BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:IEEE vTools.Events//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:US/Pacific BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20251117T081530Z UID:1145D827-3B09-492E-8D14-00F6F8FB8A08 DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20251119T183000 DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20251119T203000 DESCRIPTION:Event Details\n\nOver the past twenty years\, public perception of videogames has evolved from guilty pleasure to serious platform for le arning\, social connection\, and behavioral change. At the same time\, the global contexts in which games are deployed have grown increasingly urgen t and complex.\n\nIn this talk\, I’ll trace that evolution through examp les from my own work: from early studies of the intellectual impact of com mercial games "in the wild" and the design of after-school game-based prog rams for youth\, to later investigations into how online play can sometime s normalize toxic behaviors\, hate\, and extremism. That trajectory ultima tely led me to reexamine the social dimensions of games in an unexpected s etting—one inside San Quentin prison.\n\nHere\, I describe my most recen t collaboration with incarcerated individuals and correctional staff to un derstand how a game-based program there\, in stark contrast to much commer cial online play\, has become a space for fostering connection\, building emotional regulation\, and reducing racial self-segregation. I close with a broader challenge to the audience: To reconsider today’s political div ide as much a matter of belonging and not belief\, to refocus our attentio n not on the relational over the ideational.\n\nThis meeting will be held in person at the Knobbe Martens' Irvine offices (2040 Main St # 14 Irvine\ , CA). The doors will open at 6:30 PM for networking. Announcements and th e presentation will begin at 7:00 PM. Parking validation will be provided to attendees.\n\nAbout the Speaker\, Professor Constance Steinkuehler\n\nC onstance Steinkuehler is a Professor of Informatics at the University of C alifornia\, Irvine where she researches cognition\, culture\, and learning in the context of multiplayer videogames. She is the Co-Director of the G ames+Learning+Society (GLS) Center at UCI where she teaches courses on gam es and society\, games as social platforms\, the sociology of games (in Do novan Correction Facility)\, research methods\, and visual design. Recent projects include investigations of toxicity and extremism in online commer cial games and the design\, development and evaluation of game-based progr ams in incarcerated settings to foster inclusion\, equanimity\, and social connectedness.\n\nConstance formerly served as Senior Policy Analyst unde r the Obama administration in the White House Office of Science and Techno logy Policy\, advising on videogames and digital media. She is the founder of the Federal Games Guild\, a working group across federal agencies usin g games and simulations as tools for thought\, and the Higher Education Vi deo Games Alliance\, an academic non-for-profit organization of game-relat ed programs in higher education. Her research has been funded by the Anti- Defamation League\, the Samueli Foundation\, the MacArthur Foundation\, th e Gates Foundation\, the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation\ , the National Science Foundation\, and the Universities of Cambridge\, Wi sconsin-Madison\, and California-Irvine. She has published over one hundre d articles and book chapters including six conference proceedings\, four s pecial journal issues\, and two books. She has worked closely with the Nat ional Research Council and National Academy of Education on special report s relate to videogames\, and her work has been featured in Science\, Wired \, USA Today\, New York Times\, LA Times\, ABC\, CBS\, CNN NPR\, BBC and T he Chronicle of Higher Education.\n\nConstance has a PhD in Literacy Studi es\, an MS in Educational Psychology\, and three Bachelor’s Degrees in M athematics\, English\, and Religious Studies. Her dissertation was a cogni tive ethnography of the MMOs Lineage I and II where she ran a large siege guild. Her husband Dr. Kurt Squire is Co-Director of the GLS center at UCI . They live with their two adolescent gamers in Southern California where they enjoy surfing\, hiking\, camping\, travel\, and all manner of headset -wearing\, dps-flinging\, computer-screened mayhem.