Krystina Madej
Aug 2011 - August 2021: Professor of the Practice, School of Literature, Media, and Communications, Georgia Tech, Atlanta.
2020-2022, Visiting Professor and Researcher, University of Lower Silesia, Poland,
2015-2019 - Visiting Professor, Masters in Big Data, Digital Media, and Trendwatching, & Erasumus Program, University of Lower Silesia, Poland,
Research: User Experience, History Social Media, Disney Transmedia Narratives, Physical Play and Children's Digital Games, Material Culture of Communication Technologies
2013 - 17, Visiting Professor, Center for Digital Media, Vancouver.
Books: Physical Play and Children's Digital Games, Springer 2016
Interactivity, Collaboration, and Authoring in Social Media, Springer, 2016
Disney Stories: Getting to Digital, with Newton Lee, Springer, 2012,
Engaging Imagination and Developing Creativity, Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010, First Ed, 2015, Second Edition, Co-editors Dr. Kieran Egan
Professional career: 1985-1999, Design Strategist for services, products, and exhibits for government, business, industry, NGOs. Clients: Alberta Gov't, Canada Safeway, Telus Mobility, ITTBarton, Glenbow Museum.
Speaker: numerous international conferences on narrative, games, media.
Education: PhD, Digital Narrative, SFU, Vancouver, Canada, MA, Professional Writing, KSU, Georgia, USA, BFA, Concordia, Montreal, Canada.
Phone: 404-894-8412
Address: 1477 Fulton Avenue, West Vancouver, BC V7T 1P2
2020-2022, Visiting Professor and Researcher, University of Lower Silesia, Poland,
2015-2019 - Visiting Professor, Masters in Big Data, Digital Media, and Trendwatching, & Erasumus Program, University of Lower Silesia, Poland,
Research: User Experience, History Social Media, Disney Transmedia Narratives, Physical Play and Children's Digital Games, Material Culture of Communication Technologies
2013 - 17, Visiting Professor, Center for Digital Media, Vancouver.
Books: Physical Play and Children's Digital Games, Springer 2016
Interactivity, Collaboration, and Authoring in Social Media, Springer, 2016
Disney Stories: Getting to Digital, with Newton Lee, Springer, 2012,
Engaging Imagination and Developing Creativity, Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010, First Ed, 2015, Second Edition, Co-editors Dr. Kieran Egan
Professional career: 1985-1999, Design Strategist for services, products, and exhibits for government, business, industry, NGOs. Clients: Alberta Gov't, Canada Safeway, Telus Mobility, ITTBarton, Glenbow Museum.
Speaker: numerous international conferences on narrative, games, media.
Education: PhD, Digital Narrative, SFU, Vancouver, Canada, MA, Professional Writing, KSU, Georgia, USA, BFA, Concordia, Montreal, Canada.
Phone: 404-894-8412
Address: 1477 Fulton Avenue, West Vancouver, BC V7T 1P2
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Books by Krystina Madej
Using a historical framework, and focusing on play as represented by material artifacts such as toys and games, this book explores play as a form of somatic engagement that reflects cultural attitudes about development and learning as these have evolved over time in western culture. The emphasis on games intended for children necessitates a discussion of the cognitive, behavioral, and neuroscience that supports play activities and physical engagement as a crucial aspect of development. The book then looks at the trajectory of digital games in contemporary culture and explores whether these artifacts (whether intended for learning or entertainment) have extended or are curtailing boundaries of somatic engagement. Finally, the book discusses alternative play and game design an
This new book (Springer, December 2015) first prospects the last millennium of interactive narrative and then provides an account of a small group collaboratively authored social media narrative, "Romeo and Juliet on Facebook: After Love Comes Destruction."
Researchers and educators around the world have taken up the discussion about the importance of imagination and creativity in education. This global relevance is represented here by writings from authors from Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Japan, and Romania. In the first part of the book, these authors explore and discuss theories of development, imagination, and creativity. In the second part, they extend these theories to broader social issues, including responsible citizenship, gender, and special needs education, and to new approaches to teaching curriculum subjects such as literacy, science, and mathematics, as well as to the educational environment of the museum.
