Position Statement
I hope to be elected to an Open Seat on the Executive Board and aide the dissemination of quality research, support the Association’s conferences, and further develop relationships with other academic associations studying games. My experience, insight, and initiative can be applied to supplement efforts in any or, if needed, all of these areas.
If elected, I would advocate an initiative that falls within and across the areas of dissemination, liaison, and conference organizing: to strength DiGRA’s ties to other academic organizations studying games, I propose that the conference plan co-sponsored panels and the journal designate special issues that highlight quality games scholarship nurtured by other, disciplinary associations.
DiGRA is at a critical juncture in its development. Moving toward an annual convention and working to establish its own peer-reviewed journal will not only raise the Association’s profile, they are necessary moves in an academic environment that is increasingly cognizant of the importance of digital games and gaming. The success of these projects will significantly impact the Association’s status and shape the role DiGRA is able to play in the burgeoning field of digital games research.
My experience as an author, book editor, and book series editor have helped me develop a well-rounded appreciation of the complexities of publishing innovative, well-researched scholarship. Having solicited and vetted book chapter proposal, assigned chapters to reviewers, and coordinated responses to authors based on reviews, I am confident I can contribute to DiGRA’s dissemination of research. My experience as a co-chair of the Game Studies area of the Popular Culture Association has taught me about the process of conference planning. Having solicited presentations, assigned panel chairs, formed themed panels out of individual submissions, and coordinated the area’s schedule with the conference planner, I am capable of supporting the conference organizing committee in multiple ways. Given my ties with the Popular Culture Association (Game Studies area), and the International Communication Association (Game Studies Interest Group), I am ready to reach out to and foster relationships with these and other organizations. I look forward to helping cement DiGRA’s central role as the preeminent game studies association as an Open Seat on the Executive Board.
Biography
Gerald Voorhees (PhD, The University of Iowa, 2008) is Assistant Professor of Media and Cultural Studies jointly appointed in Speech Communication and Digital Communication Arts at Oregon State University. He teaches classes in media studies, rhetorical studies, and game studies. Gerald’s research focusing on games and new media as sites for the construction and contestation of identity and culture has been published in the leading journals in the field, Games and Culture and Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research. He is also interested in public discourse pertaining to games and new media, as well as rhetorics of race and ethnicity in mediated public discourse. In addition to editing books on role-playing games and first-person shooter games, Gerald is co-editor of Continuum’s Approaches to Game Studies book series and co-chair of the Game Studies area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Nation Conference.
DiGRA Board Elections 2012
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Information on the DiGRA Association Rules and Bylaws can be found here:
http://www.digra-old-site.local/digradocuments/digrarules03
The elections will take place at the AGM being held at Nordic DiGRA on June 7, 2012 between 9-10 am, Technopolis Yliopistonrinne building, Kalevantie 2, Tampere, Finland. Provisions will be made for voting online. Details will be posted on the DiGRA newsfeed as well as the mailing list.