[Air-L] CFP: Games and Innovation Research Seminar

[Olli Sotamaa]

FYI. Abstract Deadline: February 7, 2011

Olli

Postdoctroral Fellow
University of Tampere

-------

Games and Innovation Research Seminar
May 5th-6th, 2011, University of Tampere
http://gamesandinnovationseminar.wordpress.com/

The present seminar aims at bringing together scholars of games and 
innovation from diverse fields and stimulating dialogue between them. 
Moreover, the goal of the seminar is to encourage the further 
development of rigorous academic research on the topic while keeping the 
work accessible to game professionals.

The games industry carries the image of innovation and creativity, but 
still we know relatively little about the innovation processes that take 
place within the industry. To date, games and innovation have been 
studied in several disparate fields, including cultural studies, design 
research and industrial economics and management. Perhaps due to such a 
fragmented nature of academic work on the subject, the bulk of the 
influential work on games and innovation is found in practically 
oriented guidebooks authored by experienced games industry experts.

The seminar is welcoming submissions on the praxis of game development, 
the characteristics of innovation in game context, supply and demand for 
innovation in games, creativity and games, and the relationship of game 
innovation and legal practices. It has been argued that the growing 
level of concentration of the games industry has rendered innovation 
virtually non-existent in game development. The submissions are 
encouraged to comment on this claim. What is innovation in games? How 
does it manifest? Can you measure it? How has it changed since digital 
games were first introduced? Is creativity in games domain-specific? 
What is the status of innovation praxis within games industry?

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

* Game production processes, design processes and design tools
* Game industry dynamics and game development
* Roles of different individuals and different types of firms in game 
innovation
* Classifications of innovation in games
* Historical and local perspectives on games and innovation
* Emerging trends in game innovation
* Game ideation and creativity
* Vision communication
* Prototyping and testing practices
* Player driven and data driven game innovation
* Open innovation, co-innovation, participatory design
* Indie development
* Game competitions, game jams
* The role of legislation in innovation, intellectual property and patents
* Interaction of hardware and software innovation

We also encourage researchers of non-digital games to submit on related 
topics.

The seminar is the seventh in the annual series of game studies working 
paper seminars organised by Game Research Lab at University of Tampere. 
Due to the work-in-progress emphasis, we strongly encourage submitting 
late breaking results, working papers and/or submissions from graduate 
students. Early considerations from projects currently in progress are 
most welcome, as the purpose of the seminar is to have peer-to-peer 
discussions and thereby provide support in refining and improving 
research work in this area. Tentative plans have been made on a book 
publication of selected papers.

The papers to be presented will be chosen based on extended abstract 
review. Full papers are distributed prior the event to all participants, 
in order to facilitate discussion.

The two-day event consists of themed sessions that aim to introduce 
current research projects and discuss ongoing work in studies of games 
industry, innovation and design processes. The seminar will be chaired 
by Professor Frans Mäyrä (Department of Information Studies and 
Interactive Media, University of Tampere). Invited paper commentators 
include Dr. Mirva Peltoniemi from Aalto University School of Science and 
Technology. The second commentator will be announced later.

The seminar will be held in Tampere, Finland and will be free of charge; 
the number of participants will be restricted.

Important Dates

* Abstract Deadline: February 7, 2011
* Notification of Acceptance: February 21, 2011
* Full Paper deadline: April 7, 2011
* Seminar dates: May 5-6, 2010

Submission Guidelines

The extended abstract submissions should be between 500-1000 words 
(excluding references). Abstracts should be sent to as plain text only (no
attachments). Guidelines for submitting a full seminar paper will be 
provided with the notification of acceptance.

Our aim is that everyone participating has been able to read materials 
submitted to the seminar. Therefore, the maximum length for a full paper 
is set to 6000 words (excluding references). Note also that the 
presentations held at the seminar should encourage discussion, instead 
of only repeating the information presented in the papers. Tentatively, 
every paper will be presented for 10 minutes and discussed for 20 minutes.

Seminar web site: http://gamesandinnovationseminar.wordpress.com/

Organised by: http://gamelab.uta.fi