Tag: inclusion

My Email Signature Explained

A laptop with text on the screen and a cup of coffee on a desk.

I have now borrowed parts of my email signature from so many other people I felt the need to write a short blog article explaining them. I’d also like to give appropriate attribution to those who have given me all these wonderful tips.

My email signature:

Kate Ringland
Informatics PhD Candidate
Social & Technological Action Research Group
ARCS Scholar
University of California, Irvine
kateringland.com

Pronouns: she/her/hers

If you have an accommodation need for a planned meeting, please email me directly and I will do my best to make appropriate arrangements. Should you require any materials sent via email in an alternate format, please let me know.

In an effort to create a more inclusive space in my work, I have taken some small steps (yes, my email signature is a very small, but important step). I indicate my pronouns because I want others to feel safe in disclosing their pronouns to me. If it becomes more common practice to indicate preferred pronouns immediately, at the beginning of a conversation, then there’s less chance for misstep or someone feeling marginalized. One blog about this can be found here: http://www.gradpsychblog.org/signing-on-for-acceptance-can-adding-your-gender-pronouns-to-your-email-signature-make-a-difference/#.WjRItUqnFEY

I also would like to be more inclusive (and accessible!) to those with disabilities. I borrowed the bottom portion of my email signature from a professor, Dr. Jay Timothy Dolmage, who has recently published a book – Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education (Corporealities: Discourses Of Disability). You can find out more about that here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/12/07/author-discusses-his-new-book-disability-and-higher-education

I hope this was helpful and if you have any other ideas for how we as individuals can make the academic workplace more inclusive, leave a comment!

DML 2016 Recap

This week I attended my first Digital Media and Learning conference, which was held here on the UC Irvine campus. I thought I would write a short recap of my experiences. Disclaimer: these thoughts are by no means all encompassing.

photo of a sign with lego texture that reads, DML Digital Media and Learning Conference

My first impressions of the DML community is that they are very friendly and very passionate about what they do. It’s a wonderful combination for someone joining in for the first time. There was also lots of engagement on Twitter throughout the conference, which I found to be a helpful way to make the event more accessible.
hand hold a DML conference badge, the text on the badge reads Kathryn Ringland Kate, University of California Irvine

Fun DML 2016 badge.

While I enjoyed all the sessions I attended, the keynote and plenary conversation were definitely the highlights. The conversations I had in between sessions and during the reception were by far the most inspiring part of the conference for me in terms of ideas for my own scholarly work.
a woman at a podium next to a projected slide

Constance Steinkuehler talking about the future that is games.

What is most exciting for me are the following two takeaways:
1. Play and games are truly coming into their own in the academic space. I am so excited to see games research in these more educational and learning spaces realize the potential of well designed games (i.e., not those educational games that kids see straight through and aren’t fun at all to play.)
a photo of a slide of a trojan horse painted, with text reading games are a trojan horse for interest driven learning

Slide of the trojan horse that is GAMES.

2. There were hints and whispers throughout DML of inclusion. For many this meant socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender, but very little about ability. The last two ignite talks at the end of the conference were calls for more disability work in the space. I whole-heartedly agree and am very excited to contribute next year as I can.

Of the many memorable moments, the students on campus held a protest during the plenary talk this morning because apparently the LA Police Chief was giving a talk somewhere else on campus.

I was ecstatic when Henry Jenkins discussed how Star Trek changed his world view.

All in all, it was an awesome event and I’m looking forward to attending again next year!

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