Echo Earth at the Smithsonian’s 2017 ACCelerate Festival Echo Earth was selected for exhibition at the 2017 ACCelerate Creativity and Innovation Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., from October 13-15, 2017. The festival is a celebration of creative exploration and research happening across the ACC at the nexus of science, engineering, arts and […]
Author: Lien
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 […]
New University of Miami Department of Community Service (DOCS) model website now live!
The Department of Community Service (DOCS) is a student run, non-profit organization endorsed by the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine’s (UMMSM) administration. Through DOCS, UMMSM students and physicians provide quality healthcare to the underserved populations in South Florida. In 2014, DOCS partnered with UM’s School of Communication, and with generous support from the Mitchell Wolfson, […]
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 […]
IMFA campaign for World Wildlife Fund explains why buying FSC is important for forests and wildlife
Curious why buying FSC-certified products matters for tigers and forests? If so, check out “Switch to FSC-certified products and save tigers,” a campaign my students conceptualized, designed, and developed for World Wildlife Fund. Visit the page, share the tweets, and spread the message about #FSC sustainable wood products! The “Switch to FSC-certified products and save tigers” campaign […]
April 2 – Prevention, Intervention, and Action: The Colombian National Police and the Security of Children
I am fortunate to be part of an interdisciplinary research team that is partnering with the Colombian National Police (CNP) on a game-based intervention, Por Nuestras Calles, addressing the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in Colombia. More on that soon! Related to our research efforts working with CNP, Brigadier General William Salamanca, Director of Protection and Special […]
CGIU 2015 // Grow 2.0: Advancing the Small-Scale Farmer
Thank you to the organizers of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU 2015) for inviting me to join such amazing company at this year’s meeting. Held at the University of Miami’s new Student Activities Center, CGIU 2015 kicked off with a two-day Codeathon on March 5-6 that included UM MFA in Interactive Media students Kelsey Kjeldsen […]
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 […]
Cops & Rubbers wins Best Overall Non-Digital Game at Meaningful Play 2014
Thank you to the Meaningful Play 2014 committee and Michigan State for a really meaningful, radical, and fun conference! I especially enjoyed meeting other academics from a variety of disciplines coming together and exploring the meaning that can be embedded in game systems. Thanks to everyone who checked out and played Cops and Rubbers, Humans vs. […]
Invoking the Pause: Creating Games for the Caribbean Climate
[vimeo width=”600″ height=”365″ video_id=”107395655″] Thanks to funding from Invoking the Pause, I was able to travel to Barbados to organize a workshop exploring communication of climate risk using game systems. As a result of this unique funding opportunity, the University of Miami’s School of Communication (UM), the IFRC Red Cross Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Reference Center (CADRIM), […]
UM’s inaugural CoLab course is all about WWF and FSC
This Fall 2014 semester I’m running the inaugural MFA in Interactive Media CoLab class, which is a class where students create interactive solutions for a professional client. The students and I are very excited to be working with the U.S. chapter of World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US) located in Washington D.C. The semester started out with […]