The Snitching Project

02/27/2024

11/22/2019

HUGE THANKS to everyone who came out on Wednesday. We had a great crowd and were fascinated by our amazing speakers who graciously donated their time and expertise towards making the event truly memorable.

If you're still interested in how Video Gaming & Society intersect, we suggest taking a look at this TED talk playlist on the subject. Thanks for leveling up this week, we couldn't have done it without all of you!

Are video games eroding our minds? These TED talks suggest the opposite — that videos games can improve our brain function, and even help better the world.

11/19/2019

Video Gaming & Society Conference at CCP at CCP Speakerboard Highlight: Shawn Pierre, Philly Game Mechanics "Panel Discussion: Games Beyond Games" 3:00-4:00

About Shawn's Talk: Even though games have existed for many years, the level of influence has never been higher than they are now. Games permeate through science, theater, philosophy, politics, and more. Join a panel of local game developers as they discuss how games interact with the local community and beyond, and where they see games leading us in the future.

About Shawn: Shawn Pierre is an independent game developer in Philadelphia, working to create physical, digital, and non-traditional games. When he is not making games, or making bread, he helps organize Philly Game Mechanics, an organization focused on helping the local independent game community.

Documentary about Philly Game Mechanics. Philly Game Mechanics is an organization that gathers local game design studios and artists several times a month at...

11/18/2019

Video Gaming & Society Conference at CCP Speakerboard Highlight: Dr. Calion Lockridge Community College of Philadelphia "Video Games, the Brain, and Cognition" 1:50-2:50

About Calion's Talk: This presentation will examine the last several years of neuroscience research on the impact of video game play on the brain, with respect to several aspects of cognition; such as attention and memory, among others.

About Calion: Prof. Calion Lockridge Jr. PhD. has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology since 2016. Courses he is currently teaching are Introductory Psychology, Statistical Methods (Psych 167), Cross-Cultural Psychology, and Cognitive Psychology. His current research interests are related to how gaming in various forms can act as a basis to investigate different aspects of human behavior, such as personality, cognition, and social interaction.

11/18/2019

Thanks for the coverage Technical.ly Philly!

Also, learn about the history of video games, gaming communities and the psychology involved at Community College of Philadelphia's Nov. 20 event.

11/17/2019

Video Gaming & Society Conference at CCP Speakerboard Highlight: Dr. Frank J. Lee, Director, Drexel University’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio "City at Play: The Skyscraper Games Trilogy." 10:20-11:20

About Frank's Talk: After engaging the city in a games of Pong & Tetris played on the Cira Center, a 29-story skyscraper, I presented new games designed by Philadelphia students as a STEAM outreach to get girls and other underrepresented students interested in programming. In my talk, I will discuss how large scale, city wide initiatives and other projects form the basis of my vision for a new type of game and interaction that mixes real world with digital to create city-scale mixed-reality games. I will also briefly talk about the Entrepreneurial Game Studio (EGS), a unique university-based startup incubator at Drexel helping and mentoring student to start their own independent game studios.

About Frank: Dr. Frank J. Lee is Professor of Digital Media at Drexel University with appointments in Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering. Lee received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology in 2000 from Carnegie Mellon University, and his BA with Highest Honors in Cognitive Science in 1994 from UC Berkeley. Lee co-founded Drexel's Game Design Program in 2008, which has been consistently ranked as one of the Top 10 Game Design Programs in the US for the last 10 years. Lee is also the founding director of the Entrepreneurial Game Studio (EGS) at Drexel University in 2013, a unique university-wide initiative to teach students entrepreneurship by helping them to start their own game companies. Students in EGS have created over 10 game companies and have won over 15 national and international awards and recognitions making it one of the most awarded university game labs in the US. Lee’s own past projects have won national and international awards and recognitions and have received extensive media coverage. His installation project, Skyscraper Tetris in 2014, was mentions in over 1500 news stories worldwide and an estimated 2.2 Billion views with a publicity value of over $22M. It was also recognized as a Guinness World Record for the Largest Architectural Videogame Display. He was selected as one of the Smartest People in Philadelphia by Philadelphia Magazine in 2012, Hacker of the Year by Geekadelphia in 2013, and one of the 50 Most Admirable Gaming People by Polygon in 2014.

https://youtu.be/0atY4mboD4w

Drexel University professor Frank Lee and his team hacked into the lighting system of a Philadelphia skyscraper to play the world's biggest game of Tetris on...

11/16/2019

Video Gaming & Society Conference at CCP: Jumaani Haskins, Cultural Anthropologist, Arcadia, "Cultural Combos: An Ethnographic Narrative of the Competitive Fighting Game Community" 12:40-1:40

About Jumaani's Talk: An ethnographic research project based on semi-structured interviews within the competitive fighting
game community. This research found that the fighting game community to be more racially diverse than other gaming competitive gaming communities and contains a rich history of cultural practices involving ritual performance, social norms, and standard procedures regardless of international region.

