Games for Health Press Release: Presents Content for Fourth Annual Conference
Posted by Ben Sawyer on 08-04-29Games for Health Presents Content for Fourth Annual Conference
Baltimore Convention center : May 7-9, 2008
April 22, 2008 - (Portland, Maine) – The Games for Health Project (www.gamesforhealth.org) today announced its agenda for the fourth annual Games for Health Conference. The conference will be held May 8 to 9, 2008, at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Md. Pre-conference workshops on May 7 provide day-long events devoted to virtual worlds and health, as well as games accessibility. Together, the meetings will cover the intersection of next-generation game technologies, health and health care.
Registration for both the conference and the pre-conference workshops is still open and program materials are now available on the Games for Health Web site at: www.gamesforhealth.org
The Games for Health Conference is produced by the Games for Health Project. Founded in 2004, the Games for Health Project supports community, knowledge and business development efforts to use cutting-edge games and game technologies to improve health and health care.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Portfolio is the lead conference sponsor and a major supporter of the Games for Health Project.
“This conference provides a forum for collaborations to emerge between the video game industry and the health and health care industry,” said Chinwe Onyekere, RWJF program officer. “Through these exchanges, we hope attendees will continue to explore how the power of video games can help to solve complex health challenges.”
Conference Details
Over three days, more than 300 attendees will participate in over 60 sessions provided by an international array of 75 speakers, cutting across a wide range of activities in health and health care. Topics include exergaming, physical therapy, disease management, health behavior change, biofeedback, epidemiology, training, cognitive exercise, nutrition and health education. This year’s conference includes presentations by Dr. Richard Satava; Starlight Foundation; HopeLab; Realtime Associates; Virtual Heroes; XRtainment Zone; Archimage; Dr. Mark Baldwin of MindHabits; Electric Owl Studios; Noah Falstein of The Inspiracy; and Games for Health co-founder Ben Sawyer.
A special Keynote Panel, organized by Humana, will feature four of the nation’s leading health insurance providers discussing their emerging activities in the games for health field. This is the first time in the conference’s history that leading health insurance industry representatives will be speaking.
Humana joins the Games for Health Conference in 2008 as a Premiere Industry Sponsor. Among the activities sponsored by Humana are two demonstration rooms filled with the latest efforts in exergaming.
“Humana is proud to be the first insurer in the healthcare industry to sponsor the Games for Health Conference. We’re excited to support the Conference’s ability to bring together leading researchers and game developers to address critical health issues,” said Paul Puopolo, director of Consumer Innovation at Humana.
“Our participation in this conference is just one part of our overall commitment to understanding and applying electronic games to positively impact health.”
Serious games developer Virtual Heroes of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is providing sponsorship for a May 8 reception. During the reception, attendees will be able to play with 3DiTeams. Funded by the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), 3DiTeams was developed by Virtual Heroes with Duke University’s Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center, and lets people interact with a fully 3D simulation of emergency health care environments.
Other sponsors include Breakaway Games; Source Distributors; Gaming4Health.com – iConecto; Baltimore County Department of Economic Development; Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development; Red Octane; and Xrtainment Zone.
About Games for Health
The Games for Health Project is produced by the Serious Games Initiative, a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars effort that applies cutting-edge games and game technologies to a range of public and private policy, leadership and management issues. The project also produces the Games for Health Conference, now in its fourth year.
The Initiative founded Games for Health to develop a community and best practices platform for the numerous games being built for health care applications. To date, the project has brought together researchers, medical professionals and game developers to share information about the impact games and game technologies can have on health, health care and policy. For more information, visit www.gamesforhealth.org .
Contact: Ben Sawyer
Digitalmill, Inc.
bsawyer@dmill.com
Pre-Conference Workshop Schedule : Games Accessibility Day
Posted by Ben Sawyer on 08-04-21Games Accessibility Day @ Games for Health
On May 7 at the Baltimore Hyatt Inner Harbor the Games for Health Project will host a pre-conference workshop on accessibility for games. The agenda for this great event is now complete. Tickets to the event itself are only $129.00 if you register only for the workshop and $99.00 if you register also for Games for Health. Tickets to the Games for Health Conference which follows on May 8-9 are $495.00.
