Listen to Software Design Decoded authors Marian Petre and André van der Hoek interviewed on the Greater Than Code podcast.
SportTechie: “Orange County High School Esports League Combines Education, Gaming” (Constance Steinkuehler quoted)
March 9, 2018
Esports are coming to colleges around the country with the creation of varsity programs and unofficial leagues. One of the collegiate leaders in esports is UC Irvine. It was one of the first colleges to have a varsity program and built the first esports arena on a college campus. UC Irvine’s influence in esports has trickled down to local high schools in Southern California with the formation of the Orange County High School Esports League.
Constance Steinkuehler, a professor at UC Irvine, has been helping get the OC Esports League up and running. “(At UC Irvine) we have seen lots of added engagement with students,” she said. “There isn’t a lot of academic research on esports yet but we have seen a positive effect on student performance and retention.”
Read the full story at SportTechie.
Five Thirty Eight: “How To Break Your Phone Addiction” (Gloria Mark research cited)
A study by Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues shows that after only 20 minutes of interrupted work, “people reported significantly higher stress, frustration, workload, effort, and pressure.”
Read the full story at Five Thirty Eight.
Professor Steinkuehler Helps ‘Future-Proof’ California’s Game Industry
March 8, 2018
The Milken Institute recently released “Future-Proofing the Video Game Industry in California,” a report that addresses one central question about the game industry: How can California maintain its edge?
Professor Chen Receives Grant for Study that Encourages Older Adults to Exercise
March 6, 2018
What gets seniors moving to stay healthy? Informatics Professor Yunan Chen is exploring this question after receiving a Council on Research, Computing and Libraries (CORCL) grant. The funding will help Chen study how older adults can use smartwatches for exercise tracking. In particular, the smartwatch app will help seniors with diverse health conditions create personalized exercises goals each day, so Chen can investigate the impact of adaptive exercise tracking.
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Women in Information and Computer Sciences (WICS) Organization Mentors and Supports Future Tech Professionals
Back in 1975, UCI alumnus Barbara Kew was one of two female computer science students in her class and, as she has noted, female ICS role models were scarce. By 2017, Kew had been inducted into the ICS Hall of Fame, and the number of female ICS undergraduates had grown to 685. Furthermore, there is now a plethora of available resources and mentors, thanks to UCI’s Women in Information and Computer Sciences (WICS) student organization.
Wired: “What would a ‘healthy’ Twitter even look like?” (researcher Katherine Lo quoted)
March 2, 2018
“Developing forms of measurement that deviate from engagement and growth is important for the industry, but what will determine the power of a move like this is how it will factor into Twitter’s business objectives,” says Katherine Lo, an online community researcher at University of California Irvine.
Read the full story at Wired.
The New York Times Magazine: “How to Choose an Online Handle” (alumna Nikki Crenshaw quoted)
March 1, 2018
“If you’re going into a new environment — whether that’s a video game, or a social-media platform, or a subreddit — look into the social norms of that community first,” says Nikki Crenshaw, a researcher at Blizzard Entertainment, the maker of World of Warcraft and other online games. Crenshaw got her doctorate in informatics last year from the University of California, Irvine, where she studied naming practices in online video games.
Read the full story at The New York Times Magazine.
California Department of Education: “State Superintendent Torlakson Announces Appointments to Statewide Panel for Computer Science Education” (Debra Richardson named)
February 28, 2018
State Superintendent Tom Torlakson has announced his appointments to the Computer Science Strategic Implementation Plan Panel (CSSIPP), which aims to expand and improve computer science education statewide in grades K–12. The panel has its first meeting on March 1, 2018. Torlakson appointed five members of the 23-member panel. “I’m excited that this panel is beginning the work of strengthening computer science education in California,” he said. ‘We are preparing students for today’s and tomorrow’s career and college opportunities—and for the jobs of the future that haven’t yet been invented. Jobs and skills we must have in a fiercely competitive global economy.”
Read the full news release at the CDE website.
Communications of the ACM: “Responsible Research with Crowds: Pay Crowdworkers at Least Minimum Wage” (Authored by Professor Bill Tomlinson and ICS alumni Six Silberman, Joel Ross, Lilly Irani and Andrew Zaldivar)
February 22, 2018
High-level guidelines for the treatment of crowdworkers.
Read the article on the Communications of the ACM website.