Mark Danger Chen

EDUCATION

PhD Ed Tech/Learning Sciences, College of Education, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (expected 2009)

Dissertation Topic: Leet Noobs: An ethnographic look at communication, collaboration, expertise, and socialization in a World of Warcraft player group

Committee Members: Philip Bell (Chair, Learning Sciences), John Bransford (Learning Sciences), Jennifer Stone (Digital Literacies), Beth Kolko (Human Centered Design & Engineering)

B.A. Studio Art, Reed College, Portland, OR (May 1995)

Thesis Topic: A re-creation of Eliot Chapel Stair Hall (using 3D Studio)

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant, Everyday Science & Technology Group, LIFE Center, University of Washington (Summer 2007-present)

• Working on Phil Bell‘s research team to analyze video and write ethnographic accounts of learning across settings. My focus is to bring a disciplined view of gaming to the analysis of kids playing video games.

Member of DNI Summer Hard Problem Program 2008 studying “3D Cyber Space Spillover: Where Virtual Worlds Get Real.” (Summer 2008)

• Assisted in discussions and debates and prepared an analytic product for the Intelligence Community for use on this issue as further studies continue.

Ethnographer, Dissertation field work in an online game world (Fall 2004-Fall 2007)

Research Assistant, College of Education, University of Washington (Winter 2004)

• Worked with William Winn defining a protocol for analyzing chat sessions in an online virtual environment.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Instructor/Teaching Assistant, Teacher Education Program (Steve Kerr, supervisor), University of Washington (Fall 2005-2008)

• Redesigned and taught the technology class for Masters in Teaching students.
• Worked with colleagues to incorporate technology use into everyday practice with the rest of the Teacher Education Program.

Research Assistant, Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington (Spring 2005)

• Helped professor Beth Kolko design a new course on Technology and Society.

DESIGN EXPERIENCE

Web and Flash Consultant, Dangerous Decibels, Oregon Health & Science University (Summer 2007-Summer 2008)

• Working w­_­ith William Martin in updating and producing a Flash-based virtual exhibit CD for an NIH funded outreach project on noise induced hearing loss.

Usability Testing Consultant, Microsoft, Seattle, WA (Winter 2004)

• Designed a pilot usability test for Microsoft Downloads using think-aloud protocol and eye-tracking hardware.

Graduate Assistant, Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology, University of Washington (2003-2004)

• Refined criteria for assessing higher education websites for accessibility and protocols for contacting those institutions with suggestions and resources for making their sites more accessible.

Game Designer, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (2000-2003)

• Developed educational mini-games for exhibit kiosks drawing on vast knowledge of the conventions of commercial computer games.
  • Exhibits include: Moneyville (Get Real and Lemonade Stand), Hanford at the Half-life (Radiation Calculator), Dangerous Decibels (Save Your Ears), Engineer It!, Explore Technology (Color Mixing), and Animation (Squash and Stretch).
• Created and tested user interface prototypes and wrote and refined software specs for all projects.
• Supervised multiple projects and coordinated art, video, audio, and programming teams for each.

Webmaster, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (1998-2000)

• Redesigned entire website with a focus on accessibility and scalability.
• Maintained multiple back-end databases to manage the content of the website.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

• Officer of Educators for Social Justice, College of Education (2008-2009), Member (2003-present)
• Officer of Associated Students of the College of Education (2006-2008), Member (2006-present)
• Committee Member, Critical Gaming Project (2008-present)
• Guild Officer, World of Warcraft, Silver Hand (Spring 2005-2007)
• Guild Master, World of Warcraft, Silver Hand (Fall 2004-Spring 2005)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)
• International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)
• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• International Game Developers Association (IGDA)

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

• Reviewer for Games and Culture
• Reviewer for Transformative Works and Cultures

OTHER SERVICE

• Rider for the National Bicycle Greenway Mayor’s Ride, Portland to Eugene leg (2003)
• Key member of the Walk the Talk environmental team at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (2001-2003)
• Rider for the National Bicycle Greenway cross-country ride (2000)
• Blogger since 2000, computer gamer since 1984 (IBM XT), tabletop gamer since 1981 (D&D)

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

A list of publications and such are found on my Papers page.