Tickets to each event may be purchased directly at: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=146432
Click through for schedule...
9:00 am - 10:00 am Accessibility for Games 101
Technologies, techniques, and the general state of accessibility for videogames
Michelle Hinn
10:00 am - 10:20 am Games Accessibility & Games for Health
Common Goals, Specific Needs, and Next Steps
Ben Sawyer
10:20 am -10:30 am 10 Minute Break
10:30 am - 11:00 am Game Accessibility Research
Kevin Bierre
11:00 am - 11:10 am 10 Minute Break
11:10 am - 12:10 pm Able Gamers - Games Accessibility from the Players Standpoint
Mark Barlet
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm My Accessibility Story
Robert Florio
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch + Demos
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Modding Hardware to Improve Games Accessibility
Ben Heckerdon
2:00 pm - 2:15 pm 15 Minute Break
2:15 pm - 2:45 pm Game Over: Learning by Dying
Creating Games That Are Universally Accessible
Giannis Georgalis
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm 15 Minute Break
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Games Accessibility, Classrooms, Children
At Kid Systems : Cosmo's Learning Systems
Lynn Marentette : Lessons for Classrooms
4:00 pm - 4:15 pm 15 Minute Break
4:15 pm - 5:15 pm Accessible Game Case Studies
Eleanor Robinson
7-128 Software
The Alert Project
Eric Walker
Ominous Development
Strange Attractors: Lessons from a Successful One Switch Game
5:15 pm - 6:00 pm "What Next?"
Optional Open Discussion for All Attendees
Pre-Conference Workshop Schedule (Virtual Worlds & Health)
Posted by Ben Sawyer on 08-04-21Virtual Worlds & Health Day @ Games for Health
On May 7 at the Baltimore Hyatt Inner Harbor the Games for Health Project will host a pre-conference workshop on virtual worlds & health. The agenda for this great event is now complete. Tickets to the event itself are only $129.00 if you register only for the workshop and $99.00 if you register also for Games for Health. Tickets to the Games for Health Conference which follows on May 8-9 are $495.00.
Tickets to each event may be purchased directly at: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=146432
Click through for the schedule...
9:00 am - 9:20 am Opening Remarks
Ben Sawyer
9:20 am - 10:00am Keynote
Taking Action in Virtual Worlds : What we've learned about health in virtual worlds from those that took the plunge...
John Lester, Linden Labs
10:00 am - 10:15 am 15 Minute Break
10:15 am - 11:20 am Landscape of Virtual World Systems : What's available and how do you work with it?
Tim Holt
11:20 am - 11:30 am 10 Minute Break
11:30 am - 12:00 pm Virtual Worlds for the NEMSPI (National Emergency Medical Standards Preparedness Initiative)
Going from Single Player to Many Players
Kimberly D. Acquaviva & Virtual Heroes
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm The D.I.D.I. Initiative : Using virtual worlds to promote good health
Adam Aberman, Ashoka Youth Ventures
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch + Demos
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Virtual Worlds & Forterra Systems
Bart Barlett
2:00 pm - 2:15 pm 15 Minute Break
2:15 pm - 2:45 pm Health Projects in Whyville : Whypox and more
Numedeon, Whyville
James Bower
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm 15 Minute Break
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm The Play 2 Train Framework : Idaho Bioterrorism Awareness and Preparedness Program
Rameshsharma (Ramesh) Ramioll
Play 2 Train
3:30 pm - 3:45 pm 15 Minute Break
3:45 pm - 4:15 pm Virtual Worlds for Education & Training of Health Professionals
John Miller, RN
4:15 pm - 4:30 pm 15 Minute Break
4:30 pm - 5:30 pm Closing Discussion Panel
Tim Holt, John Lester, Bart Barlet, James Bower
5:30 pm End of Day