Events

About the Presenter
 
Olympic athlete Nikki Stone won recognition for becoming the US's first-ever Olympic Champion in the sport of inverted aerials at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan 1998. She has won 35 World Cup medals, eleven World Cup titles, four national titles, two year-long Aerial World Grand Prix titles, and a World Championship title. She also became the first pure aerialist ever (male or female) to become the Overall Freestyle World Cup Grand Prix Champion. In addition to her skiing endeavors, Nikki is also a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Union College in Schenectady, NY. Her aerial retirement is less than restful, as she performs numerous public speaking engagements, television appearances, and sponsor promotions for major national and international companies. Nikki now resides in Park City, Utah.

Right to Play

The Nature of and Issues in Video and Internet Gaming
Tuesday, September 12, 2006, UI Commons, Whitewater Room
 
From 9:30 to 10:30 Shawn Rider will present "A Culture of Play: Games in Industry, Society and Art." Laurie Taylor will follow at 11:00 with "Virtual Bodies: Game Gender as Style and Structure," after which Rick Fehrenbacher (in cooperation with the University Interdisciplinary Colloquia) will speak on "Getting Medieval: Video Games and the Reinvention of the Middle Ages" from 12:30 to 1:30. From 2:00-3:00 Julian Dibbell will present "Play Money: Gold Farms, Lizardmen, and the Ludocentric Theory of Contemporary Capitalism," followed shortly by a Panel Discussion with all four speakers from 3:30 to 4:30.

About the Presenters
 
Laurie N. Taylor researches video games and digital media at the University of Florida, where she is a managing editor of the journal ImageTexT. Her articles have appeared in several major journals on gaming, computer technology, and media culture. Dr. Taylor holds a B.A. from Jacksonville University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida.

Shawn Rider is a writer, artist and programmer specializing in digital literature and video games. He has recently completed his MFA in Media Arts Production at SUNY Buffalo, and is now working as a Web Technologist for PBS TeacherLine. Shawn also holds an MA in Literature from the University of Idaho, and is the Editor in Chief for GamesFirst.com. His media artwork and digital fiction has been exhibited and/or published in the US, UK, France and Canada. You can find Shawn online at http://shawnrider.com.

Julian Dibbell is a freelance writer and editor, and buyer and seller of virtual goods.  He is author of Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, and My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World.

Rick Fehrenbacher is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Idaho.

 

PeaceMaker
Monday, October 9, 2006, 7 p.m., Law School Courtroom
 
As the final speaker in the series, Eric Brown from Carnegie Mellon University will demonstrate PeaceMaker, a computer simulation game focusing on resolving conflict in the Middle East. The game requires players to negotiate peace between the Israelis and Palestinians by making strategic choices in a realistic environment of war. The game has received national and international attention because of its sophisticated incorporation of real-life footage, its historical accuracy, and cultural sensitivity.

PeaceMaker Game

About the Presenter
 
Eric Brown, Co-Producer, received a BFA in painting with focused studies in education and computer graphics from Washington University in St. Louis. He then worked for several years helping start Issue Design Build in Seattle, Washington. Eric became interested in interactive educational design while volunteering with the development of the Aviation Learning Center and then working at Aerospace Camp at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. His previous project work at CMU includes designing and producing an interactive puppet experience that was installed at "Give Kids the World", an amusement park for children with life-threatening illnesses in Florida.