Two notes apropos of Graham Harman
Along with several others, contemporary philosopher Graham Harman has been instrumental in rekindling the thirsty brush of philosophy, igniting a new and exciting fire in this tired old field. It has become known as Speculative Realism. Harman’s work has become tremendously influential in my recent thinking, despite my not (yet) having made this influence as apparent in print as I… read more
A "debate" between myself and Jay Bolter
This past week, renowned new media scholar and colleague Jay Bolter and I staged a debate on theory in the study of digital media. Here’s how we described it: The Digital Media program in LCC is described on its website as follows: â??The Georgia Tech Digital Media Ph.D. provides both the theoretical and the practical foundation for careers as digital… read more
Following reflections on Georgia Tech president Wayne Clough's appointment to the Secretaryship of the Smithsonian
Today G. Wayne Clough, the president of Georgia Tech, announced his plans to step down as of mid-summer to take the top post at the Smithsonian Institute. The Smithsonian has been plagued by many problems in recent years, from major budget overruns to a crippling executive corruption scandal last year that forced the last Secretary out. The challenges of the… read more
My keynote presentation at the 2008 Game Developers Conference Education Summit
Note: this is a written version of the keynote address I gave at the Education Summit at the 2008 Game Developers Conference. The original presentation was extemporaneous and included evocative (rather than explanatory) slides. This version has been adapted from the presentation and the slides in a manner that will hopefully preserve the ideas fully while maintaining their original context:… read more
My plenary address at the Southern Interactive Entertainment & Game Expo
The following is the plenary address I gave today at the first SIEGE conference here in Atlanta on October 6, 2007. The title of the session was â??Games: Can They Be Important?â? My fellow plenary speakers were Ernest Adams and Daniel Greenberg. Today it is possible to work though an entire undergraduate and graduate education in videogames. Whether thatâ??s… read more
Who I am and what I do
Looking for a bio (long, short)?Looking for photos of me?Want my curriculum vitae?Trying to contact me? Dr. Ian Bogost is an award-winning author and game designer whose work focuses on videogames and computational media. He is Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he also holds an… read more
An Approach to Videogame Criticism
This book is available in digital or physical format. Buy from Amazon A book about comparative videogame criticism: games, philosophy, literature, and art. In Unit Operations, Ian Bogost argues that similar principles underlie both literary theory and computation, proposing a literary-technical theory that can be used to analyze particular videogames. Moreover, this approach can be applied beyond videogames: Bogost suggests… read more
On videogames as art. From the IGDA Ivory Tower Column.
When it comes to industry and academic collaboration, I can say with certainty that both sides are dealing in good faith; all of us are confident that some real benefit will come from cooperation. But so far, most talk about collaboration has focused on foreseeable ends. Games are big business, so both publishers and developers need to keep their eyes… read more