I’ll be giving this presentation on Thursday, April 1st, 3:00 – 5:00 pm, at the Augmented Reality Lab at York University, Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, Room 309 CFA. All are welcome.

Here’s the abstract: Following the launch of the Serious Games Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2002, academics have explored the use of gaming strategies and technologies to teach “serious” content.  Eight years later, it is time to take stock: what have we learned?  In this presentation I will draw conclusions from the literature, and from my research, making reference to several Canadian history “serious games” that I have developed (including games in virtual worlds, isometric environments, and mixed-reality and augmented-reality environments (including a heritage tour/game for the iPhone)).  I will explain why I think we should stop using the term “serious game”, and why I think the playful use of mixed- and augmented-reality is rich with potential for historians and other humanists.