[games_access] Games for Health Conference Call for Content

[Ben Sawyer]

Hello everyone,

The official announcement of our Games for Health 2008 conference is  
very soon but the call for content information is now done and I'm  
providing it here ahead of posting it more widely.:

GAMES FOR HEALTH CONFERENCE 2008
Baltimore, MD  May 8-9, 2008

Call for Content

The 2008 Games for Health conference is set to be held on May 8-9 at  
the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD.

Our call for content is now open.  Please send all submissions to  
content at gamesforhealth.org by Jan 8, 2008.  All speakers receive free  
entry to the conference and all related events + free expo space for  
displaying their related projects, products, or services.  All other  
attendees can now register for the conference at http:// 
www.gamesforhealth.org

TOPICS & CONTENT REQUESTED

The Games for Health Conference 2008 will feature over 40 sessions of  
content.  Content planned includes panels, poster sessions, general  
lectures, case studies of projects and games, technology  
presentations, and how-to sessions.  We seek a large variety of  
content across a range of topics and game types and health areas  
including:

Exergaming & Rehabitainment

Health Behavior Change

Disease Management	& Education

Public Health Messaging & Patient Communication	

Cognitive Health

Training & Management Sims & Occupational Recruitment

Accessibility for Games & Disability focused Games

Epidemiology

Pain Distraction & Stress Relief

CyberPsychology

Entertainment Games About Health or Substantial Health Related Play

Health Effects of Games

First Responders & Mass Casualty Training

Medical Informatics & Health Data Collection

Virtual Patients

Interface & Visualization Applications

Personal Health & Electronic Medical Record Systems


For more information please see topic summaries below

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Please send your submission as a plain text email, Microsoft Word  
document, or Adobe PDF file.  Email them to content at gamesforhealth.org.

If you are suggesting a specific session style please label it as  
follows: Panel, Poster, Case Study/Demo, Lecture, How-To, etc.

Include 2-3 Paragraph Bios for speaker(s) associated with session  
submission

Please list the minimum time required by your session.  Minimal time  
for presentations is 20 minutes.  Maximum time is 90 minutes (Panels  
or How-To sessions only!)

For all submissions referencing software please provide an  
explanation of the software's status (i.e. alpha, beta, completed,  
published, prototype, etc.) and 1-3 screenshots with your  
submission.  Links to video demonstrations or downloadable demos may  
be sent in addition to your screenshots.

All sessions must relate to the use of computer games / videogames or  
their related technologies or other industry resources.  If your  
submission doesn't make this link obvious please provide an  
explanation under the heading "Game Connection" in your submission.

If your submission requires Internet access, runs on a mobile  
platform, or requires other special equipment please let us know of  
these requirements so we may plan accordingly for such needs during  
your presentation.

Please also ensure we have FULL CONTACT INFORMATION including mailing  
address, organization affiliation, title, office and mobile phones,  
and at least one alternative email address.

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES

Games for Health offers the following special opportunities for  
content submissions:

Virtual Worlds & Health

Games for Health will feature a full day of content focused on the  
use of virtual world systems and health.  Virtual worlds combine  
social systems with game-based interfaces and graphics to create  
entirely new synthetic spaces to train, practice, and visualize.   
Such systems hold great promise to health and healthcare through  
layering on of game-play or enabling pure simulation or new forms of  
social interaction.

Our Virtual Worlds & Health Day is accepting talks, case studies,  
poster sessions, and panels that cover the use of virtual world  
technologies and applications that support new ideas in health and  
healthcare.

Peer Review Status Opportunities

Games for Health will be implementing a professional peer review  
process for the 2008 conference.  This is limited to research  
oriented content wishing to submit for peer review.  Please label  
your content submission "FOR PEER REVIEW".

Up to eight submissions will be selected by a peer review committee  
and designated with peer review status if accepted.  Accepted papers  
will be designated for lecture or poster presentation.  Papers which  
do not achieve peer review acceptance may be considered for other  
portions of the conference but will not be given peer reviewed status.

TOPIC AREA SUMMARIES

Exergaming & Rehabitainment : Use of game software and/or associated  
hardware to motivate, track, and induce various forms of physical  
activity (aerobic, physical therapy, anti-atrophy, etc.) that  
provides specific health outcomes.

Health Behavior Change : Use of game software and related resources  
to effect and support individuals in changing behaviors that put them  
at-risk for poor health

Disease Management & Education : Use of game software and related  
resources to educate people about diseases and especially to assist  
those with diseases and chronic illnesses to live well with those  
ailments.

Public Health Messaging & Patient Communication : Use of game  
software and related resources to communicate to the public about  
health concerns, policies, or health issues.

Cognitive Health : Exploring the theories and practices behind using  
games to improve various aspects of cognitive health via game-based  
conditioning/stimulation including but not limited to various forms  
of memory, equilibrium, and eye-hand coordination.

Training & Managment Sims & Occupational Recruitment : Training  
skills, management practices using games.  Using games to visualize  
health-related jobs, practices, and systems in an attempt to recruit  
talent to health-based occupations.

Accessibility for Games & Disability focused Games : Making all games  
accessible or providing games specific to disabilities in order to  
people with lifelong or temporary disabilities enhanced quality of  
life, specific therapy, new social capabilities, or disability  
related training.

Epidemiology : The use of games in all aspects of epidemiology  
including training, visualization, behavior research, modeling, and  
more.

Pain Distraction & Stress Relief : Games or game-like environments  
provided to offer distraction from chronic, or temporary pain,  
medical procedures or as means to provide relief from stress.

CyberPsychology : Games or game-based environments that provide  
support for psychological assessment, treatment, or education.

Entertainment Games About Health or Substantial Health Related Play :  
Games that offer interesting media studios, design patterns, or other  
insight into how health is or could be portrayed in games.

Health Effects of Games : Studies that show general health related  
outcomes from playing games in general (e.g. repetitive stress  
injuries, online game addiction, motion sickness, etc.)

First Aide, First Responders & Mass Casualty Training : Games that  
specialize in training citizens and professional first responders in  
all forms of pre-hospital care and aide including for incidents  
involving mass casualties.

Medical Informatics & Health Data Collection : The use of games, game  
technologies, and design patterns to aide in the collection,  
visualization, and analysis of health and medical information.

Virtual Patients : Use of game-based technologies and design  
techniques to create believable physiological and psychological  
synthetic humans for use in training and other relevant situations.

Interface & Visualization Applications : Applying game design  
techniques and game technologies to problems in health and healthcare  
involving application interface design and general issues of  
visualization.

Personal Health & Electronic Medical Record Systems : Using interface  
ideas and avatar technologies from games along with other design and  
engineering resources to foster innovation in personal health and  
electronic medical record systems.

ABOUT GAMES FOR HEALTH

Games for Health is a project produced by The Serious Games  
Initiative, a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars effort  
that applies cutting-edge games and game technologies to a range of  
public and private policy, leadership, and management issues.  The  
project also produces The Games for Health Conference now in its 4th  
year.

The Initiative founded Games for Health to develop a community and  
best practices platform for the numerous games being built for health  
care applications. To date the project has brought together  
researchers, medical professionals, and game developers to share  
information about the impact games and game technologies can have on  
health, health care, and policy. For more information, visit  
www.gamesforhealth.org.