WHO WE ARE

Indie Interfaces is an academic collaboration with game developers, platforms, and support organizations.  We investigate what it means to be “sustainable”, both economically and culturally, in the game industry

FELAN PARKER

Dr. Felan Parker is Associate Professor in the Book & Media Studies program at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. He is an interdisciplinary scholar of media and culture, specializing in digital media, games, and film. His current research explores the production, distribution, and reception of independent or “indie” digital games. Dr. Parker was President of the Canadian Game Studies Association and a co-founder of Toronto Outdoor Picture Show. Previously, he completed his Ph.D. in Communication and Culture at York University and was a Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow at Concordia University’s Technoculture, Art and Games Research Centre.

BART SIMON

Dr. Bart Simon was a founding director of Milieux and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. His areas of expertise include game studies, science and technology studies, and cultural sociology. His game studies and design research crosses a variety of genres and platforms looking at the relation of game cultures, socio-materiality, and everyday life. Some of his work is represented in journals such as Games and Culture, Game Studies, and Loading. His current research on the materialities of play, indie game scenes, and player-makers is funded by the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada.

JENNIFER R. WHITSON

Dr. Whitson studies the secret life of software at the nexus of digital games and Surveillance Studies. Her research centres on the shifting production model of the global game industry, tracing how social and technological practices shape developers’ creative work and the larger cultural role of games and play. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo in the Department of Sociology & Legal Studies, teaches at the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, is a member of the University of Waterloo’s Games Institute and supports FirstPersonScholar. You can find her work in The Gameful World, and in the journals First Monday, Economy & Society, Games & Culture, New Media and Society, and FibreCulture.