Games with Invisible Buttons
with Holly Gramazio and Dr. Christy Dena
Freeplay 2015, 12 April 2015, Melbourne

While I was at GDC in San Francisco earlier this year, I was incredibly lucky to attend and speak at the Adventure Design Group, a meetup of people in the Bay Area working in the pervasive/physical/mixed-platform game space. I spoke about the MEMORI Escape room that I created for the State Library of WA which attempted to push the narrative boundaries of the escape room genre while providing a new way for patrons to engage with the library’s collection through the use of play. If you’re curious about our design process or the use of escape rooms and pervasive games for public engagement and education, you’ll find this useful.

The Making of the MEMORI Escape Room
Adventure Design Group, 11 March 2015, San Francisco

Attention ladies and gentlemen allies!
I’ll be speaking at the Australian Computer Society/Microsoft next week in Perth, so if you’re around I hope you can join me!

A Lady’s Guide to Kicking Ass
with Dr. Kate Raynes-Goldie

Drawing on her global adventures as a game designer, technologist, and social entrepreneur, Kate will share her favourite actionable tips and strategies for kicking ass in your personal and professional life. Ranging from asking for and getting what you need, to what to do when you’re at a tech conference and a presenter decides its cool to include naked ladies in their slides, Kate will tell you how to get it done with humour and positivity.

Kate is the Director of Games and Interactive at FTI, Founder & Creative Director of Games We Play and an Adjunct Research Fellow at Curtin University, where she also completed a PhD in internet studies. She’s been invited to speak around the world, including SXSW, NXNE and TEDxPerth and has appeared on MTV (twice!) and in ELLE magazine. 

She runs the Changemaking Ladies email list, which you should totally subscribe to.

Microsoft
100 St Georges Terrace Perth
Thursday 4th September 2014
5:30PM

Get a ticket ($20 regular/free for ACS members)

A big huge thanks to the incredible Michelle Sandford for organising!

I called Eventbrite and emailed Mailchimp and both said this functionality was not available. But, with a bit of digging, I was able to figure out that there is indeed an easy way to do it, without using any work arounds or third party software!

So, here’s how to easily manage your your recurring event’s mailing list using Eventbrite and Mailchimp.

First you have to prepare the list on Eventbrite to be exported to Mailchimp…

1.)  Login to Eventbrite and select “My Contacts” from the top drop down menu

2.) Click “Create a New Contact List”

3.) Enter the name you want for the list (I just use the name of my last event) and select which event(s) you want to import from

Now you have a list ready to import into Mailchimp!

4.) Login to Mailchimp and click on “Lists” from the lefthand menu and then select the list you want to import the attendees to

5.) Click the “Add Subscribers” pull down menu from the top, and click “Import Subscribers”

6.) Choose which service to import from, which is Eventbrite.

7.) Now select the name of the list you wish to import from (this was the name you chose in step 3 — I chose Playup Perth #3). And, the most important bit for making sure to avoid any duplicates — check the “Auto-update my existing list” option.

8.) It will ask you to make sure the fields match up (you might have a last date emailed column that doesn’t match up, but you can just select “skip” as you don’t need this column anyway)

9.) You’re finished! Hurrah!

(This post is dedicated to the very lovely Di Farmer)

The three key things I’ve learnt:

• You, and only you, are in charge of your path and create the opportunities that come along.
• People want to help you and are a key to success (that old adage rings true — “it’s not what you know, but who.”)
• Failure does not exist — it is just what needs to be learnt.

Okay so, those are really nice and and you’ve probably heard them before, but how does one actually go about implementing them (and this sort of nitty gritty is where I also would’ve appreciated more guidance):

