[games_access] Games for Health to Invest in Games Accessibility

[Ben Sawyer]

And thanks to Michelle for her leadership and for keeping this quiet  
long enough.  It's been killing me to hold back.

- Ben

On Nov 16, 2007, at 11:25 AM, <hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> Hey everyone -- so Ben and I have been discussing this for a time  
> now and we're working together to come up with a plan as to how to  
> best use this generous donation, find matching funds, etc. So this  
> is the real deal! So, hey, we have some money now! So put on your  
> thinking caps and help us think of ways to best invest our money so  
> that it helps the SIG long-term!
>
> And thanks to Ben, of course, for his incredible support and  
> including us in this initiative!
>
> Michelle
>
> ---- Original message ----
>> Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:54:26 -0500
>> From: Ben Sawyer <bsawyer at dmill.com>
>> Subject: [games_access] Games for Health to Invest in Games  
>> Accessibility
>> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List <games_access at igda.org>
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I've got some big news.  As many of you saw Games for Health is part
>> of a new round of investment by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
>> into games and healthcare.  We're extremely excited about this new
>> development.
>>
>> As part of our specific grant we have allocated resources
>> specifically to support the IGDA Accessibility community.
>>
>> Over the next two years we will directly contribute funds to SIG
>> activities.  The amount is set but I can't reveal it yet as much as I
>> want to because I'm actually looking to make it more by finding some
>> other organizations who will join us with matching funds.  Right now
>> I can tell you this - it's more then $10,000.
>>
>> The funds will be used to support your activities but there are of
>> course some simple strings.  Basically the funds will be released
>> once there is a written plan in place that provides for how and what
>> the funds will be spent on.  That plan needs my approval and
>> subsequently I have to have the approval of the foundation for all my
>> work.  I don't want it to sound dictatorish -- I'm pretty liberal for
>> what they should be used for but my basic goals are as follows:
>>
>> 1. I'd like to see the community double is size as outlined by some
>> simple metrics (i.e. number of subscribers to the listserv, number of
>> people in the industry you are in regular contact with, number of
>> talks in front of audiences, etc.)
>>
>> 2. I'd like to see the community produce some written plans that
>> outline roadmaps for better accessibility efforts -- especially
>> research roadmap.
>>
>> 3. I want to establish a standalone conference on games accessibility
>> attached to our Games for Health Conference (so we can combine
>> logistics and hit on overlapping communities of interest).
>>
>> 4. I am also specifically interested in identifying and doing what we
>> can to nurture research into how accessibility to games improves
>> people with disabilities mentally, socially, and physically.
>> Eventually leading to some great empirical and evidence based
>> research published - to the extent we don't already have this.
>>
>> Beyond those goals I look to everyone here in the community to really
>> drive things.  So the restriction is the production of a plan that
>> seems smartly aimed toward these goals.  Within that framework the
>> funds can support travel subsidies, creating really nice brochures,
>> improved Web site content and access, etc.
>>
>> I've already discussed the gist of this with Michelle and I've asked
>> her to produce with everyones help the plan and present it to me
>> before the end of the year.  The funds are for 2008 and 2009.
>>
>> Games Accessibility Conference
>> I am very serious as I've said before in establishing a one-day
>> conference on games accessibility along side our Games for Health
>> Conference.  We have facilities, hotel blocks, registration systems,
>> logistical support, massive PR support, already in place for this.
>>
>> The date to hold this would be May 7, 2008 which is the day before
>> Games for Health opens.  It would be a one day conference with a
>> single track to start and a demo area.  We would also probably
>> feature 2 sessions on accessibility at Games for Health on Thursday
>> and Friday.  I hope this date works for everyone as much as possible
>> - I can't really move it.  Hopefully it just works as best it can.
>> In 2009 we hope to have more flexibility for you.
>>
>> I want the SIG to take on the role of developing the content.  My
>> only stipulation is 25% of the content MUST be focused on talks that
>> explore how accessibility technologies, research, and efforts can be
>> applied to health for people with permanent, temporary, or on-setting
>> disabilities.  The rest of the content can be focused on core needs,
>> case studies, research, etc. that will improve the accessibility of
>> games in general for any purpose -- especially entertainment.
>>
>> Speakers would attend for free.  All other registrants would be
