Research project funded by the Center for Research, Development, and Innovation (CIDI)
at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Sede Central Medellín [File No. 515B-11/15-S80]
tecHnical data for the project
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Raúl Alberto Mora
- Co-investigators: Sebastián Castaño (Tavarez, The Kommissar), Michael Hernandez (Trayvon Dwayne), Tyrone Steven Orrego (Tairo Mendoza), and Daniel Ramírez (Dan Van Dam).
- Phase One design stage: June 2014 - January, 2015
- Phase One data collection stage: January, 2015 - March, 2016
- Phase One data analysis stage: January 2016 - December, 2016
Description
One thing Dr. Berry has learned about research is that ideas for research sometimes come from the unlikeliest places. In early 2013, while reading a paper for Communicative Competence II, he started wondering if the work on urban literacies that "Berry's Angels" were doing could translate to virtual spaces. Right in front of him, Sebastián and Alejandro were sitting... and soon after, they were part of the team.
In 2013, Mateo joined, intrigued by the project. Dr. Berry then invited Brayan because he just liked his spark (sometimes that's all it needs to work with the Dr.) and Brayan in turn invited Sebastián Castaño, who was a serious gaming enthusiast. And at that time, the "Stooges" were the team that is now working on a study on English literacies in gaming communities in Medellín. In 2014, Mateo left the team to pursue his senior thesis, although he did leave a Micro-Paper as his parting gift. In the second semester of 2014, Michael and Tyrone joined the group to provide more perspectives from their own experiences as gamers. In 2015, Daniel joined the team, leaving a four-researcher core that led this first stage of our gaming research. This core also helped set our identity as #TeamLaV and our team colors (red/black), the Star as our team symbol, and the choice of using the Cyrillic alphabet in our internal team logo.
In 2013, Mateo joined, intrigued by the project. Dr. Berry then invited Brayan because he just liked his spark (sometimes that's all it needs to work with the Dr.) and Brayan in turn invited Sebastián Castaño, who was a serious gaming enthusiast. And at that time, the "Stooges" were the team that is now working on a study on English literacies in gaming communities in Medellín. In 2014, Mateo left the team to pursue his senior thesis, although he did leave a Micro-Paper as his parting gift. In the second semester of 2014, Michael and Tyrone joined the group to provide more perspectives from their own experiences as gamers. In 2015, Daniel joined the team, leaving a four-researcher core that led this first stage of our gaming research. This core also helped set our identity as #TeamLaV and our team colors (red/black), the Star as our team symbol, and the choice of using the Cyrillic alphabet in our internal team logo.
stage Zero: Autoethnography
As a previous step to this project, the student researchers developed a pilot study from their vantage point as gamers. Relying on the methodology of autoethnography, all researchers took reflective notes and collected screenshots from their own gaming experiences. We used these data as the basis of a presentation at the Tenth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, which has also become the source to write the research proposal for this project.
stage one: language-as-victory as a linguistic and semiotic affair
The team has been working on this project since July, 2013. Since this project is about digital literacies, the team has delved in digital ethnography as the methodological tool to carry out this study. Guided by the question of how English appears in these communities, the student researchers mentioned the issue that English is not just a resource at times... but the resource to thrive in these games. From this research, we have coined the notion of Language as Victory (LaV) as the conceptual basis of our inquiries.
We are exploring the taxonomies of LaV through four distinct video game genres:
We are exploring the taxonomies of LaV through four distinct video game genres:
- Flight Simulators/IVAO (Tavarez)
- Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games - MMORPG (Tairo)
- First-person Shooters - FPS (Mike)
- Multiplayer Online Battle Area - MOBA (Dan)
Academic Presentations and publications
During the course of this project, #TeamLaV presented a total of six international (including one at LRA), two local, and one national presentation and so far has published one proceedings paper and a forthcoming book chapter of an interview with gaming studies legend James Paul Gee (where he appears as a co-author as well!).
Here is the yearly detail:
2014
Here is the yearly detail:
2014
- May - International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (University of Illinois)
- August - ISLE 3 (University of Zurich) [Joint presentation with Urban Literacies Phase I]
- October - UPB Student Research Group Annual Meeting
- May - International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (University of Illinois)
- September - UPB Student Research Group Annual Meeting
- October - ASOCOPI 50th Annual Conference (Medellín)
- INTED2016 (Valencia, Spain) - Publication in Proceedings
- May - International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (University of Illinois)
- August - Symposium at 6th International Seminar on the Professional Development of Foreign Language Teachers (Universidad de Antioquia)
- November - Literacy Research Association 66th Annual Conference