Thesis presented, firstlook in the rear view mirror!
Posted 2013-11-25 - Archived under: activity, design, experience, people, play, thesis -
Last week I defended my Licentiate thesis (or ”half-doctor” thesis, to explain even outside of Sweden). It is available here if you are interested in reading. If not I´will try to talk a bit more about it here later, and some of the central arguments is going to work its way into my normal way of writing and talking, so you will probably get it after a while :-)
Here’s a picture by my opponent, Staffan Björk, on his copy of the thesis, with notes and questions. Staffan shares his working time between Göteborgs Universitet and Interactive Institute, and his big interest is in Game Design Patterns. The patterns is related to my work especially in the kind of knowledge that is created. I talk about ‘intermediate-level knowledge’, meaning it is not the grand theories, and it is not absolutely generalizable, but there is still common traits that can be reused in the right situations.
Before diving to deep into this I should really go through the central arguments and findings though, so you know if you are actually interested. And avoid falling into the researcher trap of presenting all the background first, before actually saying anything. But hat will be for a upcoming blog post.
Now, if you are interested, go to the publications list and find the thesis. All the articles are available there as well! Please tell me what you think! What you are wondering about? Can this be useful for you in a more practical setting, or is there something that you would love to see added before the final thesis?
Designing Activity and Creating Experience
Posted 2013-11-13 - Archived under: activity, design, engagement, experience, people, place, play, playfulness, thesis -
My life is revolving around my licentiate thesis right now, and it finally came back from the printers! For you who are not in the Swedish system, we have quit a long Ph.D.-program, usually running for five years. Half way through you sometimes write the lic., being kind of half a Ph.D.
Writing the document of course takes a lot of time. Sometimes it feels like I could have been going into the actual Ph.D. writing by now if it wasn’t for this one, but it shaped a lot of my thinking and forced me to really cut down and define, a task that is hard to do and hopefully will form my future work into a better piece. The thesis is more of a question than an answer, showing what I will continue to do with the rest of my time as Ph.D.-student.
The defense is next week, and after that I’m officially a ‘licentiate’, whatever that means. Anyway, it is available with my publications if you want to read it. The link may change after the defense when it is available from a more official place, but for now you can get it here directly from me. The associated articles are also available from the publications page. Yo can grab the PDF directly here if you don’t want to go through everything looking for it.
Licentiate sent to the printers
Posted 2013-10-24 - Archived under: thesis -
So, seems like my PhD-Studies are actually going forward. yesterday I sent my Licentiate thesis (Swedish ‘half-way-thesis’, but with a full defense and actual degree connected to it) to the printers. I will defend on the 20th of November, and plan to resent at least some of it here. But I will wait until it is official before doing that, so that I don’t risk getting stuck in plagiarism checks or similar.
The title is ‘Designing Activity and Creating Experience: On People’s Play in Public Places’.
More info in a couple of weeks!
Magicians and Medieval times
Posted 2013-08-17 - Archived under: goffman, medieval, show, suspension of disbelief -
Back from a working holiday at Medeltidsveckan (the medieval week) in Visby, Gotland. Usually go there, partly to meet friends but also to perform and to watch others perform. Last year some of my magician friends arranged something they call Magikergränd (the magical alley), or rather they have been doing it for a while, but that was the first time in Visby. This year a lot of my time was used to help them with the practical stuff, and some smaller cameo appearances as evil creatures.
Magikergränd is an interesting concept, a full day of magic shows where the audience can stay for just one or as long as they want. In between of shows the magicians still keeps character and mingles with the audience, keeping the magical world alive (for all, but mainly the kids). The character have been with them for a long time and are a natural part, and inspired by their other work, making it meld with the everyday outside of the alley.
The week gave me many opportunities for long discussions around real and fiction, abut the border in between and what makes people believe, and also around the value of lies in making things real. The short version: we scrapped suspension of disbelief as a concept to explain whats going on, as it does not work for magic which is to a large extent dependent on knowing things should not work. Instead we turned towards social psychology and Goffman’s social frames, constantly renegotiated to understand how we play together with the, for many, unfamiliar magic.
If you ever have the opportunity i can give them the best reccomendations, and I hope you will have the chance to see them!
Recently me…
Posted 2013-07-01 - Archived under: -
Recent tweets and images from me, and appreciated blog posts from others.
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