Helen Kennedy
Helen W. Kennedy has been researching and writing about games since 1993. She was co-organiser of the first UK International conference on games Game Cultures in 2001. Since then she co-founded and chaired (from 2004 to present) the Play Research Group at UWE and has played a key role in the organisation of colloquia and symposia on issues relating to games Power Up (ideology and games), Playful Subjects (embodiment and gameplay) PSii (technology and games) which led to a co-edited special issue of Games and Culture that addresses this theme and PSiii (Wii Technicities) which has led to a special issue of Journal of Television and New Media which will be published in 2010. This group holds regular play sessions through which to develop collaborative approaches to the analysis of digital games and play in general. We actively involve our postgraduate students in seminars, colloquia and symposia around play and games as well as involving them in our regular play sessions and social gatherings. Helen's current research is focused on technology, aesthetics and embodied perception in relation to games and play, and I have recently co-authored (with Seth Giddings) an article on the Wii entitled "Incremental Speed Increases Excitement: Bodies, Space, Movement, and Televisual Change". Helen has received DCRC funding to support a pilot research project 'Only Connect' which aims to investigate the potential users of games research in industry and advisory groups beyond an academic context. Alice Atkinson-Bonasio is the Research Associate for this pilot. Helen is an active member of the Women in Games (WiG) steering committee and has helped to organise conferences and network events since its inauguration in 2004. Helen has represented the group at a number of public events (eg. the London Games Festival Fringe and in March 2008 a games panel at Birds Eye View Film Festival). She also co-convened (with Emma Westecott) the WiG strand within DiGRA 2009. WiG has been instrumental in raising the visibility of women within the games industry as well as encouraging ongoing projects to highlight the role of women in the development of games technologies, game design and as game players. Helen was elected as President of the Digital Games Research Association having been a board member since 2005. Helen is also the author (with Jon Dovey) of Game Cultures: Computer Games as New Media, McGraw Hill, Open University Press, 2006 (soon to be available in Polish!) and has published in Game Studies, Games & Culture and tekka.net.
