CALL FOR PAPERS 2003
Home Call for Papers 2003 Discussion February 2003 Workshop Furthering Reading Newsletter The Serious Games Project of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars is announcing a call for papers. The Serious Games Initiative is working to address four interrelated questions: What public policy and management issues or challenges are most amenable to computer-based gaming techniques? What existing and emerging game technologies (such as multi-user, virtual environments) might be particularly useful when applied to policy or management issues? How can we quickly expand the application of computer-based games to a much wider range of key challenges facing our government and other public or private organizations? How do we identify and proactively deal with any social, ethical, and/or legal issues that might arise through the application of game-based tools to public policy and management issues? To advance this agenda, the Woodrow Wilson Center launched the Serious Games initiative. Since 2002 it has published several papers and articles and hosted a major workshop in February 2003 that resulted in design treatments for several serious games for parks, hospitals, and high schools. These treatments are now being shown to a number of organizations that may result in their development. Digitalmill, a project development firm that manages the development of Virtual U, a game based simulation of university management is assisting on Serious Games. What we are looking for? We are primarily looking for new, unpublished papers, research, opinion pieces, and articles that discuss the creation and application of game-based tools to policy, training, and information dissemination challenges. We will also consider lightly published works such as pieces on personal Web sites, blogs, or corporate papers and Web sites. Works adapted, derived, or expanded from other published material can be submitted. Work or works derived from out-of-print publications will also be considered. Specific topics/pieces of interest include: Articles that discuss specific design and development approaches and best practices that are applicable to the creation of serious games. Case studies of Serious Games projects showing how they were developed, funded, distributed and implemented and what the results were (positive and/or negative). Pieces that explain how game-based approaches to learning, teaching, and training are useful and effective ways to disseminate learning and information. Articles that talk about how organizations can structure, fund, budget, and implement successful game projects. Papers which describe specific approaches to creating games that allow multiple viewpoints to be played, that enable scenarios creation, or other flexible capabilities to examine multiple situations and approaches to problem solving. Historical perspectives on the intersections between games, education, policy, or simulations. Publication Distribution The Wilson Center will make bound copies of the Annual available through its channels. Distribution points for the bound volumes will include the Center itself, direct mail, relevant conferences, and via direct request by interested parties. An electronic version of the annual will also be created and distributed online via the Serious Games Web site. Acceptance Deadline Papers will be accepted starting May 1, 2003 and are due no later than 8:00pm EST on October 1, 2003. How to Submit Please submit your works via email to seriousgames@dmill.com in MS Word (.doc), Rich Text Format (.RTF), or plain text (.TXT) formats. Please include: All contact information including email, address, and phone. A biography of the author An optional description of the author's organization. Any history of previous publishing include dates, form, and location of publication If you wish to submit an abstract, outline, or proposal for a piece prior to writing it, that is also welcome. We will try to reply within two weeks time to these requests. How Submissions Will Be Handled Once your work is submitted we will review it for inclusion in the annual. If we deem it fit for publication the author will be sent a simple contract to authorize publication in the annual and which explains specific obligations of each party. Upon signing, the work will be sent for copy-editing. Once it is copy-edited and reviewed by the Serious Games project it will be returned to the author to answer the comments and review changes. Once the author review is complete the work will be placed into production. When production is completed for all articles the annual will be published. Authors will receive 10 copies of the annual for their personal use. D.C. Serious Games Day Affiliated with the publication of the first Serious Games Annual will be the first D.C. Serious Games Day to be held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. this fall. The D.C. Serious Games Day will be a single day-long event meant to foster discussion, and interaction between developers/supporters of game-based technology and various government and non-government organizations who are interested in building game based tools. Speaking Opportunities Authors of papers and articles published in the first Serious Games Annual will be among the first invited to speak/present at the D.C. Day event. Publication Date The first Annual will debut at the end of 2003/beginning of 2004 depending on final editing, production, and printing needs. Further Questions If you have further questions about this project please contact David Rejeski at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, or Ben Sawyer from Digitalmill: David Rejeski: rejeskidw@wwic.si.edu Ben Sawyer: bsawyer@dmill.com