2017 DiGRA Distinguished Scholars

Since DiGRA’s founding in 2003, game studies has grown into a large, interdisciplinary community of researchers around the world. These researchers have worked to advance the field of game studies in multiple ways, including through the development of rigorous scholarship, the establishment of game studies and game development programs at multiple colleges and universities, and the continued growth of our field. In response, DiGRA recognizes senior scholars who have been at the forefront of such actions including significant contributions made to DiGRA itself as an organization.

We are happy to announce that two additional world-class researchers have been elected to the group for 2017: Dr. Jennifer Jenson of York University and Dr. T.L. Taylor of MIT.

Dr. Jennifer Jenson is the Director of the Institute for Research on Digital Learning and a Professor of Pedagogy and Technology in the Faculty of Education at York University, Canada. She, along with Suzanne de Castell founded the Canadian Game Studies Association (www.gamestudies.ca) as well as its journal, Loading (http://journals.sfu.ca/loading). Additionally, she was part of the DiGRA conference organizing team that brought DiGRA to North America for the first time (Vancouver, B.C.) in 2005. She has published on games and learning, gender and gameplay, the design and implementation of games in formal school settings, and on games as pathways to computational skills. She is currently the director of a large, Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities research grant that is focused on intervening in the toxic, misogynist spaces of game making and game culture (www.refig.ca).

Dr. T.L. Taylor is Professor of Comparative Media Studies at MIT. She is a qualitative sociologist (Brandeis University, 2000) who has focused on internet and game studies for over two decades. Her research explores the interrelations between culture, social practice, and technology in online leisure environments.Her book Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming (MIT Press, 2012) chronicles the rise of e-sports and professional computer gaming. She is also the author of Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture (MIT Press, 2006) which used her multi-year ethnography of EverQuest to explore issues related to massively multiplayer online games. Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method, her co-authored book on doing ethnographic research in online multi-user worlds, was published by Princeton University Press (2012). She is currently at work on a book about game live-streaming (under contract with Princeton University Press).Dr. Taylor also serves as Director of Research for AnyKey, an organization dedicated to supporting and developing fair and inclusive esports.

You can see the complete list of Distinguished Scholars here:
http://www.digra-old-site.local/the-association/distinguished-scholars/

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Jenson and Dr. Taylor on their achievements.

All the best,

Mia

2017 DiGRA Distinguished Scholars

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