Select Presentations

Game Design

  • Game Design Roundtable at Feeling Games, a symposium on the intersections of games and emotions hosted at the Illinois Institute of Technology September 25, 2015.
  • 3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming and Gender Panel Moderator and Facilitator August 12-15, 2010.
    3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming and Gender Panel Moderator and Facilitator
    3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming and Gender Panel Moderator and Facilitator
    Mary Flanagan, Tracy Fullerton, Jennifer Jenson, Erin Robinson, Susana Ruiz, Brendan Riley, and Janell Baxter
    August 12-15, 2010: 3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming and Gender, a visionary 4-day initiative that convened 50 urban teenage girls with five leading women game designers and scholars for intensive dialogue, inquiry, game-play, and mentorship. Through multi-faceted workshops and a public forum, this initiative critically confronted gender representation and participation in our society’s fastest growing cultural medium. (Read more...)
  • The Culture of Gaming: A Glimpse into the World of Simulated Reality, presentation and panel member, Chicago Cultural Center. 2006
    The Culture of Gaming: A Glimpse into the World of Simulated Reality.

Interaction Design and Generative Art

  • Game Design + Interactive Art + Programming: Documenting Interactive Projects, presentation and panel coordinator, #DocYourWorld, Columbia College Chicago. April 2014
    Game Design + Interactive Art + Programming: Documenting Interactive Projects
  • Gen Art: The Ongoing Personification of a Chunk of Code, presentation, Chicago Women Developers. 1871 (Merchandise Mart), Chicago. January 2014
    Gen Art: The Ongoing Personification of a Chunk of Code
  • Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Matt Board and Janell Baxter, April 28 2011. Spring 2011: Presented artwork created using emergent and adaptive systems; a series of small bots that analyze visuals and text in search of meaning and inspiration for their own "artwork". Recent iterations include bios (produces portraits of people based on biographical information about them that it finds online), and a currently untitled in-progress version (the code creates self portraits based on what it knows about itself ).
  • Limited Set: Generative Intersections of Theater and Artificial Life, presentation and panel member, College Art Association’s New Media Caucus. 2010
  • Creating Successful Portfolios, Minority in Communications Association (MICA), Eastern Illinois University. 2003
  • Creating Successful Portfolios, SPC 3300 Interviewing, Eastern Illinois University. 2003 Portfolio Development, Columbia College Chicago. 2001

Academics and Faculty Development

  • Practical Tips and Best Practice Sharing for Creating an Inexpensive Web Presence. 2018.
  • Optimize Your Online Presence: Practical Tips and Best Practice Sharing for Effective Use of Social Media and Web. Janell Baxter and Anne Marie Mitchell. 2017.
  • Gamiformics: A Systems-Based Framework for Moral Learning Through Games at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technologies 2015. Presentation with Dr. Thomas Seager, Bill Guschwan, and Susan Spierre.
  • STEM Education: Creating Meaningful Experiences with Interaction Design. Co-chair, special session at the 6th International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment. July 2014
    STEM Education: Creating Meaningful Experiences with Interaction Design
  • Projects for Social Change: Students Collaborating to Create Content-Rich Applications. Trans(form), All-College Faculty Retreat (Chicago, Illinois) 2011.
  • Games for Change: Creating Games of Social Value, with Mindy Faber, Claiming Creativity: Art Education in Cultural Transition, European League of Institutes of the Arts. 2010. (Read more...)
    Games for Change: Creating Games of Social Value
  • Got Game: Building a Game Design Major with an Interdisciplinary Team. UFVA Conference. 2005
    UFVA panel
  • Collaboration Cram, Columbia College Chicago, with David Gerding. 2005
  • Teaching with Style, Columbia College Chicago, with Dr. Barb Iverson. 2000
  • Teaching with Style Syllabus Conference, Chicago, with Dr. Barb Iverson. 2000

Code/Game Jams

Hack-n-Snack

Game Jam

The fall 2018 Hack-n-Snack event brought developers and creatives together for a few hours of music, hacking, and healthy snacking.

24 Hour Game Jam (2018)

Game Jam

Coordinator of the 2018 Manifest Game Challenge. Student teams build a game collaboratively in 24 consecutive hours. The game concept is revealed the day before Manifest, and the teams have until 4:00 pm the day of Manifest to complete their version of the game (Read more...)

24 Hour Game Jam (2017)

Game Jam

Coordinator of the 2017 Manifest Game Challenge. Read more...

Twists & Turns: Life After Your Degree (Panel, 2017)

Herstory works to empower students through conversations with female entrepreneurs, innovators, artists and leaders.

Summer Challenge (2016)

Faculty coordinator of the 2016 IAM Summer Challenge.

2016 IAM Summer Challenge 2016 IAM Summer Challenge

Students built an interactive experience to help children aged 5-8 develop pattern recognition skills. (Read more...)

Almost There at Tribeca Hacks (2013)

Hackathon

Worked with filmmakers Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden, and developers Andrew Hicks, Bill Guschwan, Phil Hogan, and Spencer Reidel to create prototypes for an interactive experience about the film's main character, his artwork, and his environment. More about the film at Kartemquin's site, and photos of the event.

Summer Challenge (2013)

Coordinator of the 2013 IAM Summer Challenge. Student teams built "serious games" that helped explain a science mystery. (Read more...)

24 Hour Game Jam (2013)

Game Jam

Coordinator of the 2013 Manifest Game Challenge. Student teams build a game collaboratively in 24 consecutive hours. The game concept is revealed at 4:00 pm the day before Manifest, and the teams have until 4:00 pm the day of Manifest to complete their version of the game (Read more...)

Summer Challenge (2012)

Summer Challenge

Developed the first annual IAM Summer Challenge. Students created interactive projects that show a relationship between animals and their habitats, and the impact of humans on those habitats. (Read more...)