Annika Waern keynote speaker at CHI Play conference
Annika Waern will be keynote speaker at the CHI Play conference in Austin Texas, in October 2016. She will be speaking on the topic of ‘Play, participation and empowerment’.
Play, Participation and Empowerment – Design strategies and dilemmas
Abstract
The activity of play has transformative power. When a design invites play, it encourages co-creation and empowers participants to take control over their own experience. Yet, just as game design strives to create challenges that are fun to overcome, play design also strives to create specific, unique experiences – and those experiences will only be available if players to a certain extent succumb to the intentions of designers. Finding the balance between player and designer initiative is thus not straightforward. In this presentation I will discuss example designs that have managed – and some that haven’t – eliciting some of the design strategies that can be brought to aid. I will also pose the critical question: does this transformative power reach out of play? Are the powers of play revolutionary – or not?
Keynote speakers CHI Play 2016
Annika Waern is professor in human-computer interaction at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University.