2010 CGSA Symposium, May 28th-29th, Montreal

Holy Batman, here we are already wrapping up Week 2 of the new semester. Just finished up a barrage of tutorials for CMNS 353.
Happy New Year, btw. Too late for that? Well in the spirit of more time (and we all need more of it) the call for abstracts to this year's CGSA Symposium has been extended to a deadline of January 22nd. Wonderful news for those of you who might have gotten news of this a little late.

Details below:

The 2010 Canadian Games Studies Association annual conference will be held in Montréal this year from May 28-29, in conjunction with the Congress of the Social Sciences & Humanities. This year, the theme for the congress is "Le savoir branché/Connected understandings".

As usual, we invite both national and international paper proposals, on digital games research, broadly defined. In keeping with this year's Congress theme we also encourage work that arises from 'connections' among scholars, researchers, and player communities -- ie. that represents and reports on collaborative work across linguistic, institutional, and disciplinary boundaries.

Please send your extended abstracts, maximum 500 words, to either Jen Jenson (jjenson@edu.yorku.ca) or Nick Taylor (nickttayor@gmail.com) by January 22, 2010.

Looking forward to seeing you in Montréal!

Jennifer Jenson & Nick Taylor (Conference co-chairs)

Conference season picking up

Now that the typical Spring 'abstract season' is coming down to a simmer, we're headed into the beginnings of Summer 'conference season.'

My first of what I anticipate will be several scholarly meetings this year is the annual meeting of the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN), of which I have been a member through my research work with the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology (CPROST) here at SFU. That's next week in Montreal, and I'm looking forward to catching up on the latest research with our collaborators on this project from all across Canada, and some international guests as well.
Agendas and paper archives are available on the site>>

At the beginning of May (while I'm still in Montreal) there will be a really interesting looking Community-University Expo (CUExpo 2008) in Victoria.There will be lots of opportunities to see the types of community-engaged scholarship that is paving the way towards more productive partnerships between local community praxis and academic research. A friend is attending, so I hope I can get the low-down from her afterwards!
View the Website>>
From May 13-15, there's the ION08 Game Conference (formerly OGDC) in Seattle, which is oriented towards the g/local games dev community. I attended last year as the face of academia and it was a blast... and if I can make it I might just hop down again this year.
View the Website>>

In June, Vancouver is hosting what we in the Social Sciences and Humanities call "The Learneds" or "Congress." It is the 2008 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, taking place at the University of British Columbia (Point Grey Campus). The congress includes many association-specific meetings, including the Canadian Games Studies Association (CGSA) on May 31st where I'll be chairing the "Contexts of Play" panel and the Canadian Communication Association (June 4-6) meeting at which I'll be presenting a paper.
View the FedCan Website>>
View the CGSA Website and conference links>>
View the CCA and conference links>>
View my abstract>>

That's enough to chew on for now... in the meantime I must tend the proposals and papers that beckon... and some lunch.