Video games - more than just fun for master's student Allenby

trevor.kenney — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 22:03:53 +0000

When most people think of video games they think of a toy, a game, a way to waste a few hours having fun. When master's student Cassandra Allenby (BFA '15) thinks about video games she sees the potential for so much more.

“I love video games, playing them and creating them. That’s what brought me to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge New Media program,” says Allenby. “But I realized the field is saturated so I started thinking about other things I could do with these same interests.”

Studying in the Master of Fine Arts New Media program, Cassandra Allenby sees great potential in using video game technology in other realms. PHOTO by Sally Leung.

U of L new media faculty helped direct her interest into new areas; specifically, immersive technology.

“Dr. David Clearwater, Dana Cooley and, my graduate studies supervisor, James Graham all work in this area,” explains Allenby. “For example, James uses technology to interact with cultural objects. It enables play in immersive environments and a potential for knowledge acquisition and engineering experiences.”

Although Graham’s theory classes may be credited for piquing her interest, her current area of study and focus of her MFA research was inspired by art professor Dr. Anne Dymond.

Dymond put a call out for students to help research an idea. She observed how her young children were able to learn and memorize while playing video games and wanted to figure out how to inspire this same level of knowledge acquisition in the classroom. Allenby worked with Dymond as part of the internship element of the BFA - New Media program and was inspired to take on more in-depth research around how technology can affect humans.

These one-on-one relationships and opportunities to work with faculty members drew Allenby to continue her studies in the U of L's MFA program.

“I know I can approach faculty members and other students for help,” says Allenby. “It’s a very open community with lots of knowledge sharing: like having open-source information available. Not to mention the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is in the top three universities in the country for research.”

As an MFA student, Allenby’s goal is to explore the potentiality of technology by creating new systems and legitimizing game mechanics and technologies in the art world and for the general public.

“People view play, particularly video games, as frivolous. I’m trying to put ‘play’ in a different context,” says Allenby. “The framework is there to do amazing things but it isn’t being used to its full potential. I want to legitimize how it can be used and make it accessible to the general public for social activism, political activism and even in the workplace.”

Allenby looks forward to sharing these ideas during her presentation “The Art of Play” on Saturday, January 16, 2015 as one of 17 graduate students presenting in the second annual Fine Arts Graduate Student Colloquium. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

During her presentation Allenby promises to introduce play theory and make it easy for everyone to understand.

She says, “It’s a privilege to talk about this in an academic environment, but I want to expand the ideas to the general public by talking about what already exists, taking technologies and systems, and using them in different ways.”

Campus Kudos - June

trevor.kenney — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:54:51 +0000

Dr. Heidi MacDonald (History) received an award for the best English-language academic article deemed to make an original and scholarly contribution to the field of women's and gender history by the Canadian Committee on Women's History. Her article, Who Counts? Nuns, Work and the Census of Canada, was published in a recent issue of Histoire Sociale/Social History. Reviewers indicated that MacDonald produced "…an impressive and insightful piece of work on the various ways in which women religious (nuns) have been excluded or significantly undercounted in the Canadian census."

Taras Polataiko's (Art) painting was on view at the National Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv. The work was part of an international exhibition curated by Kateryna Botanova.

Annie Martin's (Art) installation Untitled (horizon) was exhibited in the PAVED Arts main gallery in Saskatoon. A critical text was also commissioned to accompany this exhibition.

Dana Cooley (New Media) has a video work in the group show, A Century of Artists' Films, at the Theatr Mwldan in Wales. Curated by Mike Cousin in partnership with Oriel Mwldan, the show runs until July 2.

Three ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge teams recently walked to raise money to End MS, totalling an impressive $6,762.05 that was donated to the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. The team from the Faculty of Education, captained by
Dr. Cathy Campbell, and consisting of Dr. Robin Bright, Dr. Noella Piquette-Tomei and Dr. Cynthia Chambers raised $2,935. The team from Administration, captained by Dr. Mike Mahon, and consisting of Maureen Mahon, Laurel Corbiere, Trish Jackson, Virginia Wishart and Robin Hopkins raised $2,725. The team from the Faculty of Management, captained by Dr. Lori Kopp, and consisting of Dr. Robert Ellis, Dr. Sameer Deshpande, Dr. Brian Dobing, Dr. Pam Loewen, Joan Kendall, Diane Boyle and Steve Craig raised $1,102.05.

Pictured left to right are iGEM team members Harland Brandon, (fourth-year Biochemistry), Justin Vigar, ( fifth-year Biochemistry) and MSc candidate Lisza Bruder, BSc ’11.

Clark Ferguson, the U of L's chief information officer, presented the keynote address at the Futures in it – Collaboration Western Canada Academy Conference in Calgary recently. Ferguson's address was titled Business Experience – Applied to Post Secondary at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Dr. Austin Mardon (BA'85) received an honorary doctor of laws from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta at its Spring Convocation ceremonies. Mardon, an inspiring advocate for the mentally ill, is a member of the Order of Canada and a past recipient of the CM Hincks Award, the highest award given by the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Three members of the U of L iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machines) team are travelling to Stanford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in California to attend the 5th International Meeting on Synthetic biology. The sold-out conference attracts researchers from around the world who are working in the growing field of synthetic biology.

Dr. David Clearwater's (New Media) essay, What Defines Video Game Genre? Thinking about Genre Study after the Great Divide, was published in the Spring 2011 issue of Loading... (a Canadian journal covering videogames and interactive entertainment).

Dr. Josephine Mills (director/curator U of L Art Gallery) has recently been named president of the Canadian Art Museum Directors' Organization.

Dagmar Dahle's (Art) work was included in the exhibition ANIMAL, appearing at Museum London in Ontario.

Loralee Sand Edwards' (BFA '05) exhibition iGallery: curated auto-paparazzi (Self-Portraiture in a Digital Age) is in the Main Gallery of the Bowman Arts Centre until July 10.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - David Clearwater

Video games - more than just fun for master's student Allenby

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