We want to thank our first presenters and all who attended our first two Short Circuits conversations. It was a great success, and it is all due to those who attended and plugged into a lively conversation about the current work in our community. 

On Thursday, November 13th, at 3:00 we hosted our second round of presenters for the Fall Semester in the Circuit Studio, located in Rick’s Annex. Our presenters were Dr. Michelle McMullin, PhD Candidate Bryce Stout, and Dr. Jason Swartz. Here are brief descriptions of their short presentations: 

• Dr. Michelle McMullin presented “Researching Community formation in live service games.” Her current research interests focus on what we learn about formation of online communities and their methods for collaboration in MMO video games. Her research begins to think about how communities form and collaborate as they solve game objectives (raid bosses, puzzles, community objectives) in Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and Helldivers 2.
• PhD Candidate Bryce Stout brought it local in their presentation on “Esports at NC State: Why? How? Who?” In their ethnographic analysis of esports on NC State’s campus, Bryce details the relevant social and technological factors at play, as well as local conditions that have allowed esports to manifest at NC State, such as in the  libraries’ focus on experiential “spaces,” a surprising lack of institutional turnover, and potential uses for esports equipment for research and learning applications.
• Dr. Jason Swartz discussed “Construction of Data Concepts.” The presentation will be about his initial work on the idea of a “data concept” and its functional role in constructing “data propositions” to support decision making. Part of this process is the creation of what he calls “data concepts” that have both referential validity (i.e., they measure actual things, accurately, and support computational manipulation) and sensible usability (i.e., they “mean” something among groups of people, at particular moments in time, and in task contexts).