| NSF Org: |
SES Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 30, 2019 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 30, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1922391 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Frederick Kronz
fkronz@nsf.gov (703)292-7283 SES Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences SBE Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2019 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $145,965.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $145,965.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
10 W 35TH ST CHICAGO IL US 60616-3717 (312)567-3035 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
Department of Humanities, Siegel Chicago IL US 60616-3717 |
| Primary Place of Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
SBP-Science of Broadening Part, STS-Sci, Tech & Society |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
The goal of this project is to document and assess the successes and failures of the Games for Girls movement, which reached prominence in the mid-1990s. The movement will be studied as an intervention into game development and as an effort to make computers and computer games more appealing to young girls. Lack of diversity in STEM fields hinders innovation, depletes the workforce, and undermines productivity. Efforts to improve this situation over recent decades have seen both successes and failures with employers, universities, and grant organizations investing heavily in various initiatives. Understanding the successes and limitations of a past intervention can usefully inform future efforts and help optimize them for success. The results of this research will be published and presented in scholarly venues, and they will also be the topic of public talks presented by the PI at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Immersive Learning Research Network, the Music and Games Festival, and other venues.
This project will document a movement aimed at attracting girls to computing and video games. The PI will conduct oral history interviews with game developers who were active in the production of games for girls' titles during the 1990s, former players of these games, and current game developers. She will also audio record and photograph interviewees. Interviews will be conducted on-site with interview subjects when possible. The results of this project will provide insights into the successes and failures of this industry-driven intervention into digital culture that can be used to inform contemporary efforts to diversify STEM fields. The PI will process and analyze all archival materials and interviews to produce a monograph with a scholarly press and peer-reviewed journal articles. The PI also has plans to present her results at a minimum of two conferences such as the Digital Games Research Association, and Foundations of Digital Games), and several public talks.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
In 2019, Illinois Institute of Technology received a $145,965 Science, Technology, and Society/Science of Broadening Participation award from the Division of Social and Economic Sciences, Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences of the NSF titled ?SBP: Games for Girls: Informing the Future.? This project included extensive documentation and analysis of the Games for Girls movement.
Documentary Efforts: The documentary component focused on the collection and processing of oral history interviews. Through the lifetime of the project, 25 interviews were conducted with game developers and business leaders who worked on games for girls projects alongside former players. These interviews have been accepted at the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at the Strong Museum of Play where, after processing and release, they will be available for future researchers.
Research and Research Communication: The oral history interviews formed the basis for extensive research on the games for girls movement. To date, this work has resulted in two chapters in academic anthologies, a peer-reviewed conference paper, and a published scholarly interview.[i] Results have been shared through invited talks at venues including universities, fan events, and a public library.[ii] Further board reviewed presentations have been given at multiple scholarly venues.[iii] Additionally, a popup exhibit was curated and installed in the 2022 Music and Games Festival Museum.[iv] A proposal for a book on the history of the games for girls movement is being finalized for submission to a scholarly press; the editors of the relevant series have expressed interest in this project. While the eventual publication of the book will fall outside the grant period, the work included is absolutely dependent on the completed grant work and will further circulate these findings.
Student Research: Throughout the course of the project, 3 graduate and 4 undergraduate research assistants contributed to this project, receiving direct training on human subjects research protocols, research ethics, and scholarly interviewing practices. Two graduate students also contributed meaningfully to resulting publications and are credited as authors.
Summary: Games for Girls: Informing the Future has produced a significant collection of documentary materials to be preserved at the Strong Museum of Play. Related scholarly work has been published in scholarly and public facing venues. Products include 1 peer reviewed conference paper; 2 scholarly book chapters; 1 peer reviewed scholarly interview; 6 invited talks; 5 board reviewed talks; and 1 pop up exhibit.
[i] Hapner, B., & Kocurek, C. A. (2022). (Re)Discovering the Rich History of Games User Research: An ?Undisciplined? Approach. In K. Isbister and C. Hodent (Eds.), Game Usability: Advice from the Experts for Advancing UX Strategy and Practice in Videogames, (pp.413-426). CRC Press.
Kocurek, C. A. (2022, September). Sparklier Worlds: Understanding Games for Girls as Style Intervention. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (pp. 1-8). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3555858.3555872
Kocurek, C.A. (Forthcoming). My Mother Was a Jump Rope Rhyme: A Game Studies That Might Have Been. In A. Karabinus, C A. Kocurek, C. Mejeur, and E. Vossen (Eds.), Historiographies of Game Studies. Punctum Press.
Simon, S., Kocurek, C. A., & Mirghaderi, L. (2022). Building Digital Dream Houses: An Interview with Jesyca Durchin. ROMchip, 4(2). https://romchip.org/index.php/romchip-journal/article/view/159
[ii] ?Women in Games, Games for Girls, and Video Gaming?s Messy History,? Music and Games Educational Symposium (MAGES) panel, National Harbor, MD. January 6-9, 2022.
?Women in Games, Games for Girls, and Video Gaming?s Messy History,? Orland Park Public Library, Orland Park, IL. October 14, 2021.
?Why Video Games Are A History Problem,? Seshadripuram Educational Trust, Seshadripuram Evening Degree College, Department of English, Bangalore, India. May 29, 2021.
?Dolly Ludens: Reimagining Gaming with American Girl,? Geek Week, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. February 24, 2021.
?Dolly Ludens,? Game Studies Work in Development Seminar, Mercer University, Macon, GA. November 14, 2020
?When There Was a Purple Market,? invited talk as part of the ?Some Incidents in the History of Games for Girls? Music and Games Educational Symposium (MAGES) panel, National Harbor, MD. January 3, 2020.
[iii] ?Did Barbie Fashion Designer Fail? Mismeasuring success in the Games for Girls Movement.? Annual Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference. 2023. Denver, CO. April 12-15, 2023.
?Multimediating Girlhood: CD-ROM and the Games for Girls Movement.? Annual SWPACA Conference: Popular and American Culture Studies. Albuquerque, NM. February 22-25, 2023.
?Only Girl in the Room: What to do with the Games for Girls Movement.? Canadian Game Studies Association 2022. Online. May 21-June 3, 2022.
?If Billy Jean King Played Pong.? Annual SWPACA Conference: Popular and American Cultural Studies. Albuquerque, NM. February 23-26, 2022.
?The Purple Years: The Games for Girls Movement and the Limits of Diversity Capitalism.? Annual SWPACA Conference: Popular and American Cultural Studies. Albuquerque, NM. February 19-22, 2020.
[iv] ?Games for Girls,? popup exhibit at Music and Games Festival (MAGfest) Museum, National Harbor, MD. January 6-9, 2022.
Last Modified: 10/17/2023
Modified by: Carly A Kocurek
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