The fourth Women in Games conference is kicking off this week at the University of Newport, Wales (disclaimer: I'm on the steering committee), where the intrepid gathered will discuss the big ideas in this oft-overlooked sphere. The conference, which is split into several themes, aims to:
1. Give a voice to women in the games industry.
2. Analyse and monitor the role of women in the games industry.
3. Provide networking opportunities, especially for women developing and researching games.
4. Support and encourage students, researchers and developers to explore and redress the game industry's gender imbalance.
5. Disseminate research into games (past, present and future), especially (but not exclusively) with reference to the experience of women playing, developing and responding to games and game culture.
6. Disseminate information on the latest technologies and the best design and development practices.
The keynotes look fantastic, with Wonderland's Alice Taylor (with her BBC hat on) talking about Public Diplomacy in Games, Microsoft's Karen Wilkins-Mickey, EA Online's Europe VP Sharon Knight, Dr. Mary Flanagan from the Tiltfactor Laboratory and 1-Up editor Raina Lee. I'll be posting up my presentation, about the relationships between countries based upon their reported favourite games in the 2007 Game Developers Choice Awards, on Slideshare by the end of the week.
Abstracts from the conference strands plus info and thought-provoking features are available on the Women in Games blog.
