Exertion Games Lab

Amani and Chad were on the radio:

Amani: http://rrrfm.libsyn.com/byte-into-it-13-november-2013

Sarah Jane Pell gave another keynote address at the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong on 2 November 2013.

3 of our latest presentations (2x Ubicomp, 1x DiGRA) are now online:

Understanding a Socially Awkward Digital Play Journey. Digra 2013. By Amy:

Musical Embrace: Exploring Social Awkwardness in Digital Games. Ubicomp 2013. Again by Amy:

Adding an Interactive Display to a Public Basketball Hoop can Motivate Players and Foster Community. Ubicomp 2013. By Alan:

Our 6 papers presented at Interactive Entertainment are available in the ACM Digital Library now and on our publications page:

Garner, J., Wood, G., Pijnappel, S., Murer, M., Mueller, F. 2013. Combining Moving Bodies With Digital Elements: Design Space Between Players and Screens. Interactive Entertainment: IE 2013. 10 pages. Video.

Pell, S., Mueller, F. 2013. Designing for Depth: Underwater Play. Interactive Entertainment: IE 2013. 6 pages. Video

Mueller, F., Walmink, W. 2013. Duel Reality: A Sword-Fighting Game For Novel Gameplay Around Intentionally Hiding Body Data. Interactive Entertainment: IE 2013. 5 pages. Video.

Mueller, F., Gibbs, M.R., Vetere, F. 2013. Reflections on Designing Networked Exertion Games. Interactive Entertainment: IE 2013. 8 pages.

Khot, R., Mueller, F., Hjort, L. 2013. SweatAtoms: Materializing Physical Activity. Interactive Entertainment: IE 2013. 7 pages. Video.

Cercos, R., Mueller, F. 2013. Watch your Steps: Designing a Semi-Public Display to Promote Physical Activity. Interactive Entertainment: IE 2013. 6 pages.

Sebastiaan and Wouter and all helpers have another success story: 3 full papers are accepted (acceptance rate was 27%) at TEI 2014, the International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction, to be presented next year in Munich, Germany. Congratulations!

The papers are now available on the publications page:

Walmink, W., Wilde, D., Mueller, F. 2014. Displaying Heart Rate Data on a Bicycle Helmet to Support Social Exertion Experiences. International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction: TEI 2014. 8 pages.

Pijnappel, S., Mueller, F. 2014. Designing Interactive Technology for Skateboarding. International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction: TEI 2014. 8 pages. Video.

Mueller, F., Gibbs, M.R., Vetere, F., Agamanolis, S., Edge, D. 2014. Designing Mediated Combat Play. International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction: TEI 2014. 8 pages. Video.

Sarah’s keynote at Smartgeometry 2013 in London, UK. Smartgeometry is the world’s premier event focused on computational and parametric design tools, technologies, and methodologies that allow and encourage new forms of architectural and structural expression.

Amy, Chet and Jayden together with Chad and Alan got their new Musical Embrace work accepted to Digra, and Amy will present it in Atlanta, USA:

Huggard, A., De Mel, A., Garner, J., Toprak, C., Chatham, A., Mueller, F. 2013. Understanding a Socially Awkward Digital Play Journey. Digra 2013. Full paper. 11 pages. Video.

We are particularly looking for candidates interested in a) promoting more walking activity during the day or b) supporting extreme sports with digital play technology (see our skateboarding project http://exertiongameslab.org/projects/copy-paste-skate).

Chad was invited to give a talk at “w00t”, the Copenhagen Play Festival in Denmark, on his research work on play in changing spaces:

Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller is giving a talk on “Bodily Digital Play” in the Digital Interventions seminar series on 24 July 2013, 4pm, in the Design Research Institute: “DIGITAL INTERVENTIONS explores how digital media, methods and practice are participating in contemporary and emergent processes of change.” Details here.

Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller speaks on a panel at PAX Australia, on “Videogames are Good For You (and other ridiculous ideas)” organized by our friends from the Young and Well CRC. If you like the indie games at PAX, you’ll love the games at Hovergarden the next day, Monday, 22 July 2013.

Chad presented his Cart-Load-O-Fun public transport game in Sydney, Australia, on the train as part of CUSP’s design exhibition at the Casula Powerhouse, run by the Australian Design Centre and supported by the Australian Government and the Sydney train authority. A nice write-up is here.

We are on the RMIT homepage (again), this time with our success at CHI: “Work from RMIT University’s Exertion Games Lab has been featured widely in a prestigious conference in Paris.” rmit.edu.au (direct link)

2 more publications for the Exertion Games Lab: Amy, Alan and Rohit are going to Ubicomp, the premier conference in the field of ubiquitous and pervasive computing. Acceptance rate was 18%. Amy also received a travel award, and Rohit was accepted to the doctoral consortium.

Huggard, A., De Mel, A., Garner, J., Toprak, C., Chatham, A., Mueller, F. 2013. Musical Embrace: Exploring Social Awkwardness in Digital Games. Ubicomp 2013. Note. 4 pages. Video.

Chatham, A., Mueller, F. 2013. Adding an Interactive Display to a Public Basketball Hoop can Motivate Players and Foster Community. Ubicomp 2013. Long paper. 10 pages. Video.

CUSP – Designing in the Next Decade is a touring exhibit showcasing the work of 12 designers curated by Object, the Australian Design Centre. Tonight is the opening night in Sydney’s Casula Powerhouse, and the video below profiles one of the 12 “currently emerging and established practitioners working today”, Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller. 

Sarah will be speaking at the IAC 2013, the 64th International Astronautical Congress, 24th Symposium on Space Activity and Society in Beijing, China.

Here is the associated publication:

Pell & Mueller (2013) Designing mixed gravity exertion games for humans in space, IAC 2013 64th International Astronautical Congress, 24th SYMPOSIUM ON SPACE ACTIVITY AND SOCIETY (E5) New architectural, Strategic and Design Approaches to the Future of Human Space Flight (1) Beijing CH

Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller has been selected as one of 12 designers featured at Cusp, an Australian design exhibition that travels all over the country, organized by the Australian Design Centre. Floyd will present a new version of Hanging off a Bar. The opening night is Friday, 5 July 2013 in Sydney. Here is the press release.

Rohit Khot passed his confirmation about Understanding Material Representations of Physical Activity with flying colours, here is the confirmation report and a video of the presentation:

Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller received RMIT’s College of Design and Social Context Research Award in the category “Design”. We believe this is the first time this award was given to gamedesign, which is a great honour.