RESEARCH
Projects Directly Related to My Playful Resistance & Computationally Supported Countercultures Research Focuses
COUNTERSPACE GAMES FOR BLACK, INDIGENOUS, AND OTHER WOMEN OF COLOR STEM STUDENTS
September 2019 - Present
We are co-designing games with Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color studying STEM. This project operates under the idea that practicing joy and interdependence can combat oppression as personal playful methods of resistance and that this can be facilitated by counterspaces (or spaces for support of marginalized groups at the periphery of a dominant culture). This research will explore designs of playful counterspaces as games with BIWOC in STEM to combat experiences of oppression in STEM culture.
EXPLORING PLACEMAKING IN VR TOWARDS A MORE INCLUSIVE METAVERSE
July 2022 - Present
We are currently exploring how placemaking can be applied to create counterspaces in VR environments towards a more inclusive metaverse. We are starting with pilot studies using qualitative inquiry to explore how placemaking in the metaverse can cultivate social VR places (not just spaces) that: 1) cultivate diverse community intersections, 2) support identity safety of marginalized individuals, 3) center rest and healing as a method of addressing and coping with negative experiences in the metaverse, and 4) facilitate counter storytelling in real-time. This research aims to empower marginalized communities as creators of the metaverse as it emerges.
LAB COUNTERCULTURE
September 2019 - January 2020
While academic research culture varies across schools, disciplines, and individual labs, the material and mental well-being of both graduate students and faculty are often negatively impacted by systemic factors in academia. Here we unpack these patterns in order to counter the narrative that individualistic solutions can bring about change. We illustrate how focus on quantitative outcomes, perfectionism, competition, time scarcity, power dynamics, bias towards maintaining the status quo, and financial stress contribute to negative lab culture. We describe specific, concrete, and actionable practices we institute in our lab to counter these systemic factors. We end by opening the conversation to other researchers to examine and counter toxic lab culture to promote supportive, inclusive, and ethical research. [TL;DR blog post] (Photo by Mario Gogh on Unsplash)
GAME DESIGN AS PLACEMAKING COUNTERSPACE
May 2022 - Present
Work in progress: Players sometimes describe getting "lost" in a good game, in which the norms of reality may not apply and a sense of psychological safety pervades. Because games can become spaces of significance for players, they can be intentionally designed to be counterspaces, or spaces that combat oppressive aspects of a dominant culture. In doing so, counterspace games could center the joy, rest, and healing of marginalized people. Designing games that function as counterspaces requires centering marginalized players as collaborators in their design while intentionally reframing the game as a place. We therefore propose that established practices and principles of placemaking can be fruitfully adapted for counterspace game design. We contribute guiding design principles and actionable strategies adapted from placemaking that can support crafting counterspace games that function not only as magic circles, but also as magic shields and magic gardens for developing personal playful methods of resisting oppression through joy, rest, and healing in play.
