The Engagement Lab at Emerson College is an applied research lab in Boston, Massachusetts, dedicated to innovating the ways people participate in civic life and expanding the study of citizenship in a digital era. By working with city and state governments and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Engagement Lab collaborates with partners both locally and globally to develop software that addresses systemic, cultural, and health issues, from global warming to hand-washing.
In this podcast, creative producer Jordan Pailthorpe and lead developer Johnny Richardson discuss how the Engagement Lab uses digital technology to create unique solutions to address problems both big and small; how partnerships form with governments as far away from Egypt, and the workshops such collaborations have produced in both Egypt and Boston; the responsibility of game developers to produce software with social values, and how that’s reflected in the Engagement Lab’s values; how the Engagement Lab fits into the larger mission of Emerson College; and Johnny’s work with The AbleGamers Charity to encourage and implement software and hardware accessibility.
Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Emerson Engagement Lab
- Emerson Engagement Lab on TheoNerd
- Seed Global Health
- The AbleGamers Charity
- AbleGamers’ Includification guide for developers
- SpecialEffect on Polygamer
- BostonFIG co-founder Fiona Cherbak on Polygamer
- Boston Coastline: Future Past
- Civic Media, Art & Practice (CMAP) graduate degree program at Emerson College
- Girls Make Games
- Code Liberation Foundation on Polygamer
Full disclosure: I am currently on the adjunct faculty of Emerson College.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:25 — 24.4MB) | Embed
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