Speakers
John Aycock
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John Aycock is a full professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary, Canada. In collaboration with archaeologists, game historians, and others, he researches the implementation of old computer games. He has published two books on the topic (Retrogame Archaeology: Exploring Old Computer Games, 2016; Amnesia Remembered: Reverse Engineering a Digital Artifact, 2023) in addition to numerous journal and conference publications.
Charlotte Courtois
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Charlotte Courtois is a PhD candidate at Université de Montréal. Her research-creation work focuses on the history of pornographic video games on Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, as she uses those platforms to develop queer inclusive explicit games. She’s the co-organiser of “Input, Poke, Save”, a Discord-based annual seminar on platform studies approach to video games. She works with Professor Caroline Bem on organising exhibitions of video games against gender-based, sexual, queerphobic, and racist violence on university campuses. She develops games on the topic of politics and sexuality on https://miramar.itch.io/
Alex Custodio
Alex Custodio is an academic, author, and artist based in Montreal. As an SSHRC-funded PhD student in Concordia University’s Humanities program, their research focuses on fan communities, videogame afterlives, and techniques of hardware and software hacking. Their first monograph, Who Are You? Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance Platform is available from the MIT Press. You can find more of their work at alexcustodio.com.
Chris Gibbs
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Upon graduating with a degree in Software Engineering in 1988, Chris co-founded a UK games development studio, Attention To Detail and was managing director through until 2003. ATD designed and developed video games for publishers worldwide, across all genres but notably racing, sports and action.
From 2003 to 2012, Chris was Executive Producer and Studio Manager for Electronic Arts, specialising in Mobile Game Development and pioneering the move to touchscreens and games-as-a service. From 2014 to 2019 Chrisdesigned, developed and launched his own mobile game, Smart Numbers, which Apple made Game of the Week in over 50 countries.
In 2021 Chris joined Concordia University where he leads development of the TOOLS4Cities software with a particular focus on creating user experiences that demystify the science and applying principals of gaming to engage users with the issues of urban sustainability and livability.
Rilla Khaled
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Dr. Rilla Khaled is an Associate Professor of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. She is Associate Director of the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre. Her work focuses on how playful media can improve daily life and spans establishing foundations for recoverable, materials-based game design research, articulating boundaries for experimental uses of AI, designing award-winning games, creating speculative prototypes of near-future technologies, and working with BIPOC communities to materialise inclusive futures.
Cindy Poremba
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Cindy Poremba, Ph.D., is a digital media researcher, game maker, and curator. They are an Associate Professor (Digital Futures) at OCAD University (Tkaronto/Toronto, CA) and Co-Director of OCAD’s game:play Lab. Dr. Poremba has presented internationally at conferences, festivals, and invited lectures, on topics relating to game art and curation, capture in postmedia practices, and interactive documentaries. Cindy also organizes non-traditional exhibitions as an independent curator. Their award-winning game and “New Arcade” work, independently and as a member of the Kokoromi experimental videogame collective, has been featured in both international game and digital art exhibitions.
Andrew Hogue
Alex Custodio is an author, artist, and academic based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). As a PhD candidate at Concordia University, they research handheld platforms, videogame afterlives, and fan communities, focusing specifically on the Game Boy. Alex is the author of Who Are You? Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance Platform (MIT Press, 2020) and they also organize modding and game making workshops in Canada and abroad. You can find more of their work at alexcustodio.com.
Femke Kocken
To be announced
Mia Clarkson
Mia Clarkson, MA, MLIS, is a Librarian at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario, specializing in Copyright & Scholarly Communications. Her previous library work focused on preservation and access for media collections including video games; this now intersects with her research on the challenges of saving and sharing video game history under Canadian Copyright Law. Her other research interests include digital platforms as pedagogical tools, information literacy and media literacy.
Magnus Berg
Magnus Berg (they/he) is the Digital Scholarship Librarian at the University of Toronto, Mississauga where they support digital scholarship, media collections, digitization, and digital preservation alongside serving as the liaison for Philosophy. They hold an MA in Film + Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Master of Library and Information Science from Western University. Their research interests include trans and gender diverse labour, media preservation, and copyright implications for archives and special collections.
Henrique
Henrique de Freitas is a research assistant of Professor Yann-Gaël Guéhéneuc, also a proud member of PTIDEJ(Pattern Trace Identification, Detection, and Enhancement in Java) Team and a full stack developer for one of Concordia’s projects for Bridging Divides (A seven-year interdisciplinary initiative investigating the challenges and opportunities of migrant integration ,funded by the Government of Canada through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF)). Although he has not yet finished his bachelor’s in Computer Science in his home country, his experience preceds with four years of bachelor in Physic’s and and 35 certificates also equivalent 4 completed courses in web development, mobile development, software development and UI/UX.Summing up to many years of full time studying in Alura Courses Platform, interships and work experience.
Kristian
To be announced
Aleksander Francizek
Aleksander Franiczek is currently an English PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo. His doctoral research develops a theory and methodology for understanding the player’s experience of narrative in videogames and the role of narrative design in building the meaning of that experience. His main research topics include the textuality and practice of narrative design, role-playing, game history, and critical media studies. He is a member of the university’s Critical Media Lab and Games Institute. He is also a writer and podcaster for the game criticism website RPGFan.
Robert Glashüttner
To be announced