• Just start doing what you are passionate about, don’t wait for someone else to hire you or give you the opportunity (start a blog about your ideas, write for a student/local paper, run an event or workshop, make a game, create some art, volunteer). This might lead to creating your own business or consultancy. Or, if you decide to work for someone else, this not only shows employers that you already have experience, but also that you’re a go-getter. And, it gets your name out there as someone doing cool stuff.
• Start talking to people who do what you think you might want to do, ask them what it’s like in their job, how they got there, what they like and don’t like about it. This will give you a sense of what you might like to do and how to get there, but more importantly, it has the added benefit of making connections with people who might be able to help you get a job. Ramit Sethi has a killer step-by-step guide on how to network and approach new people, which is useful for anyone regardless of career stage. If you’re in high school, you can simply adjust his suggested scripts he provides to say you’re in high school and thinking about what career you want. People generally love to help young people, so you already have a leg up over everyone else!
• Do not be afraid of failing. As the saying goes, it’s only failure if you don’t learn something. Everything I’ve done (even stuff that seems trivial or pointless or unrelated to what I do now) has taught me something important about myself, other people, the world or has provided me with new insights or skills.
• Your mind and attitude are incredibly powerful, use them wisely.  This is so important but largely overlooked. What you believe about yourself, your career, your opportunities and so on becomes your reality, good or bad. We’re always told to stay positive, but what does that actually mean? We all carry around invisible scripts in our heads — basically ways of thinking/doing that can hold us back, without realising it. These are important to recognise and get rid of, and even more importantly, replace with positive, productive scripts and visualisations that move us forward. The best athletes and other top performers have learnt how to do this. A highly effective, step-by-step book on how to do this (including techniques used by top athletes) is John Kehoe’s Mind Power into the 21st Century.

Resources I wish I’d had in high school:

• Ramit Sethi’s mailing list and blog – Ramit takes all the useful, broad advice you’ve been given (“you should network more”) and breaks it down into clear, actionable steps. Plus, he has tonnes of great new advice that is way more useful and insightful than most of the career guidance stuff you’ll come across.
• John Kehoe’s Mind Power into the 21st Century – I mentioned this above, but I can’t say enough good stuff about this book in helping anyone to create the proper mindset and habits for a happy, successful career and life.

Dear Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie

I am writing to let you know that your thesis, which is in the Curtin institutional repository, espace@Curtin, has been particularly popular with readers around the globe.

Your thesis, Privacy in the age of facebook : discourse, architecture, consequences, has been downloaded a total of 2794 times as of 20^th May 2014. This places your work as the 6^th most downloaded thesis of all time in espace@Curtin as of 20^th May 2014.

You can access your download statistics here: http://espace-stats.library.curtin.edu.au/author_statistics.pl?author=Raynes-Goldie,_Kate_Sarah

We would like to offer you our congratulations for the overall popularity of your work in espace@Curtin.

Now I just gotta get on that book deal…

I moved to Perth from Toronto, Canada — a city with a great public transport system. When I lived in Toronto, I didn’t need a car because I could take public transit everywhere. To do my bit to fight climate change and environmental destruction, I have lived car-free in Perth for 7 years, instead choosing to carpool, take public transport or bike.

I agree there is a serious congestion problem in Melville and the surrounding suburbs. It does effect me negatively and I want something done about it. However, this does not mean I support a new highway through an extremely environmentally sensitive, irreplaceable and critically important wetland. Unfortunately, the City of Melville survey on the issue, and indeed federal and state governments’ arguments for the plan to build a new highway which the survey appears to support, suggest that the only solution to the congestion problem is more roads.

However, researchers have already proven that building more roads actually increases traffic. (Build more roads, people drive more cars, congestion increases… repeat.)  Thus, the real solution here is not more roads, but better mass transit.

I take the 99 bus along South street, one of the streets the new highway will supposedly ease congestion on. The bus never comes on time, or comes so early that I miss it. Sometimes the bus is stuck in traffic. I lectured for 5 years at Curtin University in Bentley. It took me nearly 2 hours to get to work sometimes, partially because of traffic, but largely because of an inefficient bus service combined with no train option between where I live and where I work. I would often be late for work or meetings because of the bus. But now, after 7 years of struggling to be car free, I have made the unhappy decision buy a hybrid car simply to avoid being the constant embarrassment and unprofessionalism that comes with showing up late to everything. I’ll soon be in another single-occupant car to that will increase congestion.

Owning a car isn’t what I want, but its the choice that Perth’s infrastructure has forced me to make. Just like me, other people will make this decision. Why take the bus when, quite frankly, the bus sucks? It’s much easier and more appealing to drive down a beautiful new freeway. Until everyone starts doing the same thing… then its time to build another freeway. You want  a real, sustainable solution to congestion? Build more public transport.

So, instead of building this freeway, why not build a light rail system down the middle of a major road. Or, extend the train line? Or increase bus service?

If we want Perth to be a world class city, we need to start acting like one. World class cities  don’t destroy wetlands to build roads. They build mass transit and preserve parks and nature reserves.

