An Introduction for Casey O’Donnell
Canned “Intro and Elevator Life History” Statement:I began my academic life as a computer scientist and mathematician, started studying computer graphics, that led to 3D scientific visualization work for JPL, was snatched up by a game company in La Jolla, worked on 3D sound systems for N64, PS1, PC, Mac, Linux until it(’s clients) went bust, tried graduate school in CS, wasn’t happy, worked for an Autodesk subcontractor (and general design automation company), put people out of work with automation tools, got tired of that, and with the help of a Marxist feminist and a sociologist found “STS” as a (un)discipline, got in, studied Open Source Software development for a while, got tired of it, did some pilot research studying work at a video game company, that company got bought by Activision, and decided to study “the game industry” in the US and India. Simple right?Extemporaneous Ad Lib:My name is Casey O’Donnell. I’m a PhD candidate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the Science and Technology Studies program. I’m on the job market this year, and it gives me indigestion. I’m interested in work first and foremost, and my studying the game industry is inextricably tied to an interest in production. I think the game industry has a lot to offer as an empirical lens onto work and globalization. It is also exemplary of current controversies of user rights in relation to intellectual property rights and copyright.That said, I think it also provides a wealth of tools for thinking about all sorts of things. Games, play, fun, magic circles, and even stories and characters created in this space provide us with concepts that frequently have a different affective orientation than other theoretical constructs.I’ve spent three years in the field primarily in the US, but with time in India. I’m sitting back right now and writing the dissertation and doing a whole lot of data management and analysis. I’ve currently title the dissertation “Playing the New Economy: Video Game Development in the US and India,” might need a bit of a change, but good enough for now.I’ve recently become very interested in the game/sport dualism that some people seem to hold, including roughly half of my informants (the other half are in total agreement with me). Having had a great deal of interest in games of all sorts for much of my life, I’ve never really understood it. I can’t handle sports video games though. *Bleh*You can find my website here and my other blog here.
