Keynote: Dr. José P. Zagal
Keynote Title: Imagined but Tested: Lessons from Videogame Interfaces
Science fiction films and other visual media only need their data interfaces to look plausible. Science fiction game interfaces are also imaginary, but must also work. This makes games a potentially rich source for inspiration that is also grounded in a practical reality. This talk explores what games and the practice of game design can offer the visualization community while also warning of some of the pitfalls. After all, game interfaces serve purposes that are distinct and sometimes contradictory to the goals behind real-world visualization systems.
Speaker Bio
José P. Zagal is a game scholar at Rochester Institute of Technology where he is also Director of its School of Interactive Games and Media. His research focuses on describing, analyzing, and understanding games from a critical perspective. His most recent book, Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy (MIT Press, 2024), co-authored with Benj Edwards, examines the history, technology, and cultural context of Nintendo's short-lived stereoscopic console showing how ambitious display technologies and their commercial success can be shaped as much by perception and expectation as by engineering. Zagal was named to the inaugural group of DiGRA Distinguished Scholars in 2016 and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Video Game Alliance. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