Sincerely,

Kate Raynes-Goldie, PhD

Slides

Abstract
The amount and scope of personal information shared on Facebook has markedly increased over the past decade (Stutzman, Gross, & Acquisti, 2013), a privacy shift that has been reflected in internet usage more broadly. In the words of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO: “[In 2004] when Facebook was just getting started, most people didn’t want to put information about themselves on the Internet. So, we got people through this really big hurdle of getting people to want to put up their full name, a real picture, mobile phone number…and connections to real people… (Zimmer, 2008). As Zuckerberg’s statement suggests, these changes were not accidental. Facebook has intentionally and consistently pushed users to to increase their personal disclosures, or, as those at Facebook describe it, to become more “open and connected” (Raynes-Goldie, 2012). As their revenue model is based on datamining  and targeted advertising, Facebook has a clear financial motivation to encourage its users to share more personal information on the site. However, profit is not the company’s only motivation. Underpinning Facebook’s push towards less privacy is a deep ideological belief that if if we all lived more open, transparent and less private lives, society would be more compassionate, equal and just (Smith, 2007). It is a belief that Zuckerberg and his “inner circle” at Facebook describe as “radical transparency” (Kirkpatrick, 2010, p. 207).

Based on an extensive archival and media analysis of primary and secondary materials gathered over the last decade (including developer changelogs, court documents, official blog posts, interviews, and first hand employee accounts) and this paper will examine how Facebook has attempted to impose radical transparency upon its users, and indeed the internet more broadly. Specifically, this paper will outline how the company, through a variety of mechanisms (technical, discursive, social and policy-based), has strategically transformed Facebook’s culture from a locked down, student-focused community to a much less private, more open social network where nearly a billion people actively share their personal information and daily activities — changes which, due to the global pervasiveness of Facebook, have had a ripple effect on privacy culture more broadly. Overall, this paper will document exactly how and why a decade of Facebook has significantly changed privacy online.

Works Cited
Kirkpatrick, D. (2010). The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Raynes-Goldie, K. (2012). Privacy in the Age of Facebook: discourse, architecture, consequences. PhD. Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

Smith, J. (2007). Facebook Friends Lists let you manage your ‘friends’ more effectively. Retrieved September 21, 2008 from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2007/12/19/facebook-friend-lists-let-you-manage-your-friends-more-effectively/

Stutzman, F., Gross, R., & Acquisti, A. (2013). Silent Listeners: The Evolution of Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook. Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality, 4(2). Retrieved from http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1098&context=jpc

Zimmer, M. (2008). Facebook’s Zuckerberg on Increasing the Streams of Personal Information Online. Retrieved from http://michaelzimmer.org/2008/11/08/facebooks-zuckerberg-on-increasing-the-streams-of-personal-information-online/

[Edit 23 May 2014] As of May 2014, my PhD was the 6th most downloaded thesis of all time from Curtin Library’s eSpace.

In July, my PhD thesis passed examination. Today, after making the required (thankfully minor) revisions, I submitted the final version to my university!

Download [pdf] or access via Curtin Library repository (eSpace)

Raynes-Goldie, K. (2012). Privacy in the Age of Facebook: Discourse, Architecture, Consequences. PhD. Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
http://www.k4t3.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/privacy_in_the_age_of_facebook_raynes-goldie.pdf

Abstract
Most academic and journalistic discussions of privacy on Facebook have centred on users, rather than the company behind the site. The result is an overwhelming focus on the perceived shortcomings of users with respect to irresponsible privacy behaviours, rather than an examination of the potential role that Facebook Inc. may have in encouraging such behaviours. Aiming to counterbalance this common technologically deterministic perspective, this thesis deploys a multi-layered ethnographic approach in service of a deep and nuanced analysis of privacy on Facebook. This approach not only looks at both the users and creators of Facebook, it examines Facebook Inc. in the context of historical, cultural and discursive perspectives. Specifically, this thesis details how the company’s privacy policy and design decisions are guided not simply by profit, but by a belief system which which encourages “radical transparency” (Kirkpatrick, 2010) and is at odds with conventional understandings of privacy. In turn, drawing on Fiske’s model of popular culture, users “make do” with the limited privacy choices afforded them by the site, while at the same time attempting to maximise its social utility. As this dynamic demonstrates, Facebook Inc. plays a critical, yet often overlooked role in shaping privacy norms and behaviours through site policies and architecture. Taken together, the layers of this thesis provide greater insight into user behaviour with respect to privacy, and, more broadly, demonstrate the importance of including critical analyses of social media companies in examinations of privacy culture.

