Registration for POCOS on Gaming Environments & Virtual Worlds Now Open!

Details: Published on Friday, 25 November 2011 14:50

Registration is now open for the third POCOS symposium on Gaming Environments & Virtual Worlds. You can book a place for this event online at: http://www.pocos.org/index.php/registration.

Date: 26-27 January 2012

Duration: 2 days

Venue: Novotel, Cardiff, Wales

Introduction

Digital and video games, which can be traced back to the very early days of digital computers in the 1950s, have rapidly become a major form of entertainment, pop culture and artistic expression, and have even contributed to other sectors, e.g. with serious games, through discipline-specific methods. Supported by a flourishing industry, academic research and dedicated players, they are now largely recognised as a valuable part of our cultural heritage. Preserving not only the artefacts themselves, but also appropriate contextual information is key to understanding the many facets of this new medium, both now and in the future. Given sufficient support and coordination, preservation of a large part of even the earliest part of gaming history is still achievable, a privilege that other modern forms of art such as cinema did not enjoy. Virtual worlds, the latest manifestation of this constantly innovating domain, offer an even greater preservation challenge as they rely on spontaneous and ephemeral worldwide social interactions.

The two-day symposium on Gaming Environments and Virtual Worlds will provide a forum for participants to discuss these challenges, review and debate the latest developments in the field, witness real-life case studies, and engage in networking activities. The symposium will promote discussion of the following key topics:

Computing hardware and digital games preservation and exhibitions
Digital games history and documentation
Computer demos preservation
Software preservation

Venue and Dates

The symposium will be held in the Novotel, Cardiff on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 January 2012. Discount rates at the hotel have been negotiated for delegates. When you contact the hotel to make a booking, simply tell them that you are a delegate at the POCOS event. The hotel is near Cardiff Central Railway Station and is also offering free parking and wifi to all delegates.

For delegates seeking a budget hotel, there is an Etap Hotel next door to the venue, and a wide choice of other hotels in the City Centre within 10 minutes' walk