ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4866-4928
Current Organisation
University of Sydney
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Media studies | Communication and media studies |
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-06-2022
Publisher: ACM
Date: 23-10-2018
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-09-2022
DOI: 10.1177/14614448221119785
Abstract: Spatial computing – that is, a form of human–computer interaction that retains or manipulates referents of real object and spaces – is an increasingly intense focus for Meta. In 2018, Meta launched ‘Reality Labs’ (RL), a research and development ision to oversee the company’s production of spatial computing technologies. Drawing on a media historiographical approach from platform studies, this article charts the development of the company’s spatial computing ambitions through RL from 2018 to 2022. In so doing, we find that Meta attempts to consolidate complementors through acquisitions, capture policymakers and academics, convene third-party businesses and developers, and expand its ecosystem through enhancing platform programmability. We argue that RL’s efforts to grow the platform from within, and through drawing in third-parties, signals an ambition to grow their spatial computing offerings such that they take on a central, infrastructural role in society.
Publisher: Intellect
Date: 03-2021
DOI: 10.1386/JGVW_00025_1
Abstract: This article focuses on the interactivity afforded to audiences by the video game livestreaming platform twitch.tv. Drawing on theories of audience labour, we explore what audience interactivity on Twitch might mean within the context of the contemporary digital economy. Specifically, and inspired by a range of existing work in media and cultural studies research on audiences, we argue that interactive audience practices on Twitch can be read as a site of ‘audience work’. Our contention is that the various kinds of interactive, audience practices on Twitch generate considerable economic value for the platform and its broadcasters. In the context of growing academic interest in livestreaming platforms like Twitch, this article contributes a new perspective towards the role that the interactivity of Twitch plays in creating commodified and commercially desirable experiences via the labour of audience activity.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 27-10-2021
DOI: 10.1177/1329878X211041670
Abstract: Virtual reality – a site of renewed interest for major players in the tech industry – is increasingly one fraught with questions of data capture. This article examines the case of the Facebook owned virtual reality company Oculus and its intensifying privacy and surveillance risks with respect to the data generated and gathered through its devices. To explore the surveillance-centred structures of Oculus, this article examines Oculus’ privacy policies from December 2014 (the first version following the company's acquisition by Facebook), and October 2020 (the most recent iteration of the policy). In so doing, we examine these policies as sites of discourse, asking how they frame and afford power and control to Facebook, and position Facebook and Oculus’ surveillant aims and logics relative to societal concerns about, and regulations of, data.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 24-09-2020
Abstract: This article explores the Oculus suite of virtual reality (VR) technologies, with a specific focus on the period following the company’s 2014 acquisition by Facebook. Through a close reading of promotional material, we first describe and analyse the ‘Oculus imaginary’ – the narrative produced by Facebook about the Oculus as integrated into and enhancing the experience of Facebook’s wider suite of social software. The purpose of this narrative, we suggest, is to construct and ‘sell’ a Facebook-specific vision of VR’s potentials – one that is appealing both to end users and platform complementors – and moreover, a vision that appears to be conducive to Facebook’s current methods for accumulating profit and power. Following on, we develop via a study of YouTube user comments posted on promotional videos for the Oculus, an anticipatory account of how the Oculus imaginary is perceived to relate to the lives and values of everyday in iduals.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 13-04-2021
DOI: 10.1177/15554120211005231
Abstract: In game studies, meaningful play is commonly discussed and situated through Salen and Zimmerman’s (2004) definition describing it as the integrated and discernible relationship between player actions and system outcomes within the context of the game. However, this overlooks other ways that play can be meaningful. Based on observation and interviews with 20 Australian players, this article examines experiences with death in the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D& D). In the context of meaningful play ( Salen & Zimmerman, 2004 ) and positive negative experiences ( Hopeametsä, 2008 ), we discuss (1) the impact of shared physical and social realities on death in D& D, (2) the design of death in D& D, and (3) how death in D& D shapes the future play and lives of players. From this, we argue that play can have meaning that transcends game boundaries, subsequently proposing the concept of “ pivotal play” to describe appealing, memorable, and transformative play experiences.
