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The Work of Play

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[Sample Chapter]

Certain educational researchers have claimed that videogames can energize learning in both traditional and non-traditional contexts, cultivate skills more useful to a changing economy, and present information in ways more appealing to students. The notion of “serious games” dates back as early as the 1950s, but so far has failed to make a significant lasting impact on what goes on in education. One component missing then—and is still scarce even now—is empirical evidence showing how videogames promote learning, and what hinders or enhances it.

The Work of Play is an attempt to describe such learning on the micro-level, capturing the moment-by-moment interactions between players and showing how meanings are shaped over time. It builds on anthropological methods, including ethnography and conversation analysis, to re-construct how situated learning occurs and how players’ perception of the game evolves as their experiences with the game change.

 

Bio

My name's Aaron Chia-Yuan Hung (洪嘉元). I moved to Seattle in September 2011 to be a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Washington. I'll be working at the LIFE Center (Learning in Informal and Formal Environments) with an outstanding research team on the Educurious project the involves developing next-gen curriculum that meets the standards of the core curriculum standards using gaming architecture, social networks and new media.

My research interests include understanding and describing how people make sense of their technological environments. In the past I've studied videogames and social interaction among Asian adolescents in New York City. This study used a combination of participant observation and ethnographic methods, and builds on ethnomethdology and conversation analysis.

My interests include studying the social practices surrounding some of these emerging technologies, particularly videogames and social media (which I think are interconnected in profound ways, as videogames continue to converge with the larger virtual community of players), and how they reshape the lives of youth cultures as well as the ways in which we communicate and make meaningful interaction with one another.

Contact

Email: aaron.chiayuanhung@gmail.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aaron.chiayuanhung

Twitter: @aaronhungcy