There are very few global “cartographic events” in human history—feats of transportation that require the immediate making and dispersal of new maps. Columbus’s arrival in the New World was one. The moon landing was another. To this short list we might add Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic crossing. In 1927, he became the first to fly alone from the continental United States to continental Europe (New York–Paris).

Lindbergh’s various flight exploits are often and understandably overshadowed by his future dabbling with fascism and […]

Continue Reading about Transatlantic Play Published on:
April 18, 2019

In The Strong museum’s storage, there are five identical baby girl dolls, all dressed alike in pretty pastel colors. Their painted brown hair, curled lashes, and red lips, might make you think they were an average bunch of composition dolls from the early 1900s. The first time I laid eyes on them, however, I knew exactly who these girls were.
When I was in high school, one of the teenage phases I went through was watching and re-watching documentaries […]

Continue Reading about The Quintuplets Story: From Baby Girls to Baby Dolls Published on:
April 5, 2019

“Oh, let’s do the kitchen,” said Mary. “There are so many interesting things in the kitchen.” My Doll’s House (1932)
In August 2018, I received a research fellowship from The Strong. Thanks to The Strong’s support, I could see, touch, and “playʺ with the kitchen toys that girls in postwar America might have played with. The kitchen toys! But why the kitchen toys? Aren’t they just miniature kitchens and utensils? As an adult reflecting on my experiences as a […]

Continue Reading about Rethinking the Kitchen in Girls’ Play Published on:
March 28, 2019

The novel I’m writing involves, in part, a group of friends who reunite after 25 years to restart their old game of Dungeons & Dragons. That game has been close to my heart since 1978 or so when I received my first boxed set as a gift. I’ll never forget the sense of wonder I felt rolling those exotic polyhedral dice and creating my first character. During my amazing week as a Mary Valentine and Andrew Cosman Research […]

Continue Reading about Diving into D&D Published on:
January 18, 2019

In Will Wright’s game design documents for SimCity (1989), he wrote on his graph paper pad, “Interface?” Around the word, Wright drew a box, as if to highlight it. On the rest of the page, there are a random assortment of notes: “Fixed / Mobile Cursor,” “Navigate / Edit / Tool Select.” On the page, Wright also drew a series of arrows that show early design possibilities for the buttons used in SimCity to rotate buildings or move […]

Continue Reading about Switches and Screens: Researching Video Game Interface Design Published on:
November 2, 2018

In October 2017, I had the chance to be at The Strong National Museum of Play as a research fellow collecting data for my Dolls in Focus project aimed at revisiting and expanding the findings of my previous linguistic investigation on dolls’ language. Surprisingly, what I thought would primarily be an exploratory incursion into dolls’ universe from an academic perspective turned out to be a rather touching and personal experience that allowed me to revisit my own childhood memories.
For a […]

Continue Reading about Dolls in Focus Published on:
September 21, 2018

If someone asked you to name the types of toys girls played with, what would you say? Perhaps you would shout out “Barbies” or “baby dolls” or “pink cuddly toys,” right? Those types of toys have long been associated with girls, while trucks, cars, and blue toys made from hard plastic have been associated with boys. Meanwhile, the United States is struggling to understand why girls are not attracted to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
When asked to state […]

Continue Reading about Examining 21st Century STEM–related Toys and their Impact on Girls Published on:
August 24, 2018

 
 

I had the privilege of digging through the archives at The Strong museum during the last week before Labor Day 2017. The collection had a great deal to offer my research interests, which center on game studies generally and competitive gaming (esports) specifically. The research project I had proposed focused on investigating the prehistory of esports. Today, a class of competitive players earn a living by excelling in tournaments for games such as League of Legends and Super Smash Bros. Melee, […]

Continue Reading about Tournaments, Contests, and International Scoreboards: A Prehistory of Esports in the 1980s Arcade Published on:
June 1, 2018

Recently, as I was conducting dissertation research at The Strong museum on the role of board games in the Victorian parlor, I stumbled across a group of Parker Brothers’ games on the Spanish-American War and the Filipino Insurrection. Reflecting ideas of growth, progress, and material gain, I realized that these games provide perfect illustrations of the ways in which game designers and manufacturers infused their products with the geopolitical conflicts of the day as they fostered new family rituals in […]

Continue Reading about A Plethora of Games for a Splendid Little War: Parker Brothers Invades the Parlor Published on:
March 29, 2018