[games_access] Game Accessibility Conference

Ben Sawyer bsawyer at dmill.com
Thu May 24 11:01:39 EDT 2007 

Baltimore for at least 2008 then we may move around a bit - it's yet  
to be determined.

We will not be in the medical school we're going to the convention  
center for the main part but we are also looking at using some of the  
facilities at the medical school for pre-conference items like a day  
on accessibility and a day on research processes/agenda development.

I think a combined effort with our group, IGDA, and others co-located  
so we can absorb costs, etc. would be best.

What we envisioned was a day long event prior to our core-two days on  
health.  Then as part of our core-Games for Health event we would  
also do at least one session on accessibility for all attendees and  
also have an accessibility section in our demo area including posters  
and accessible demos.

What I'd like to do for a day long event is 1-2 tracks divided  
between research oriented work, commercial/independent case studies,  
and developer sessions (i.e. how-to).

My goal would be 100 attendees minimum.

What I was thinking was that we'd price it aggressively with a  
portion of the funds from each ticket earmarked to the IGDA to  
support funds for the SIG that would cover things like travel, GDC  
tickets, etc.  All we'd want from the SIG is that you'd design the  
program with input from us and that you'd help promote it, and that  
the SIG members would introduce speakers, keep time, etc.  We would  
handle all the logistics and general promotion.  We also need to work  
more aggressively within the entire event (this and Games for Health)  
to improve our own accessibility issues so we'd need some help with  
that as well.

- Ben


On May 24, 2007, at 10:22 AM, d. michelle hinn wrote:

> Hey, we can always use more and bigger opportunities! And, yes,  
> perhaps a combined effort the first time out might ease everyone's  
> minds a bit. The IGDA can then help us support that combined  
> conference to the mainstream.
>
> Where's Games for Health 2008 located?
>
> Michelle
>
>> I think that's true but we can also use a standalone event with  
>> our branding and IGDA/DIGRA to attract more mainstream developers  
>> as well.  We also can spend a lot more time promoting it as well.
>>
>> - Ben
>>
>> On May 23, 2007, at 8:47 PM, d. michelle hinn wrote:
>>
>>> I think that's a great opportunity to do as well -- I think we'd  
>>> hit two different communities (Games for Health doesn't always  
>>> cross over to the mainstream game dev community and vice versa)  
>>> and that would give us a chance to get the folks doing stuff in  
>>> health together and the folks doing stuff with the mainstream  
>>> together.
>>>
>>> Michelle
>>>
>>>> We would like to support a one day conference as part of Games  
>>>> for Health in May 2008 and I think a portion of our audience  
>>>> would definitely respond to it.
>>>>
>>>> - Ben
>>>>
>>>> On May 23, 2007, at 5:59 PM, Reid Kimball wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> "I'm kind of concerned whether we will be able to attract an  
>>>>> audience
>>>>> for it" I think the first GDC had 7 attendees. We shouldn't put
>>>>> unrealistic pressure on ourselves with our first conference to  
>>>>> bring
>>>>> in huge numbers or big names. The other questions you ask are  
>>>>> right.
>>>>> If it's a conference, I'd want to see some sessions geared  
>>>>> towards the
>>>>> academic/research crowd talking about ways to improve  
>>>>> accessibility
>>>>> and others geared to developers talking about the practical
>>>>> implementations that work now.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 5/23/07, Eelke Folmer <eelke.folmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The idea of a conference focusing on game accessibility is  
>>>>>> great but I'm
>>>>>> kind of concerned whether we will be able to attract an  
>>>>>> audience for it.
>>>>>> What is the goal? 'spreading the word' e.g. convincing game  
>>>>>> developers of
>>>>>> the importance of making games accessible? or or do we target  
>>>>>> our fellow
>>>>>> researchers and discuss & explore new ways of making games  
>>>>>> more accessible
>>>>>> and putting accessibility on the roadmap of developers?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I think it is important to distinguish between these goals.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> cheers Eelke
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On May 20, 2007, at 12:01 PM, d. michelle hinn wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So I've mentioned this before but we should probably start  
>>>>>> discussing it for
>>>>>> real. The IGDA would like to support our efforts in creating a  
>>>>>> one-day
>>>>>> conference on Game Accessibility. Now this could be something  
>>>>>> attached to
>>>>>> another conference (like GDC) or on it's own as a "summit" at  
>>>>>> a time where
>>>>>> we aren't so frazzled from GDC.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is one of the things I'll be bringing up at the online  
>>>>>> meetings this
>>>>>> week so I'd appreciate ideas for location, dates, how wide we  
>>>>>> cast the net
>>>>>> (ie, do we personally court a person from every major game  
>>>>>> company we can to
>>>>>> attend), do we want it to be small the first year and then  
>>>>>> cast the net
>>>>>> wider the next year?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What are your thoughts? Basically the IGDA now has a group  
>>>>>> that does
>>>>>> conference/summit set ups for us so we tell them what we want  
>>>>>> and they deal
>>>>>> with the registration, hotel block reservations, venue, some  
>>>>>> advertising,
>>>>>> etc. So that's what make it's a very cool opportunity!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Michelle
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> games_access mailing list
>>>>>> games_access at igda.org
>>>>>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>>>>> -----------
>>>>>> Eelke Folmer                                           
>>>>>> Assistant Professor
>>>>>> Department of Computer Science &       Engineering/171
>>>>>> University of Nevada                         Reno, Nevada 89557
>>>>>> Game Quality
>>>>>> usability|accessibility.eelke.com
>>>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>>>>> -----------
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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