About Jumaani: Jumaani Haskins is a cultural anthropologist with work focusing on gaming culture and game studies. His work focuses primarily in the fighting game genre, in which he has been actively competing since 2012. Through gaming, Haskins has been able to travel not just around the country, but abroad and connect with the FGC and other communities in Tokyo, Japan (Mar. 2015) and Brighton, England (Sep-Dec. 2016). In addition to his research on fighting game culture, Haskins has also written about the use of tropes and monomyth theory in Metal Gear Solid, and the growing potential of video game music as popular, ubiquitous music. In 2018, Haskins received the Johnston Family Award of Excellence in Cross Cultural Research Writing for his undergraduate senior thesis: "Cultural Combos: An Ethnographic Narrative of the Competitive Fighting Game Community." Haskins is a member of Epsilon Kappa chapter of the international honor society Phi Beta Delta and currently serves on the advisory committee for Arcadia Esports. He is an active member of the Black Alumni Association at Arcadia University where he graduated with departmental honors in Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice in 2018.

Borderlands 3! First playthrough w/ Amara! [ENG] [PS4]

11/15/2019

Video Gaming & Society Conference at CCP Speakerboard Highlight: Tony Rowe, Drexel University, Entrepreneurial Game Studio, "Video Game Controversies: A Look Back at History." 9:10-10:10

About Tony's Talk: It seems like the video game industry is surrounded by controversy now. But, have things always been this way? We’ll look back at some of the industry’s biggest early controversies and compare them to those of other games and media.

About Tony: Tony A. Rowe has more than two decades of professional video game development experience. At LucasArts and DreamWorks Interactive, he created immersive games in the worlds of Star . Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Saving Private Ryan alongside the visionary creators of those films. At Spark Unlimited, he worked with Infinity Ward to found the Call of Duty series. Now, he serves as Assistant Teaching Professor of Game Design and Production at Drexel University’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, mentors student teams at Drexel’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio, and authors numerous articles on game history.

11/14/2019

Interested in the existing research that inspired this semester's survey and Video Gaming & Society Conference (11/20 at CCP)? Check out Pew Research Center's "Gaming and Gamers" Study for more info!

And be sure and check out our results as well as presentations by some amazing speakers next Wednesday at Community College of Philadelphia, Center for Business & Industry, Room C2-28!

Americans' attitudes toward games – and the people who play them – are complex and often uncertain.

11/08/2019

Mark your Calendars! The Video Gaming & Society Conference
at Community College of Philadelphia - Wednesday November 20th, 2019

Every semester Dr. Rick Frei’s Research Methods class conducts a large-scale citywide survey on a topic relevant to Philadelphia and then organizes a conference to present the results and invite other speakers to educate the community on our topic. In the past, we have done surveys on the soda tax...

04/11/2018

The Fox Rothschild Center for Law and Society and
the Jefferson University Law and Society Program
proudly present:

A Sexual Harassment Conference Across Two Campuses
Thursday April 19th, 2018

11:20-12:50PM: The “Inevitability” of Sexual Harassment: Personality Traits associated with Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance
Community College of Philadelphia, Center for Business and Industry C2-28

When men and women work together, is sexual harassment inevitable? And are those who hold that opinion different from others in meaningful ways? Dr. Rick Frei and students from the PSY 110 Descriptive Research Methods Class will present the result of a survey of nearly 3000 respondents, looking at the relationship between personality traits and acceptance of common sexual harassment myths.

1:00-2:30PM: Clothing Optional, Consent Required: Combatting Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Community College of Philadelphia, Center for Business and Industry C2-28

As part of their capstone project at Jefferson University, Megan Sprance and Karla Henriquez co-founded a non-profit organization called “Clothing Optional, Consent Required”, an educational initiative focused on combatting sexual assault. They will be leading a conversation on the topics of sexual abuse and sexual consent, and the relevant laws that apply to both.

4:00-5:15PM Roundtable Discussion/Podcast: The Future of Sexual Harassment in the
Age of
Jefferson University East Falls Campus, Arlen Specter House

Join Dr. Kathy Smith (Director of Law and Justice at Harcum College), Dr. Rick Frei (Lead researcher for the Fox Rothschild Center for Law and Society), Professor Evan Lane (Program Director, Law and Society at Jefferson University) and students from Jefferson University’s Forensic Psychology Class and Community College of Philadelphia’s Descriptive Research Methods class, as they discuss the future of sexual harassment by examining the results of a recent survey on commonly accepted sexual harassment myths.

02/13/2018

The Snitching Project, the student-driven interdisciplinary research group sponsored by the Fox Rothschild Center for Law and Society, is currently conducting a national survey on workplace behaviors and personality, Looking for respondents 16 years of age or older. The students will be presenting the results at a conference later this semester. If you have a few minutes, please fill out the survey and have your voice be heard!

Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates.