Mary Flanagan

Biography

Photo of Mary Flanagan

Mary Flanagan is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities at Dartmouth College. Her current Tiltfactor projects include work in education and games, design processes and methods, and game literacy. With funding from Microsoft, the Design for Learning group is focused on determining those specific design aspects of games which allow for good learning in games. The Values at Play project investigates how designers can be more intentional about the ways in which they integrate human values into their game-based systems. The lab created and tested a values-based college curriculum, the Grow-A-Game brainstorming tool, and develops novel games which integrates values. The lab’s most recent digital game LAYOFF attracted over 1 million players in its first week of release and educated players about the financial crisis. The lab’s current board game VEXATA helps middle school students learn to “read” game mechanics and develop a game literacy. Finallly, the lab’s forthcoming urban game, PHOTOPOLIS (with Parsons) explores how players can envision and document how human values manifest in everyday life across cultures, and it will launch with players in New York, Beijing, and Shanghai.

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