The Association of Internet Researchers is finally having its conference in Europe, specifically in Copenhagen, next October. Deadline for abstract submissions is February 7, call for papers here

Another event related to the Magic Circle, this time in Tampere, from the Hypermedia Lab - my source is the Terranova blog, anyway here it is:?Breaking the Magic Circle?Call for Papers: Game Studies Seminar, Tampere 10-11 April, 2008One of the classic theories of games and play was presented by Johan Huizinga in his work Homo Ludens (orig. from 1938). Huizinga wrote about the free and voluntary nature of play, how it is “an activity connected with no material interest” and how it “proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space”, involving and absorbing players utterly into a separate world set off from the “ordinary” life, while being created and maintained by communities of players.Huizinga’s view has become widely known within contemporary game studies, and it is often referred as the ‘Magic Circle’ view on games and play. This concept has also been widely criticised, as it has become increasingly obvious how various “games external” areas play an important role in digital play, and also because digital games have become more widely enmeshed with and applied into various economical, educational and other social and cultural processes and uses.”Breaking the Magic Circle” seminar invites presentations from multiple?> points of view, including theoretical as well as empirically based studies into that question or expand existing conceptions regarding digital games and play. Particular fields of study might include, but are not limited to:• pervasive, mobile or location based gaming,?• alternate reality gaming?• casual, non-immersive or coincidental forms of play,?• professional gaming,?• money gaming, betting and gambling within digital games and play.The seminar is fourth in the annual series of game studies working paper seminars organised by the Games Research Lab in the University of Tampere. Due to the work-in-progress emphasis, we strongly encourage submitting late breaking results, working papers and/or submissions from graduate students. Early considerations from projects currently in progress are most welcome, as the purpose of the seminar is to have peer-to-peer discussions and thereby provide support in refining and improving research work in this area. After the seminar, separate consideration will be given to various options of publishing the seminar papers.The papers to be presented will be chosen based on abstract review. Full papers are distributed prior the event to all participants, in order to facilitate discussion.The two-day event consists of themed sessions that aim to introduce current research projects and discuss ongoing work in studies of games, play and their relation to surrounding phenomena. The seminar will be chaired by professor Frans Mäyrä (Hypermedia Laboratory, University of Tampere). Paper commentators include researchers Markus Montola, Aki Järvinen and Simon Niedenthal, associate professor of interaction design.The seminar will be held in Tampere, Finland and will be free of charge; the number of participants will be restricted.Important Dates• Abstract Deadline: January 15, 2008?• Notification of Acceptance: January 30, 2008?• Full Paper deadline: March 27, 2007?• Seminar dates: April 10-11, 2007Submission GuidelinesAbstract submissions should include maximum of 1.000 words (excluding references). Abstracts should be send to info-gamestudies{at}uta.fi as plain text only (no attachments). Guidelines for submitting a full seminar paper will be provided with the notification of acceptance.Our aim is that everyone participating has been able to read materials submitted to the seminar, therefore the maximum length for a full paper is set to 6.000 words (excluding references). Note also that the presentations held at the seminar should also encourage discussion, instead of only repeating the information presented in the papers.Tentatively, every paper will be presented for 10 minutes and discussed for 20 minutes. -

Technorati Tags: Call for papers, conference, cross media, games, locative games

Last year in January a very cool, cosy and international event by the name of “Philosophy of Games conference” took place in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Next year it is going to be in Potsdam, Germany, less than an hour from Berlin, May 8 to 10, and the call for papers is now open - 2008 is the year of the magic circle, for some reason.

Technorati Tags: Call for papers, conference, event, games

I quote directly :
“The competition jury will award a prize of 2,500.00 euro to the work (published or unpublished) which best represents experimentation between arts and new technologies. The candidates for the prize (a short list of a maximum of 6 competitors) will be guests at the 4th edition of the Share Festival, taking place in Turin March 2008 at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti, Turin. In order to be declared winner of the prize, every artist has to take part in the 4th edition of Share Festival, by preparing his or her work of art, to be properly evaluated by jury and public.
The organization is available at offering all the costs regarding the preparation of the 6 selected works as well as travel and accommodation expenses for the artists, and, possibly, the prize itself.

Nomination of 6 candidates for the prize: by November, 2007. The announcement will be published on the following website: www.toshare.it The winner will be announced in March 2008 during the award ceremony at Share Festival”.

DEADLINE : 30 September 2007

Sort of interesting, and one of the first initiatives of the sort to be held in Italy…. I understand it also considers cross media productions

Mediacity - Situations, Practices and Encounters will take place in Weimar, Germany, 18-19th January 2008
the call is not just for papers but also for architectural projects and media art projects, all to explore how “the social settings and spaces of the city are created, experienced and practiced through the use and presence of new media”.

Very cool. Deadline 1st October 2007 for extended abstracts

Organized among others by Frank Eckardt and Kostantinos Chorianopoulos (I mention only the ones of which I read something, sorry) the angle should be very interdisciplinary, and that’s what we need.

Technorati Tags: Call for papers, conference, event, locative media, pervasive games

Next appointment on the list: the not-to-be-missed Cross Media Week, next September in Amsterdam, now at its second edition - calls are open for workshop proposals and events organization, take a look

Technorati Tags: conference, cross media, event

another great chance to ponder about the interrelation between cross media structure and games, and another call for papers that I am going to miss:

“The Future Play Conference focuses on three main themes. The first theme, future game development, addresses academic research and emerging industry trends in the area of game technology and game design. The second theme, future game impacts and applications, includes academic research and emerging industry trends focused on designing games for learning, for gender, for serious purposes, and to impact society. Finally, the third theme, future game talent, is designed to provide a number of industry and academic perspectives on the knowledge, skills, and attitude it takes to excel in the games industry.

Future Play addresses these issues through exciting and thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper sessions, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), workshops (including design, technology, and career workshops), and exhibitions of posters, games, and the latest game technologies and supports from industry-leading vendors. The highlight of the games exhibition is a peer-reviewed competition of games in three categories: Indie Games, Serious Games, and Student Games.

For Future Play 2007, Algoma University College teams up with the Ontario University Institute of Technology to bring you some of the most thought provoking and talented people in the gaming world today.”

Submission deadline: June 30, 2007

Technorati Tags: Call for papers, conference, event, games

Create your own locative game and organize it at the second edition of the “Come out &Play” festival in Amsterdam, within the Cross Media Week (September 21-29)
Games of the previous edition included spy games, sonic pong (! I have to ask how they did that!) make your own picture puzzle and conquer the city making phone calls.
These are great times for creative people…

Technorati Tags: Call for papers, conferences, cross media, locative games