Tag: games

Advocacy and games evaluation in South Africa

In March 2016, Professor Lien Tran and PhD student Soroya McFarlane traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, to conduct a qualitative research study on the use of creative methods of advocacy. Tran and McFarlane facilitated 9 focus groups with over 50 South African advocacy leaders, representing more than 15 human rights and health organizations. Participants of the study either played Cops and Rubbers (a tabletop game designed by Professor Tran […]

Always be “Ready to Play” – notes from APA Florida Chapter 2015 workshop

Thank you to all participants who joined me today at the APA’s Florida Chapter conference. Today planners from around the state of Florida got together to experience the power of games to incite critical thinking and dialogue about real-world issues. These included new strategies for decision-making and planning in the face of potential environmental and systemic […]

Join the Field Innovation Team at University of Miami for the first Miami DO Tank, February 5, 2015

I’ve teamed up with the Field Innovation Team (FIT) to run the first ever Miami DO Tank on February 5, 2015, at the University of Miami’s Student Activities Center. Living in South Florida, the detrimental effects of climate change may be inevitable in our lifetime. Co-sponsored by University of Miami’s Center for Communication, Culture, and Change (4C) […]

Interactive Media featured in Fall 2014 Miami Magazine // Toma el Paso graces the cover

Tim Collie wrote a comprehensive article about our Interactive Media program and games at UM, including both faculty and student projects, for the Fall 2014 issue of UM’s Miami magazine. Toma el Paso (Make a Move) is featured on the cover and as a sidebar, and Cops and Rubbers also gets a nice mention. Toma el Paso has been played by hundreds of […]

SIGGRAPH DAC Aesthetics of Gameplay exhibit of indie games available online

In early 2014, the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community (DAC) launched the Aesthetics of Gameplay online exhibition. Ian Bogost captures what this exhibition aims to showcase in his article entitled “Persuasive Games: From Aberrance to Aesthetics”: “But when one finds a game that does manage to deliver a detectable aesthetic — a set of creative principles and effects that make it the […]

Cops & Rubbers video is now live!

[vimeo width=”600″ height=”365″ video_id=”93179928″]  Have you played Cops & Rubbers? Watch this video to learn more about my Cops & Rubbers game project with Open Society Foundations’ Public Health and Rights Project, which is based on OSF’s Criminalizing Condoms report. For more on Cops & Rubbers: On my website: https://lienbtran.com/games/cops-rubbers/ On the OSF website: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/cops-rubbers   Thanks to Ed Talavera, […]

Video highlighting The New Challenge Finalists 2012

I feel very fortunate to be among the finalists who received seed money from The New School’s The New Challenge. This video captures the essence of what TNS is achieving by providing its students with this funding opportunity. Most of the clips are from the exhibition and pitch event in April, which was an extremely […]

Humans vs. Mosquitoes at DCGames

Clay Ewing and I ran Humans vs. Mosquitoes at this year’s DC Games Festival held in West Potomac Park (just south of Lincoln Memorial and west of MLK Memorial). It was a pretty nice backdrop with the Washington Monument peaking out from behind the trees, and we even got a wave from Air Force One (it felt like it […]