I was making a follow up appointment at my dermatologist’s office today. On the reception desk right in front of me, in plain view, was a print out of a patient call list. Certainly, this was a minor violation of patient confidentiality in itself. But what caused me real concern was what was written in the column labeled ‘comments’ next to one of the patients’ names: bitch. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Since the term is a gendered, hate word used to disempower uppity women, I consider bitch to be as offensive as any racial slur (and am surprised it’s still socially acceptable to use, while racial slurs are not). So, not only was this patient’s privacy being violated in a most unprofessional way, she had officially been labeled as a bitch in a document at her doctor’s office.

What was even more concerning was that this list was a print out, meaning there was also an electronic copy on the office computer. Anyone who uses the internet knows how easily information can move around, accidentally or consciously being repurposed for uses other than the one originally intended (see David Lyon’s concept of leaky containers). Anyone standing at the desk could see this list, but the potential audience of an electronic document is much wider and perhaps even more of a threat. Who knows if that description is in her medical records, or if it will follow her to future doctors. It has the potential to compromise her medical care, for example her doctor might be less open or accommodating given that she is apparently ‘a bitch.’

Yet another reason why paper-based heath records are better for protecting privacy.

PS I’m still trying to figure out what to do about this discovery as it is in violation of Ontario/Canadian privacy law, and I’m certain whatever ethics/codes govern Ontario doctors. I wanted to tell my doctor, but my next appointment isn’t for another year and there is no way to get to her unless I go through a receptionist.

Edit (July 21, 2011): Based on some of the feedback I’ve been getting, I’d like to further clarify that my main point was to highlight the unprofessionalism of what I saw at my dermatologist’s office. My point about e-health records was secondary, but seems to be getting more attention, so I’ll support/clarify that argument a bit more with a few other examples (below) of why digital records pose more of a threat than paper. And no, I am not saying paper is 100% safe and private, rather that it is more private than digital records. Furthermore, arguments that I should trust doctors to be professional and keep my info safe with digital records because they will follow the strict protocols are pretty much invalidated by what was written in that patient call list. Indeed, it is human error/unprofessionalism that is the main problem here, but the properties if digital databases/ICT magnify these issues.

1.) Digital records threaten privacy through obscurity – see the Facebook newsfeed example

2.) Digital records allow for function creep and leaky containers – see the reuse of a digital database of photos taken for driver licensing being used to identify potential criminals

—

Playstation sent me an email on April 27 to tell me that my information had probably been stolen in the hack, but couldn’t confirm anything. But it became pretty obvious when I started receiving way more spam than usual, including the following elaborate, targeted phishing email, playing on the fact that people have probably been calling Sony to get information about the hack. Not really a surprise, though:

Sony Computer Entertainment America:

Customer Satisfaction and Product Service Survey

***Please do not reply to this message. This is a system-generated email and your message will not be read.***

Dear KATE RAYNES-GOLDIE,

Thank you for your recent contact to Sony Computer Entertainment America Consumer Services Department for support with your PlayStation® system. We are very interested to hear about the service you received and would appreciate your feedback regarding your support experience.

We continually strive to provide you with high quality support and service and your comments and suggestions enable us to better serve your future needs. Please take a moment to complete this brief survey. (Completion time is five minutes or less). You will need either your 9-11 digit Service Request number (e.g. SR Number 1-xxxxxxxxx or W-xxxxxxxxx), or the phone number and area code you provided when you contacted us. To begin, please click the link below.

Click here to take this survey

We are unable to respond to replies sent to this survey email account, nor are we able to contact you directly if requested us to do so via your survey response. If you are in need of additional assistance regarding your PlayStation® system, please contact us at:

Email Consumer Services

Phone: 1-800-345-7669

Hours of Operation:

Monday through Saturday 6:00am – 8:00pm

Sunday 7:00am through 6:30pm

We appreciate the time taken to give us your thoughts and suggestions.

Sincerely,

PlayStation Consumer Services

Sony Computer Entertainment America

DON’T KNOW THE SENDER?

======================

You are receiving this email because you contacted SCEA for assistance with your PlayStation® system. If you believe you received this email in error, please contact Sony Computer Entertainment America Consumer Services Department at http://www.us.playstation.com/Corporate/ContactUs/ConsumerServices.

To unsubscribe from future PlayStation® surveys please click here.

Information provided will only be used to enhance customer experience and is not used to sell any products or services. To view our Privacy Policy, please visit http://www.us.playstation.com/support.aspx?id=privacypolicy.

Sony Computer Entertainment America 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd. Foster City, CA 94404