AbleGamers | Polygamer

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 Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:25 — 24.4MB) | Embed

SpecialEffect is a UK-based organization that uses technology to enhance the quality of life of people with physical disabilities by providing them with access to video games. Whether a gamer’s challenge arises from a congenital birth issues, car accident, stroke, or war wound, SpecialEffect adapts video game hardware to make games more accessible, all at no cost to the client.

In this week’s podcast, SpecialEffect communications officer Mark Saville discusses the variety of approaches that the organization’s engineers and occupational therapists take to adapt today’s video games to each unique patient and situation. We discuss how today’s increasingly advanced games and input methods have been accommodated by advances in technology, such as eye tracking; whether motion controls, mobile games, and virtual reality have made games more or less accessible; how accessibility stems not just from physical disabilities, but also cognitive and age-related issues as well. Finally, we look forward to GameBlast, a weekend-long gaming marathon being held February 26–28 as a fundraiser for the organization.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 45:41 — 21.8MB) | Embed

Tag Archives: AbleGamers

Polygamer #43: Engagement Lab at Emerson College

Polygamer #39: Mark Saville of SpecialEffect