2022 Symposium

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Kris Alexander
Dr. Kris Alexander is an enthusiast video game player, who now is focused on connecting the realm of academia to the cultural nuances of video games and esports.
Dr. Alexander earned his PhD at Concordia University in the Department of Education in 2016. His thesis was entitled Video Games and Interactivity: The Semiotics of Multimedia in Instructional Design. His research focuses on video games, specifically, how video game design, and esports infrastructure provide models for developing active engagement within higher education. It also looks at the influence of video games on attitudes and capacities of individuals and communities of fans, distinguishing between the casual and enthusiast.
Most recently, Dr Alexander has undertaken research-creation in the area of esports, where he developed curriculum for video game engine architecture, and helped build esports infrastructure via 2 training facilities and eight collegiate esport teams. Further, Dr. Alexander is currently developing his own video game which will embody his research in audience engagement via interactivity. His work contributes to an understanding of why video games and esports are so captivating.
Additionally, Dr. Alexander was formerly the #1 Canadian LightseekersTM player (Seasons 3 - 10), was formerly globally ranked #17th in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition and is a content streamer known as “PhDigi”.

Dr. Negin Dahya
Dr. Negin Dahya is Assistant Professor at The Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology (ICCIT) at University of Toronto. She is the appointment Special Advisor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Office of the Dean, University of Toronto Mississauga. Dahya’s research focuses on race and gender equity among girls and women of colour, with a focus on media education and media production. Dahya also conducts research with refugee communities in resettlement in North America and in refugee camps, exploring the roles and relationships between education and technology in their lives. Dahya adopts critical race theory, postcolonial theory, and feminist science and technology studies to understand the social and cultural complexities of women’s lived experiences with technology. Dahya has published in Learning, Media & Technology, Journal of Documentation, Comparative Education, Information, Communication and Society, among other venues. More information about her work can be found at www.negindahya.ca.

Dr. TreaAndrea M. Russworm
A self-proclaimed AfroGeek, TreaAndrea M. Russworm is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Series Editor of Power Play: Games, Politics, Culture (Duke University Press). She is also currently an Associate Editor for Outreach and Equity for the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. With research expertise in digital media, popular culture, and African American studies, Professor Russworm is also the founder of Radical Play, a public humanities initiative and afterschool program in Springfield, MA, and she is the author or editor of three books: Blackness is Burning: Civil Rights, Popular Culture, and the Problem of Recognition; Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games; and From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry. She is currently writing three new books on race, video games, and the politics of play.

Panels

Research Panel 1: Mental Illness, Disability, and Video Games

9:30am MST / 11:30am EST
Melody Dowdy, “Rule-Adherence in Mental Illness and Video Games”
Amy LeBlanc, “Kitty Horrorshow’s Anatomy: Illness, Gothic Access, and Bodily Doubt”
Eden Middleton, “When I Die, I Want it to Hurt: Haunting and Disability in Night in the Woods”
Research Panel 2: Queer, Decolonial, and Global Approaches to Digital Texts

11:30am MST / 1:30pm EST
Tarini Fernando, “Decolonizing Video Game Structure in Elizabeth LaPensée's Thunderbird Strike.”
Emily Mohabir, “Because This is My Lifetime Drama: Young People's Digital and Intertextual Engagement with Korean Dramas”
Dylan Paré, “Technology in the Margins: Reorienting Toward LGBTQ+ Experiences in the Design of Technology Learning Environments”
Jeffrey Stinson, “The Zombie Apocalypse Wears a Trucker's Hat: The Impact of Queer Temporality on Player Affect in Left Behind”
Keynote Roundtable

1:30pm MST / 3:30pm EST
Moderators
Dr. Derritt Mason (UCalgary) and Dr. Catherine Burwell (UCalgary)
Panellists
Dr. Kris Alexander (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Dr. Negin Dahya (University of Toronto)
Dr. TreaAndrea M. Russworm (UMass Amherst)