn - the first Develop Conference (http://www.developconference.com/) takes place 11th to 13th July in Brighton, and we're having another ARG SIG Group Gathering. Time/date TBC, but the conference runs 11-13 July.

Brighton can be fantastic in the summer, so ... beg/bribe your bosses to let you come - the conference venue is literally on the sea front.

If you have any interest in ARGs at all, please come - no knowledge of ARGs is necessary, and those who are completely new to ARGs are very welcome.

The GDC event worked really well with a 50/50 mixture of experienced and non-experienced people, so that there were plenty of questions and answers from plenty of different perspectives.

Posted by AdamMartin at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)