Christmas, Julen, Natale 2007

Dear friends and family
Kjære venner og familie
Cari amici e famiglie
All our best wishes to you for Christmas and the New Year, 2008!!
Alle våre beste hilsner a dere for Julen e det Nye Året, 2008!!
Tanti auguri per Natale e l'Anno Nuovo, 2008!!
Patrick & Patrizia

4 October: Free Burma!

Pacific Coast horseback trip in Chile

Here's a video/ photo montage we made from a horseback trip we enjoyed while we were in Chile this summer, organised (excellently) by Ritoque Expediciones who are based near Concòn, just north of Valparaiso on the Pacific Coast.

Great experience, beautiful views and nice company, and thanks from us both to one and all who made it possible!

Pedalling the Po, June 10th 2007

On the Right Hand Po Cycle Track, originally uploaded by Patrick Coppock.

The horizon is always long, low and very present as you cycle along the River Po. Here a view about 25 km from our starting point at Pontelagoscuro, not far north of Ferrara, heading downstream on the Right Hand Po Cycle Path

High water signs, originally uploaded by Patrick Coppock.

Right Bank of the Po, heading downstream. The water level of the Po is pretty high at the moment after heavy rains lately

Farm buildings, Right Bank of the Po, originally uploaded by Patrick Coppock.

Typical farm bulidings nestling safely behind the right bank of the Po

Fem Camp, Bologna May 26th 2007

Live Stream from Fem Camp was by Robin Good TV
Robin Good's You Tube Archive

Photos from the event at Flickr, courtesy of dottavi

femcamp

barcamp per parlare di donne nelle tecnologie e tecnologie delle donne / barcamp to talk about women in technologies and technologies of women

Il FemCamp ha un tema: le nuove tecnologie per valorizzare "le voci, le visioni, le azioni delle donne". Analizziamo insieme, donne e uomini, come svelare i condizionamenti dei comportamenti culturali, messi in atto dalla società, ed evitare la conseguente stereotipizzazione di entrambi i sessi.

Il FemCamp si inserisce nell'ambito del convegno transnazionale "E-WIT" di TechnéDonne, progetto finanziato dall'Iniziativa Comunitaria Equal, che nei due anni di attività ha cercato di contrastare la segregazione professionale femminile nelle ICT, affrontando in maniera innovativa il gender digital divide.

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The FemCamp has a main theme: the use of technology to empower "women’s voices, visions, and actions". We want to analize together, women and men, how to unveil the social construction of cultural patterns our society enforces, and therefore find ways to avoid gender stereotypes.

The FemCamp is part of the transnational conference "E-WIT", organised within the European project TechnéDonne, financed by the EU Equal Programme. Throughout its two years of activity, the project has being fighting women's professional segregation within the ICT field, trying to find innovative strategies to cope with the gender digital divide.

April 29th 2007: Political demonstration, Istanbul, Turkey

Demonstration, Taksim, Istanbul, Turkey, originally uploaded by Patrick Coppock.

The other week (April 27th to May 1st), while we were in Turkey for a long weekend visit to Istanbul together with our Bologna friends Irene Ruggero and Carlo Coniglio, we had the interesting and inspiring experience of being able to mingle with the enormous crowds of turkish citizens of all age groups, with a very large component of young people, both male and female, who took part in a vast peaceful demonstration in support of a secular state.

The scene above is from a brief gathering with public appeals and speeches held around the Independence Memorial in Taksim Square, high up on the East bank of the Golden Horn.

The Taksim area itself is well worth a visit in any case in order to enjoy the excellent views of the old city center on the other bank of the Golden Horn with the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace, and then to walk down the lively pedestrian precinct which meanders all the way back down to the waterfront again.

25-27.01.2007: Reggio Emilia: Game Philosophy Conference

The Philosophy of Computer Games:
An Interdisciplinary Conference

January 25th to 27th 2007

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Department of Social, Cognitive and Quantitative Sciences
42100 Reggio Emilia
ITALY

Dear Friends, Colleages, Students

This is the second announcement for the international conference "The Philosophy of Computer Games. An Interdisciplinary Conference", to be held at the Department of Social, Cognitive and Quantitative Sciences, Ex-Caserma Zucchi, Viale A. Allegri 9, Reggio Emilia from the 25th to 27th of January 2007

The purpose of the conference is to initiate an investigation into philosophical issues that is relevant to current research on computer games.

