[games_access] Games for Health to Invest in Games Accessibility

[Eelke Folmer]

Hi,

This is great news! good job!

- A good metric for this SIG's success could also be the number of  
games that we were able to make more accessible. (Not by us but by  
game developers).
- I am submitting a number of NSF proposals with the sole purpose to  
gain more insights and understanding on what makes games more  
accessible. I can share my personal research roadmap with you off the  
mailinglist if you want.
- standalone conference;  I welcome a research oriented conferences,  
since there is plenty of research to do in this area and It would be  
nice to get more researchers involved in this SIG.  I would go but I  
don't know whether we can attract the number of people that we would  
like by as early as next may 2008.  I know some researchers that do  
work in game accessibility but are not part of the SIG.

Cheers Eelke


On Nov 16, 2007, at 5:54 AM, Ben Sawyer wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
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