Colleen Macklin Explained

Colleen Macklin
Notable Works:	PETLab
Occupation:	Video game designer Professor
Yearsactive:	1993 - Present
Url:	https://www.colleenmacklin.com/

Colleen Macklin is a female game designer,^[1] an associate professor of media design at Parsons The New School for Design and founder and co-director of PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) which focuses on games for experimental learning and social engagement.^[2]

Education

She has a BFA in Media Arts from Pratt Institute and has done graduate studies in computer science at City University of New York and in international affairs at The New School.^[3]

Career

On July 26, 2012, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy launched an Academic Consortium on Games for Impact.^[4] Macklin was one of 16 academics invited to join the invitation-only group.^[5]

PETLab, the research group Macklin founded and co-directs, is known for encouraging "creative approaches to, and deeper, dynamic understandings of, the complex issues society faces today, such as climate change, wealth and resource distribution, and media literacy."^{[6] [7] [8]} The project also aims to get games to teach the player by allowing them to reflect on not only what the game is about but also how it's structured.^[9]

She was part of game design group Local No. 12 who made games like Dear Reader, an online word puzzle game, and The Metagame, a board/card game .^[10]

In 2011, she was a visiting scholar at University of California, Los Angeles's Art | Sci Center + Lab.^[11]

Macklin also speaks about "what it means to be a woman in games" as well as speaking on the topic of gay gamers.^{[12] [13]} In 2014, Macklin appeared in the LGBTQ video games documentary film Gaming In Color.^[14]

Books

• Iterate: Ten Lessons in Design and Failure (2019) ^[15]
• Games, Design and Play: A Detailed Approach to Iterative Game Design (2016)
• Games, Learning, and Society: Learning and Meaning in the Digital Age; Chapter 22 (2012)

Movies

• Gaming in Color (May 19, 2015)
• Gameloading: Rise of the Indies (April 21, 2015)

Selected talks and exhibitions

• • "#1ReasonToBe panel" (March 2014), Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, California, United States^[16]
• "Media Lab Conversations Series: Colleen Macklin" (January 30, 2014), MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States^[17]
• "We're Here..." (October 26, 2013), QGCon: The Queerness and Games Conference, Berkeley Center for New Media, Berkeley, California^[18]
• "Keynote Speaker" (November 2012), 2012 National Council of Arts Administrators Conference, Columbus, Ohio, United States^[19]
• "Blur 02: Power at Play in Digital Art and Culture" (2002), New York City, New York, United States^[20]

Notes and References

1. The Metagame . Wired . 5 February 2016. Hudson . Laura .
2. http://petlab.parsons.edu/people/ PETLab's website
3. http://artsinitiative.osu.edu/community/2012-ncaa/keynote NCAA 2012 Conference website
4. André Czauderna, "From Serious Games to Games for Impact", G4CE magazine
5. http://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2012/08/white-house-taps-parsons-faculty-for-games-consortium/ White House Taps Parsons Faculty for Games Consortium
6. http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/colleen-macklin-petlab-prototyping-play/ Colleen Macklin: PETLab, Prototyping Play
7. Learning . Wired . 5 February 2016. Andersen . Michael .
8. Web site: Learning through games . . 12 May 2011 . 5 February 2016.
9. Web site: 2014-11-11. Game Designers in Detail: Colleen Macklin. 2021-03-09. NYU Game Center. en-US.
10. Web site: Colleen Macklin. 2021-03-09. TEDxCambridge. en-US.
11. http://artsci.ucla.edu/?q=team/colleen-macklin Art | Sci Center + Lab's Website
12. GDC Staff Popular #1ReasonToBe panel returns to GDC 2014 Gamasutra. URL accessed on 1 February 2014.
13. Web site: Arstechnica . 26 March 2014 . 5 February 2016.
14. Web site: Financial post . 5 February 2016.
15. Web site: Colleen Macklin. 2021-03-09. MIT Press. en.
16. http://www.gdconf.com/news/popular_1reasontobe_panel_retu.html Game Developers Conference's website
17. https://www.media.mit.edu/events/2014/01/30/media-lab-conversations-series-colleen-macklin Media Lab's website
18. http://www.qgcon.com/schedule/ QGCon's website
19. http://artsinitiative.osu.edu/community/2012-ncaa/keynote Keynote Speakers - Short Biographies
20. Anne Pasternak Creative Time: The Book: 33 Years of Public Art in New York Princeton Architectural Press (2007), p. 268
    - Creative Time's website. URL accessed on 1 February 2014.