More detailed information is available on the conference website.
http://game.unimore.it

We hope to create a lively, informal and first and foremost interdisciplinary atmosphere, and you are cordially invited to attend and take part in the discussions.

A flyer for the event is enclosed with this mail, and we ask you to kindly circulate this, and otherwise publicise the event for those you know who may be interested in attending.

The whole conference has been recorded for web broadcasting and an edited video version is now available at http://tv.unimore.it

Registration may be carried out by sending an e-mail to olav.asheim@ifikk.uio.no.

There is no conference fee.

Welcome to Reggio Emilia!

Patrick Coppock
Locally Responsible in Reggio Emilia for the Organising Committee

Conference Programme

Thursday 25th
COMPUTER GAME ENTITIES

10.00 Registration

11.00 Introduction

11.10 Fictional, Simulated, Real: Towards an Ontology of Game Objects
Professor Espen Aarseth, Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark

12.00 Lunch

13.30 The Reality of Game Objects
Ph.d. candidate John Richard Sageng, University of Oslo, Norway

14.00 Gaming as an Aide to Metaphysical Speculation
Richard Clarkson, University of Durham, UK

14.30 The Temporality of Gaming
Associate professor Hallvard Fossheim, University of Oslo, Norway

15.00 Break

16.00 Is our Actual World Interactive: Some Philosophical Reflections about Videogaming and Life
Ph.d. candidate Dario Compagno, University of Siena, Italy

16.30 The Ludic Parenthesis
Professor Olav Asheim, University of Oslo, Norway


Friday 26th
PLAYER EXPERIENCE


10.00 Videogames, Fiction, and Reality
Visiting Assistant Professor Jonathan Frome, School of Film and Digital Media, University of Central Florida, USA

10.30 On The Phenomenology of Virtual Worlds
Ph.d. candidate Tarjei Mandt Larsen, University of Tromsø, Norway

11.00 The Irreducible Self. Image Studies of First Person Perspective Computer Games
Dr. Stephan Guenzel, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany

11.30 Visual Perception, Motor Action, and the Video Game Experience
Assistant Professor Ole Ertloev Hansen, VR Media Lab, Aalborg Universitet, Denmark

12.00 Lunch

13.30 Goals, Affects, and Empathy in Games
Research Assistant Petri Lankoski, Media Lab, University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland

14.00 Feeling So Real – a Phenomenological Exploration of the Realities of Emotions in Play
Olli Leino, Researcher, Dr. of Art candidate, Faculty of Art & Design, Dept. of Media, University of Lapland, Finland.

14.30 Ludic Reality: a construct for analysing meaning-mapping and epistemology in play
Dan Pinchbeck, Senior Lecturer, Department of Creative Technologies, University of Portsmouth, UK

15.00 Break

16.00 Virtual Consciousness and the Imaginary: A Phenomenological Sketch
Assistant Professor Nicolas De Warren, Wellesley College, UK

16.30 "Gamescapes": Spatial Orientation Without Physical Objects.
Associate Professor Anita Leirfall, University of Bergen. Norway

17.00 Virtual Realism: Player, Perception and Action in Video Game Play
Hanna K. Sommerseth, Graduate School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland

17.30 Playing Dress-Up: Costumes, roleplay and imagination
Ludica: Janine Fron, Independent Artist/Designer, Tracy Fullerton, University of Southern California, Jacquelyn Ford Morie, University of Southern California, Celia Pearce, Georgia Institute of Technology (presenter)


Saturday 27th
THE ETHICS OF COMPUTER GAMES

10.00 Gamers and the Good Life
Adam R. Briggle, The VICI Research Project: The Evaluation of the Cultural Quality of New Media, Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Netherlands

10.30 Computer Games and Reality: Transworld Identities
Patrick Coppock, Researcher, Department of Social, Cognitive and Quantitative Science, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy

11.00 Virtual Ethics: The Ethics of Virtual Worlds
Edward H. Spence, The VICI Research Project: The Evaluation of the Cultural Quality of New Media, Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Netherlands

11.30 Targeting the Kids: Computer Games as War Propaganda
Rune Ottosen, Oslo University College, Norway

12.00 Lunch

13.30 Severe Pain or Suffering: Videogames, Morality and Torture
MSc Student Peter Rauch, Comparative Media Studies. M.I.T., USA

14.00 Ethics and Practice in Virtual Worlds
Ren Reynolds

14.30 Instrumentalism and the Ethics of Videogame Play: The Tactical Iraqi Controversy
Writing Director Elizabeth Losh, University of California, USA

15.00-16.00 Closing Session