[games_access] MacArthur Chapter (was: Robert's Biography)

[d. michelle hinn]

Hey Amit and all,

Actually you aren't the only academic working on 
accessibility issues and digital media -- most of 
this list has already been doing that for a long 
time -- but I'm surprised that we're hearing 
about this study for the first time. So I'm 
wondering how widely the MacArthur foundation 
went in their search. But regardless, I'm glad 
that someone like you is involved with the 
study/book series and is writing on accessibility 
and is bringing groups of people like the SIG 
into this! :)

There are many people who have collected some of 
these gamer voices on forums for the past couple 
years. So a lot of this already exists. It might 
be that gamers with disabilities might not find 
your forum because they are already hooked into 
other sites and communities that directly focus 
on accessible games that exist. Or it might be 
that, like us, we are already way over our heads 
with our own forums that we are electronically 
tapped out. ;) So maybe the best way to do this 
is to think about what we already know exists 
rather than focusing on new forums -- that's been 
one of the challenges we've been dealing with 
since the start of the SIG -- trying to get 
disenfranchised groups together. So maybe the 
idea of another group building more forums in yet 
another place is causing some confusion amongst 
members of the list. I do understand that 
MacArthur probably wants these forums to be under 
their IP (intellectual property) but that might 
be causing a bit of resistance. Not sure.

Thoughts everyone? I know that I'm pretty tapped 
out with conference proposals and our book that 
moving in another direction is pretty hard to 
imagine. Perhaps, Amit, you could help us see 
what specifically you would like to focus on in 
your chapter to avoid the chapter overlapping 
work we're already doing professionally (ie, some 
might be hesitant to contribute something that is 
a chapter in progress for the book or something 
that they are about to unveil as a product). I 
think that's what Robert was most concerned with. 
I know that part of my concerns has been that we 
might be overlapping some work that we are hoping 
will receive funding from other agencies and if 
it's under the MacArthur foundation's IP then 
we're in trouble. Also, gameaccessibility.com is 
funded by external sources and so there is 
already a potential conflict of interest there -- 
but that's something that Richard can explain 
more about (he's out of town this week and out of 
email communication).

Oh boy...did anyone predict the day that we'd have to worry about all this? :)

So in summary... :) I think that we need to 
understand a bit more about the specific aim of 
the chapter (ie, what specifically do you want to 
cover rather than the general "game 
accessibility"). And who "owns" the materials 
that MacArthur solicits? Do we give up our own 
ownership (ie, will we not be able to publish 
this on our own if it's covered in the MacArthur 
forums) and shoot ourselves in the foot with 
regard to funding proposals and our book? So I 
think that understanding this better will help 
people feel more at ease since we've been working 
on this for years and it is the field we work in 
so we want to have our work represented as "our 
work" (whatever that means -- it might mean the 
place we work at or the company we work for) and 
not something that we now have to cite the 
MacArthur foundation in.

Please don't take this as my thinking that you 
are disingenuous -- my intent is quite the 
opposite. I'm simply trying to help people feel 
more at ease and help support what could be a 
very valuable association. But the unfortunate 
reality is that we've had our work wholly 
"borrowed" by a number of groups without citing 
us (the SIG, a research group, etc) and we've 
lost the IP on it. So I want to try and prevent 
that from happening again as much as possible. :)

Cheers,
Michelle

>  > So how in the world did you figure out how to 
>write this chapter to legislationŠ
>
>Actually it's not related to government in any 
>way. The chapter is part of a larger series of 
>books that the MacArthur foundation, 
>commissioned on the subject of Digital Media, 
>Learning and Youth. The purpose of the entire 
>series is to create a more complex discussion 
>about digital media - beyond the simplistic 
>fear-mongering slogans that politicians spit out 
>today -  'games are bad for you' or 'the 
>internet is a dangerous place for kids' etc.  
>
>Macarthur wants to understand the real 
>implications of digital media on our lives. So 
>it will spend money and time to take the content 
>of the books and promote discussions around them 
>in academic institutions, everyday media and 
>among policy makers.
>
>I was surprised to find out that I'm the only 
>one who is directly referring to Accessibility 
>issues, so I'd like to make the best of it.
>
>/amit
>
>
>
>
>
>From: games_access-bounces at igda.org 
>[mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf 
>Of Robert Florio
>Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 11:24 AM
>To: 'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'
>Subject: RE: to Michelle [games_access] 
>RobertFlorio biography. Accessible idol
>
>No problem I certainly will I might be out of 
>communication a little but let me know when and 
>where you set it up and I'll definitely go 
>there.  So how in the world did you figure out 
>how to write this chapter to legislation is it 
>something really directly to the government or 
>how does that work?  Let's rock them hard that's 
>really show that what they're missing but when 
>they finally jump on the gun I think we should 
>definitely have some things that we start making 
>the cash taken advantage of our design before 
>they do.  I think it's great that were telling 
>people how to make games accessible but if they 
>catch on it before we do yes were making games 
>accessible to everyone but I just feel left out 
>a little like we should be the first to make 
>that game.  I'm still working very hard to put 
>together a company god willing it will happen I 
>know it.
>
>Thank you
>Robert
><http://www.robertflorio.com/>www.RobertFlorio.com
>
>
>From: games_access-bounces at igda.org 
>[mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf 
>Of Amit Pitaru [LIST]
>Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 11:16 AM
>To: 'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'
>Subject: RE: to Michelle [games_access] 
>RobertFlorio biography. Accessible idol
>
>Robert, the chapter I'm writing now is part of a 
>larger effort by the MacArthur foundation to 
>bring these issues to legislators. I'll set up a 
>forum and maybe we can start collecting voices 
>of gamers - explaining the reasons that 
>games/consoles should be made accessible (just 
>like CC on TV!). I'll post this on the 
>game-accessibility site and hope you can help me 
>out!
>
>amit
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