Publisher: ACM
Date: 23-10-2018
Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Date: 28-04-2017
DOI: 10.1145/3064937
Abstract: Selection is a canonical task in user interfaces, commonly supported by presenting objects for acquisition by pointing. In this article, we consider motion correlation as an alternative for selection. The principle is to represent available objects by motion in the interface, have users identify a target by mimicking its specific motion, and use the correlation between the system’s output with the user’s input to determine the selection. The resulting interaction has compelling properties, as users are guided by motion feedback, and only need to copy a presented motion. Motion correlation has been explored in earlier work but only recently begun to feature in holistic interface designs. We provide a first comprehensive review of the principle, and present an analysis of five previously published works, in which motion correlation underpinned the design of novel gaze and gesture interfaces for erse application contexts. We derive guidelines for motion correlation algorithms, motion feedback, choice of modalities, overall design of motion correlation interfaces, and identify opportunities and challenges identified for future research and design.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-10-2020
Abstract: The U.S. televised game Survivor is fascinating for the study of multiplayer games because the winner of a season of Survivor is not dictated by the rules. Instead, a “jury” of eliminated players vote for which of the remaining two to three contestants deserve to win the US$1,000,000 prize, based entirely on their personal opinion. In this article, I present an analysis of Final Tribal Council, where this decision is made, revealing the key themes that influence this decision. I subsequently propose a social constructionist approach to understanding and researching multiplayer games as moral economies, where erse types of play are given different values by players. I argue that this approach provides a useful theoretical framework for an integrated understanding of how both game and nongame elements work to influence player behavior and experience.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-01-2021
DOI: 10.1002/ZOO.21587
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 13-04-2023
DOI: 10.1177/14614448231158614
Abstract: Videogames are an increasingly prominent use case for blockchain technology (what has been termed ‘cryptogaming’). Drawing on documents, such as industry presentations, social media posts, interviews and white papers, this article analyses discourses surrounding cryptogames, focusing on the claims made by cryptogame developers and investors. We ask two related research questions: What are the dominant visions of a cryptogaming future, imagined by and for various constituencies? And what sorts of values get realised in such an imagined future of game development and use? We argue that cryptogames imagine players and developers as financialised subjects, adopting attitudes and practices of risk and investment as salves to both microeconomic problems in the games industry as well as broader macroeconomic issues.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 30-03-2020
Abstract: Fortnite is a massively multiplayer online “battle royale” game that rapidly grew in 2018 to become one of the most popular digital games in the world, with a reported peak of 10.8 million concurrent players and 250 million registered players in March 2019. Based on 24 interviews with young people aged 9–14 (17 boys and 7 girls), this article sets out to provide an account of the appeal and experience of Fortnite. While it is impossible to pinpoint exactly why Fortnite has been such a phenomenal, global success, in this article, we argue that its appeal can be better explained by its intersections with YouTube and game livestreaming, the way the game acts as a vehicle for social capital and the performance of identity, and the rich sociality of play.
Publisher: ACM
Date: 05-12-2022
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-05-2021
DOI: 10.1177/14614448211012794
Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology with the potential to extract significantly more data about learners and the learning process. In this article, we present an analysis of how VR education technology companies frame, use and analyse this data. We found both an expansion and acceleration of what data are being collected about learners and how these data are being mobilised in potentially discriminatory and problematic ways. Beyond providing evidence for how VR represents an intensification of the datafication of education, we discuss three interrelated critical issues that are specific to VR: the fantasy that VR data is ‘perfect’, the datafication of soft-skills training, and the commercialisation and commodification of VR data. In the context of the issues identified, we caution the unregulated and uncritical application of learning analytics to the data that are collected from VR training.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-06-2020
Abstract: Playing digital games is increasingly pathologized as an addiction or a disorder, but there is limited research into the impact of game addiction discourse on children who play digital games. In this article, we present results from a study into the digital play of twenty-four 9–14-year-olds, attending to our participants’ perspectives and attitudes towards ‘game addiction’ and how it interacts with their play and identity. Focused primarily on the online multiplayer first-person shooter game Fortnite, we examine how children encounter and attempt to negotiate game addiction discourse and demonstrate how the discourse in and of itself produces challenges for young people whose interests and passions revolve around games. This article subsequently discusses how the discursive frameworks that are perpetuated in the media around ‘problematic play’ need to incorporate and be inclusive of the child’s right to play, and the relevance of our findings to the study of media panic and children’s critical media literacies.
Start Date: 06-2023
End Date: 06-2027
Amount: $911,616.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
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