So I’d previously decided that I wanted to study photography and self portraits for my independent study module as part of my undergraduate degree.

I’ve changed my mind. Feminist photography critique is a massively over subscribed-subject. People aren’t saying exactly what I’d like to say, but there are people saying things that are very similar. What I really wanted was to find something that was close to photography but not photography. A subject where I could acquire skills that could be applied to photography (as well as other areas of contemporary art and design) but an area that also offered the tantalising possibility of creating genuinely groundbreaking research.

Video Games

You heard that right. Video Games. They’re very much an untapped resource when it comes to academic scholarship. Although there is comprehensive game design and game theory scholarship out there, there’s very little that focusses on the social implications of games. There’s lots of critique too, but out of critique comes scholarship and I plan to be riding that first wave.

Since I know that several people are interested in following what I do with this module I plan to blog about it. And for completeness you can download my initial proposal here:

Video Game ISM Proposal

Hopefully I’ll post more about my rational about choosing this as a subject later… but for now… to work!