\n\nCo-sponsored by: OC ACM [Actual Host] and Knobbe Martens\, an Intellectual Property & Technol ogy law firm [Physical Host Donor]\n\nAgenda: \n6:30 PM Networking at phys ical meeting location\n7:00 PM Announcements and Presentation with Q&A\n8: 00 PM Follow-up quesitons for presenter and networking\n8:30 PM Meeting Ad journed\n\n2040 Main St \, Ste 14\, Irvine\, California\, United States\, 92614 LOCATION:2040 Main St \, Ste 14\, Irvine\, California\, United States\, 926 14 ORGANIZER:AWBrown@USC.edu SEQUENCE:53 SUMMARY:"Games as Social Platforms" IEEE OC CS & SSCS and OC ACM Meeting URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/515520 X-ALT-DESC:Description: <br /><p><span style="text-decoration: underline\;" ><strong>Event</strong> <strong>Details</strong></span><strong> &nbsp\;</s trong></p>\n<p>Over the past twenty years\, public perception of videogame s has evolved from guilty pleasure to serious platform for learning\, soci al connection\, and behavioral change. At the same time\, the global conte xts in which games are deployed have grown increasingly urgent and complex .</p>\n<p>In this talk\, I&rsquo\;ll trace that evolution through examples from my own work: from early studies of the intellectual impact of commer cial games "in the wild" and the design of after-school game-based program s for youth\, to later investigations into how online play can sometimes n ormalize toxic behaviors\, hate\, and extremism. That trajectory ultimatel y led me to reexamine the social dimensions of games in an unexpected sett ing&mdash\;one inside San Quentin prison.</p>\n<p>Here\, I describe my mos t recent collaboration with incarcerated individuals and correctional staf f to understand how a game-based program there\, in stark contrast to much commercial online play\, has become a space for fostering connection\, bu ilding emotional regulation\, and reducing racial self-segregation. I clos e with a broader challenge to the audience: To reconsider today&rsquo\;s p olitical divide as much a matter of belonging and not belief\, to refocus our attention not on the relational over the ideational.&nbsp\;</p>\n<p>Th is meeting will be held in person at the Knobbe Martens' Irvine offices (2 040 Main St # 14 Irvine\, CA). The doors will open at 6:30 PM for networki ng. Announcements and the presentation will begin at 7:00 PM. Parking vali dation will be provided to attendees.&nbsp\;</p>\n<p><strong><span style=" text-decoration: underline\;">About the Speaker\,</span> Professor Constan ce Steinkuehler</strong></p>\n<p>Constance Steinkuehler is a Professor of Informatics at the University of California\, Irvine where she researches cognition\, culture\, and learning in the context of multiplayer videogame s. She is the Co-Director of the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Center at UC I where she teaches courses on games and society\, games as social platfor ms\, the sociology of games (in Donovan Correction Facility)\, research me thods\, and visual design. Recent projects include investigations of toxic ity and extremism in online commercial games and the design\, development and evaluation of game-based programs in incarcerated settings to foster i nclusion\, equanimity\, and social connectedness.&nbsp\;</p>\n<p>Constance formerly served as Senior Policy Analyst under the Obama administration i n the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy\, advising on vi deogames and digital media. She is the founder of the Federal Games Guild\ , a working group across federal agencies using games and simulations as t ools for thought\, and the Higher Education Video Games Alliance\, an acad emic non-for-profit organization of game-related programs in higher educat ion. Her research has been funded by the Anti-Defamation League\, the Samu eli Foundation\, the MacArthur Foundation\, the Gates Foundation\, the Nat ional Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation\, the National Science Found ation\, and the Universities of Cambridge\, Wisconsin-Madison\, and Califo rnia-Irvine. She has published over one hundred articles and book chapters including six conference proceedings\, four special journal issues\, and two books. She has worked closely with the National Research Council and N ational Academy of Education on special reports relate to videogames\, and her work has been featured in Science\, Wired\, USA Today\, New York Time s\, LA Times\, ABC\, CBS\, CNN NPR\, BBC and The Chronicle of Higher Educa tion.&nbsp\;</p>\n<p>Constance has a PhD in Literacy Studies\, an MS in Ed ucational Psychology\, and three Bachelor&rsquo\;s Degrees in Mathematics\ , English\, and Religious Studies. Her dissertation was a cognitive ethnog raphy of the MMOs Lineage I and II where she ran a large siege guild. Her husband Dr. Kurt Squire is Co-Director of the GLS center at UCI. They live with their two adolescent gamers in Southern California where they enjoy surfing\, hiking\, camping\, travel\, and all manner of headset-wearing\, dps-flinging\, computer-screened mayhem.&nbsp\;</p><br /><br />Agenda: <br /><p><span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_557201553"><span clas s="aQJ">6:30 PM Networking at physical meeting location<br></span></span>< span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_557201553"><span class="aQJ" >7:00 PM</span></span> Announcements and Presentation with Q&amp\;A<br>8:0 0 PM Follow-up quesitons for presenter and networking<br>8:30 PM Meeting A djourned</p> END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR