One week, two conferences, three presentations. Really excited to be in Dublin this week participating first in the 9th international Sport and Discrimination Conference and then the 2026 IACS Summit on Communication and Sport!
Excited to share that I'll be giving a keynote about why and how should we (still) talk about gender in esports at the Seventeenth International Sport & Society Conference in Lillehammer in June! 🤩 Note that you can still submit your presentation proposal, too: sportandsociety.com/2026-confere...
In these times of global turmoil (and a bit insane work deadlines), I try to find some comfort, calmness, and grounding in physical movement. Today, I was able to do my first run of this season in my summer shoes, which tells me that we're moving towards light, and, hopefully, better things.
A bit of a 'bada bastu nee' mood this week. 😅
Our Larpocracy project team has published their first report on larp festivals and conventions, describing these as sites of play and cultural co-creation that are sometimes cultural institutions and always part of a cultural public sphere. More in the thread quoted here:
Something for the fellow Arts+Tech crowd:
NordiCHI 2026 will host the track "Art-Based Approaches in HCI"!
We welcome artistic and art-based practice-forward approaches to Human-Computer Interactions under the broad umbrella term of "energy".
More information here:
sites.uwasa.fi/nordichi2026...
❤️
Tänään saimme kunnian puhua yliopiston juhlasalissa Essi Tainon (@essitai.bsky.social) kanssa pelikulttuurista, siihen kuulumisesta ja näiden tutkimuksesta 7.–9.-luokkalaisille nuorille osana Tampereen yliopiston Tiedon valoa -tapahtumaa. Olipa iloa ja intoa tuova tapa päättää työviikko! 🤩
There's no skiing like cross-country skiing.
New publication! Our team looked into how different types of game companies and other game cultural organisations (focused on digital gaming) in Finland understand DEI in their own activities and what kind of guidelines and practices they have for promoting DEI.
Congrats, you have some extra time to submit your work on events and communities to our #GameStudies spring seminar!
Kansallinen #pelikulttuuristrategia mahdollistaisi myös pelikulttuurien yhdenvertaisuuden järjestelmällisen kehittämisen
Please note this call for an important special issue on 'Queer and Trans Game Studies in Global and Local Contexts,' dl. on 12 January! ⏰
I’ve had the honour of writing a chapter on gender equality in esports organisations to the wonderful Sport, media and discrimination collection. Can recommend this to everyone interested in diversity and discrimination in sports media and media sports, esports included!
US imperialism & aggression is hardly news - it's just been more mask-off recently. But as academics the question we need to ask is how we can act in relation to it, & at least part of the answer is to interrogate the default centering of US institutions, viewpoints & agendas in global research.
It could be one more weird anomaly in this unending cycle of what the fuck.
@matildastahl.bsky.social et al. are working on this really cool new research project, check it out:
Screenshot of a paper entry: Fictional Failures and Real-World Lessons: Ethical Speculation Through Design Fiction on Emotional Support Conversational AI Authors: Faye Kollig, Jessica Pater, Fayika Farhat Nova, Casey Fiesler (There are tabs with "abstract" and "summary" and "summary" is selected.)
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
Congratulations to the whole family! 💖
Playing at work today 🙃
the big hay goat from sweden or something looking very unburned and majestic with text from the old "you wouldn't download a car" but it reads "you wouldn't burn a goat"
it's advent you know what that means
Dear colleagues working in a field related (e)sports and discrimination, please note this CFP for the 2026 Sport and Discrimination conference, focusing especially on online discrimination in sport and its prevention. DL is this Friday 5 December: sportanddiscrimination.com/2025-confere...
Love the idea of writing together to figure out the shared perspective and direction of the group!
Neljänkympin kriisi valittu. 💪
The Punctuation Collection™️
PEGASUS-hankkeemme loppuraportti on nyt avoimesti saatavilla! Täältä löytyvät keskeiset oivalluksemme ja hankkeessa kehitetyt työkalut selkeänä, tiiviinä pakettina – myös sarjakuvamuodossa! 🤩
Our next #gamestudies spring seminar is about events and communities! Remember to submit your abstract at the latest on 14 January.
My vote goes to the University Democracy list and their commitment to:
💜 Upholding and defending the values, autonomy, and academic freedom of the university
💜 Securing responsible long-term HR policy
💜 Returning decision-making closer to the university community
yliopistodemokratia.wordpress.com
Chocolate chip and chocolate biscuits on plates and a green teapot on an office kitchen table
Elections for the academic board, i.e. the highest democratically elected decision-making body within our uni, are underway. Today, we gathered in the coffee room to discuss elections and decision-making processes at the uni and to chat with some candidates. We need more of this at the university!
