Jobs at Georgia Tech

Two tenure-track lines in my school

The Georgia Tech School of Literature Communication and Culture, where I work, has just announced two tenure-track job openings. I’ve pasted the job ads below. I hope any of you who might be interested will apply, and I encourage the rest to spread the word. Job One – Digital Media The School of Literature, Communication and Culture of the Georgia… read more

Vegetamorphism

Ent as Metaphorism

I just read Ted Friedman’s thought-provoking article “The Politics of Magic: Fantasy Media, Technology, and Nature in the 21st Century,” about the reasons for the rise of fantasy genres in popular culture. He’s currently developing this line of thought into a book (to be titled Centaur Manifesto, I believe), but there are lots of interesting ideas to take away from… read more

Promiscuous Ontologies

OOO at the RMMLA

It was particularly appropriate to come to Albuquerque to speak on object-oriented ontology with Levi Bryant and Tim Morton. Why? Well, you’ll have to wait for Alien Phenomenology to understand, but it will be clear on the first page. The RMMLA was lively and fun, much unlike it’s bigger brother (sister? crazy uncle?) the MLA. I enjoyed meeting folks for… read more

A Slow Year Wins at Indiecade

My Atari VCS game earns Virtuoso, Vanguard awards

Last week and weekend I exhibited A Slow Year, my Atari VCS game poem project, at Indiecade. The show and the conference were fantastic, and it was a pleasure to meet new friends, see old ones, hear great talks, and see great games. I was particularly happy to meet Gaijin Games’s Alex Neuse, to finally get to play Chris Hecker’s… read more

Newsgames is Now Shipping

I’ve had a very busy week with both GDC Online and Indiecade, following right on the heels of two other conferences back home. There’s much to report, and I’ll be doing so in the coming days. For now, I want to note that Newsgames is now shipping, and you can get it from Amazon.com or your favorite bookseller.

Ruminations on Cow Clicker

My GDC Online Talk

Yesterday I gave my talk at GDC Online, about Cow Clicker. You can read Gamasutra’s recap of it, and you might also want to read Raph Koster’s thoughts. Next stop, Indiecade, where I’ll be showing A Slow Year.

Free Speech is Not a Marketing Plan

About Medal of Honor and Afghanistan. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments from the State of California, as the latter attempts to prohibit the sale of certain games to minors. The issue has remained a nail-biter for the industry and its advocates, who see the proposal as an attack on the First Amendment rights of game makers. Despite its importance to American life,… read more

Period Pieces

Cultural Studies, circa 1995

I recently fell upon this reprint of a Lingua Franca article from 1995, “The Routledge Revolution: Has Academic Publishing Gone Tabloid?” written about Bill Germano during the golden age of cultural studies book publishing. One thing is for certain: By spotting intellectual trends ahead of the curve and responding with a flash flood of suitable titles, Germano has changed the… read more

A Slow Year Cover Art

The book jacket for my game

A Slow Year has gone to the printer at long last. I thought I’d share the jacket art. I’ve shown the illustration here before, but not the cover. This is the jacket for the standard edition, which will be available in trade paperback with software for Windows and Mac. The limited edition with Atari cartridge will be different, of course,… read more

Ian became a fan of Marshall McLuhan on Facebook and suggested you become a fan too.

In Facebook and Philosophy: What's on Your Mind?, edited by D.E. Wittkower

In Facebook and Philosophy I received two degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, but Facebook won’t let me join the UCLA network. A Facebook network is an organizational category that allows my profile to come up when someone searches or browses in a particular group. At different stages in the life of the service, networks have been organized… read more