A Nexus of Education, Inspiration, Research and Play

A presentation at the Idea Factory, Wallace Library, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY: October 26, 2006. Part of the RIT Faculty Scholars series. The RIT Faculty Scholars series is co-sponsored by The Office of the Associate Provost for Outreach Programs & Director, First in Class; and RIT Libraries

Introduction to the Minitrack on Performing Game Development Live on Twitch

This study is a preliminary exploration of how professional game developers live stream their creative work on Twitch.tv. It asks how and in what ways these developers engage in co-creative acts with their viewers and how they engage in game talk in their design process. It further analyzes discourse about the act of streaming development as presented in professional and popular journalistic and personal sites online

Performing Game Development Live on Twitch

This study is a preliminary exploration of how professional game developers live stream their creative work on Twitch.tv. It asks how and in what ways these developers engage in co-creative acts with their viewers and how they engage in game talk in their design process. It further analyzes discourse about the act of streaming development as presented in professional and popular journalistic and personal sites online

Laboring Artists: Art Streaming on the Videogame Platform Twitch

The relationship between labor and play is complex and multifaceted, particularly so as it relates to the playing of games. With the rise of the online streaming of games and play these platforms and activities have expanded the associated practices in ways that are highly nuanced and dictated in part by the platform itself. This paper explores the question as to whether the types of labor practices found in games hold across other non-game activities as they engage with streaming through an observational study of art streamers on Twitch. By examining art streamers and comparing their labor to that of games and game streaming, we find that not only are they similar in practice, but that that the structure of Twitch and platforms such as YouTube push this conformity. Thus, play and labor are not opposed and are in fact intermingled in these activities, in ways that are becoming highly platformized

“You Know You’re Going to Fail, Right?”: Learning From Design Flaws in Just Press Play at RIT

Abstract: In the fall of 2010, faculty in the School of Interactive Games & Media at the Rochester Institute of Technology began the initial planning for an achievement system meant to recognize and reward student engagement in non-curricular activities—specifically activities that successful graduates of the program regularly cited as significant factors in their undergraduate experience. This paper describes the design process used to create the initial version of the Just Press Play system, the results of the implementation during the 2011-12 academic year, and the significant redesign of the system that took place based on assessment of the first year of the system. We focus on the elements that didn’t work in our initial design, and how those failures informed our redesign process

Direct Observation of the Dynamics of Ylide Solvation by Hydrogen-bond Donors using Time-Resolved Infrared Spectroscopy

[Image: see text] The photoexcitation of α-diazocarbonyl compounds produces singlet carbene intermediates that react with nucleophilic solvent molecules to form ylides. The zwitterionic nature of these newly formed ylides induces rapid changes in their interactions with the surrounding solvent. Here, ultrafast time-resolved infrared absorption spectroscopy is used to study the ylide-forming reactions of singlet carbene intermediates from the 270 nm photoexcitation of ethyl diazoacetate in various solvents and the changes in the subsequent ylide–solvent interactions. The results provide direct spectroscopic observation of the competition between ylide formation and C–H insertion in reactions of the singlet carbene with nucleophilic solvent molecules. We further report the specific solvation dynamics of the tetrahydrofuran (THF)-derived ylide (with a characteristic IR absorption band at 1636 cm(–1)) by various hydrogen-bond donors and the coordination by lithium cations. Hydrogen-bonded ylide bands shift to a lower wavenumber by −19 cm(–1) for interactions with ethanol, −14 cm(–1) for chloroform, −10 cm(–1) for dichloromethane, −9 cm(–1) for acetonitrile or cyclohexane, and −16 cm(–1) for Li(+) coordination, allowing the time evolution of the ylide–solvent interactions to be tracked. The hydrogen-bonded ylide bands grow with rate coefficients that are close to the diffusional limit. We further characterize the specific interactions of ethanol with the THF-derived ylide using quantum chemical (MP2) calculations and DFT-based atom-centered density matrix propagation trajectories, which show preferential coordination to the α-carbonyl group. This coordination alters the hybridization character of the ylidic carbon atom, with the greatest change toward sp(2) character found for lithium-ion coordination

Interactivity: New Rules of Engagement for the Humanities

This journal is a result of our frustration with 21st century humanities scholarship and dissemination. The term “digital” humanities has gained a certain cache and indeed, bringing technology into humanities research was, and still is, an important hurdle to overcome. However, humanities conversations on the topic have stalled and can’t seem to move beyond defining digital humanities. We believe that much of this stagnation is due to the emphasis on a superficial understanding of technology as a mode of delivery rather than as a mode of inquiry. Digital media and tools do allow for better and faster ways of doing traditional humanities things like scholarship and education. However, the failure of the digital humanities movement to look beyond media transformation and towards new modes of inquiry, blocks the humanities from evolving. The stubborn insistence on clinging to traditional forms of humanities scholarship at the expense of innovation is holding the field back. If, as McLuhan hypothesizes, the “medium is the message,” then why is the humanities still so doggedly focused on the content? We envision this journal as a forum to generate new ideas and ways of thinking about the humanities