Mary Flanagan, “Humanist Inquiry Through Critical Play: Designing and Enacting our Enduring Questions”

In this talk, Dr. Mary Flanagan reveals how games can be sources of deep human inquiry and introspection. Flanagan presents the interesting things scholars might discover by looking at games and why games can be useful tools for inquiry through a variety of methodological lenses. She will also share recent research on creating games that improve biases and stereotypes.

As a scholar interested in how human values are in play across technologies and systems, Flanagan has written more than 20 critical essays and chapters on games, empathy, gender and digital representation, art and technology, and responsible design. Her three books in English include Critical Play (2009) with MIT Press. Flanagan founded the Tiltfactor game research laboratory in 2003, where researchers study and make social games, urban games, and software in a rigorous theory/practice environment. Flanagan’s work has been supported by grants and commissions including The British Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the ACLS, and the National Science Foundation. Flanagan is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities at Dartmouth College.