>> charged an amount <$200 to attend.  My goal is that the event be
>> break-even or even profitable within itself.  I would share 50% of
>> the profits from the event back to the SIG by adding it to the grant
>> funds we have available.  The other funds if there is a profit would
>> be reinvested for planning the following year, etc.
>>
>> We very much want to make this event happen.  The Robert Wood Johnson
>> Foundation team we work with has someone on it with deep contacts in
>> the accessibility community and is going to talk with a variety of
>> government agencies involved with accessibility to drive them to
>> support this event.  That becomes a doorway to driving them to
>> support more pervasive accessibility activities.
>>
>> We will be promoting this event heavily to all our attendees.  We
>> will be filming parts of it, we will make an expo area available to
>> showcase work, and we will have dedicated PR staff on the event.
>>
>> The event is to be held in Baltimore, MD which is served by Southwest
>> Airlines which makes it pretty inexpensive to get to.  We are also
>> quite proximate to the federal government which is a big plus.  We've
>> got two hotels blocked out and we're searching for an ultra
>> inexpensive block as well.
>>
>> My goal is to have 50-100 people attend the event.  My hopes are
>> 25-50% stay over for the rest of our event that week so yes from a
>> total transparency standpoint I'm hoping this increases my
>> conference's core profitability.  Win-win.
>>
>> If there is a good sense we can pull of the conference idea as
>> planned I want to make it part of our conference announcements in the
>> coming weeks.  I also will be including games accessibility in our
>> call for content next week.  We expect to then forward those papers
>> to a committee formed here to accept and mold that content.  I will
>> advise you on content just from my experience of organizing events
>> but other then the 25% requirement I really leave it to you as the
>> experts to decide what will be important for people to hear and learn
>> from.
>>
>> BIG NEEDS
>> So hopefully you're still digesting this all but the reason I'm
>> writing this all and providing as much information as I can is I need
>> the following help - please reply to the list with your thoughts:
>>
>> 1. I do need general feedback - ask questions, provide comments, I
>> will do my best to answer them.
>>
>> 2. I need NAMES of people you think are in a position or at
>> organizations in a position to possibly decide to match our funds.  I
>> really want our funds to catalyze others to chip in.  There is no
>> reason this can't eventually snowball to generate over $100,000 or
>> more in due time.  At least that's my hope.
>>
>> I am already reaching out to Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, IBM and a few
>> others.  The early reception has been ok but until we release this
>> more publicly I expect things to be slow to develop.  If you give me
>> more names I'll follow up hard.
>>
>> FUTURE PLANS
>> The basic outline for this all for me is as follows:
>>
>> 1. I want to announce the funds and the goals for them before Xmas.
>> My goal is we have 2 other funders matching 50% or more of the funds
>> by then so they can be named in the Press Release.
>>
>> 2. I want to then announce in the press release that the original
>> funders are challenging anyone else with resources to join this
>> funding -- as part of this I was thinking it'd be cool to setup an
>> individual fundraising effort too - let gamers, and individual
>> developers provide funds to match the larger gifts.
>>
>> 3. In order to accomplish points 1 & 2 the goal would be to have a
>> basic plan in place because the core goals of that plan would be
>> articulated to the public so they can understand what the funds will
>> hopefully accomplish.  Ultimately if we raised enough my hopes are it
>> would accomplish funding development of more accessibility
>> technologies, standards, and SDKs to make it easier for all game
>> developers to put these features in their games.  I also hope it
>> might fund prototypes or games that are specific for people with
>> disabilities like some of the audio only games we've seen from the
>> community thus far.
>>
>> THANK YOU
>> I've been following the work of the SIG and all of you here for
>> sometime.  As I've said many times the work here is extremely
>> relevant to the work I do on serious games, and games for health.
>> I've been hoping to bring some funds to the table to help and while
>> it's not as much as I wanted if I can parlay it with your help into a
>> large enough amount it hopefully can help be the fuel for the spark
>> you've more then created.
>>
>> Thank you all,
>>
>> Ben
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
> .......................................
> these are mediocre times and people are
> losing hope. it's hard for many people
> to believe that there are extraordinary
> things inside themselves, as well as
> others. i hope you can keep an open
> mind.
>  -- "unbreakable"
> .......................................
> _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access