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Play – Winter 2015

Scholars’ Studio: Play Research at the Commons. March 5, 2015

All slides are linked below in PDF format

21st Century Academic Libraries: Ontology of Play, Discourse of Fear

  • John Vallier, Head of Distributed Media Services, UW Libraries

As ‘head of distributed media’ John collects, preserves, and makes moving image media and sound recordings accessible at the Libraries Media Center. He also oversees operations for the Media Center, serves as the primary film and video selector for the Libraries, and liaison with the Museology Program. Sometimes John teaches and writes on topics related to ethnomusicology, archiving, and music/film criticism. Before coming to the UW John was Archivist at the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, a Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center, and a drummer for sundry sonic projects.

 

Learning in Play? Evidences of Learning in an Art Museum Makerspace

  • Amy Oates, Museology

After graduating from Baylor University with a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art, Amy Oates moved to Seattle and became involved in the arts. While exhibiting and collaborating with other artists, she also became interested in expanding opportunities in the arts for youth. She entered UW’s Museology program to learn how museums are connecting communities and providing creative learning opportunities. In this process, she fortuitously stumbled upon museum-based maker/tinkering spaces. Amy is excited to apply the knowledge gained through her research as she works to make opportunities for youth to explore creativity, play, and hands-on learning in out-of-school settings.

 

Powerful Change Through Play

  • Sarah Jo Ward, Educational Psychology

Sarah Jo Ward is a writer, researcher, educator, and community experience designer. She completed her M.Ed with a certificate in Museology and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences. Exploring the use of ethnography and play as a starting point for design, development, and social practice art, her current research focuses on museums and their community engagement initiatives. Her most recent artistic project, WAYWARD, explores the routes that women take on a daily basis in Seattle. In addition to scholastic and creative projects, she is co-founder of the museum consulting company Sparling + Ward.

 

Play and Peer Competence in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • Amy Rodda, Speech and Hearing Sciences

Amy Rodda, PhC, CCC-SLP, Speech and Hearing Sciences. Amy is a doctoral candidate and a speech-language pathologist with over 10 years of clinical experience. Her research interest is in autism spectrum disorders, specifically in early detection and long-term social outcomes. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri and an MA from Truman State University, both in Communication Disorders. She is nearing completion of her Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences.

 

Play and the Learning Value of Children’s Museums

  • Travis Windleharth, Information School

Travis Windleharth holds an M.Ed. from SUNY Buffalo, an M.A. in 
Museology from the program here at UW, and is currently a Ph.D. student in the Information School at UW. Travis is interested in topics related to museum information practices, particularly knowledge organization and information transfer in museums.

 

Nontraditional Casting: Transgressive or Transcendent?

  • Suzanne M. Cohen, Cultural Studies, UW Bothell

Suzanne M. Cohen is completing her MA in Cultural Studies at University of Washington Bothell, and is also the Managing Artistic Director of Mirror Stage in Seattle, WA. She earned a BA in Humanities/Drama from University of Southern California with a minor in Creative Writing, and a Master of Not-for-Profit Leadership from Seattle University. Her research focuses on how audiences construct meaning, incorporating questions of representation, identity formation, and reception theory.

 

Playing Possum: Animals at Play

  • John Calavitta, English

In his work, Johnny Calavitta, a Ph.D. candidate in English, explores the seemingly inert, immaterial, and seductive world of things and non-human actors at play. This talk will trace the non-human and super human sides of play, its shadow—work, as well as chart the playful phenomenological world of whatchamacallits and thingamajigs, and the seamy sex life of doodads and doohickeys.

 

What Does Money Do as a Plot Device in Medieval Japanese Comic Play?

  • Kaori Igarashi, Asian Languages and Literature

Kaori Igarashi is a Ph.D. candidate in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of Washington. Currently she works on her dissertation focusing on the functions of money as a plot device in Japanese premodern literature. She received a BA in Art History and a MA in Japanese Language and Literature.

 

Acting Up! Interactive Theater as Pedagogy

  • Reed Garber-Pearson, Information School

Reed Garber-Pearson is a first year masters student in Library and Information Science. Reed’s primary academic interests are focused on pedagogical design and instruction. She is enthusiastic about creating spaces in libraries for engaged dialogue around social justice.

  • Alan-Michael Weatherford, Comparative Literature

Alan-Michael Weatherford is a doctoral student in the Department of Comparative Literature. He works in Queer Studies across French-, English- and Spanish-speaking cultures with a specific interest in the Americas. He became involved with Theater of the Oppressed due to the embodied activities that help better expose privilege and oppression. He also currently teaches in the French and Spanish Departments.

  • Cecil Whitney, Anthropology

Cecil Whitney is a queer, social justice-oriented student and educator. By day, Cecil teaches biocultural anthropology and studies trans health and health care as a PhD student at the UW. By night, they dabble in cartooning, apparel design and sewing, and pickling.