Since the first edition of this book, Imaginative Education (IE) has developed increasingly accessible strategies for teachers to routinely engage imagination in everyday practice. New essays for the second edition include discussions about increasing political consciousness, improving teacher education, and using mathematical evaluation in Part I, and phenomenological approaches to media education in Part II.
Drawing on Disney films from the twenties through the thirties, and on the writings of historians, screenwriters, and producers, the book first presents how Walt Disney pushed the envelope for animated stories by taking advantage of emerging media and encouraging new uses of technology to get effects that engaged audiences. Disney’s belief in the importance of developing character and story content took his work from animated gags to full-length animated stories in theatres, to television features in people’s homes, and to a virtual world in his theme parks.
With this backstory, the book looks at how the Disney Company moved its stories into the virtual digital world in the 1990s and the online communities of the 2000s. When Disney reached out to its audience with The Lion King Animated Storybook in 1994, the company was simply following a well-established tradition of using leading-edge technology to improve story engagement. In this case, it offered interactivity and the opportunity to be part of the creation process. With the move into online MMORPGs such as Toontown, the immense community of Disney characters and stories was made easily available to anyone at a click of a button.
The story is told from the perspective of Newton Lee, a senior software engineer and producer who was instrumental in helping develop key online applications and activities at Disney Online, and Krystina Madej, a narratologist who looks at how stories change and make meaning with each new media development.
This series of 14 essays has been collected expressly to bring readers new ideas about imagination and creativity in education that will both stimulate discussion and debate and also contribute practical ideas for how to infuse our daily classrooms with imaginative activities.
The ability of children to think creatively, to be innovative, enterprising, and capable, depends greatly on providing a rich imagination-based educational environment. This discussion, about the importance of imagination and creativity in education, has been taken up by researchers and educators around the world. It is represented here by writings from authors from Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Japan, and Romania. In the first part of this book these authors explore and discuss theories of development, imagination, and creativity. In the second part they extend these theories to broader social issues such as responsible citizenship, gender, and special needs education, to new approaches to curriculum subjects such as literacy, science, and mathematics, and to the educational environment of the museum.
Video/Audio Presentations by Krystina Madej
The entire podcast can be heard at http://disneybrit.com/?s=krystina+madej&x=0&y=0 or you can download just the interview as an mp3.
At the forefront of narrative innovation are social media channels – speculative spaces for creating and experiencing stories that are interactive and collaborative. Media, however, is only the access point to the expressiveness of narrative content. Wikis, messaging, mash-ups, and social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others) are on a trajectory of participatory story creation that goes back many centuries. These forms offer authors ways to create narrative meaning that reflects our current media culture, as the harlequinade reflected the culture of the 18th century, and as the volvelle reflected that of the 13th century. See talk at http://gvu.gatech.edu/event/brown-bag-archive/gvu-center-brown-bag-seminar-series-krystina-madej-0
Chapters by Krystina Madej
From the late 1960s when the first programming language for children was developed at MIT, to today’s mixed reality applications, the evolution of children's digital games has travelled a continuum committed to both learning and entertainment. Their history shows a confluence of two different interests that emerged as the transformation of computers into a technology used by mainstream society was occurring: an interest in using computers as a means for increasing learning, and the development of video games for entertainment. For millennia society has had an ongoing desire to take advantage of children’s proclivity to learn as they play and adults have long used children’s games to educate as well as to entertain. It’s not surprising then that children’s video games had their start with a desire to use technology to benefit learning, or that, on their own, children prefer to accentuate entertainment over education. This duality set the pattern for development that helped shape game genres as new technologies emerged – tangibles, handhelds, internet, mobile – and continues today as augmented realities shape the next generation of games. This brief history takes the reader from the LOGO's drawing "Turtle" of the 1960s to Pokémon GO's "Squirtle," a representation of the breakthrough in computer games of bringing to children physical engagement with the world around them.
PageCraft is designed to bridge the gap in emerging narrative development for young children between physical and digital media. By associating physical objects with text and visuals displayed on a digital screen, the system offers a child progressive experiences in storytelling through a rich multi-sensory environment. The narrative media, ranging from traditional print based stories and computer-read digital stories, to editable self-authored narratives are all linked with a tangible user interface to leverage the capabilities of digital resources.
Conference Papers by Krystina Madej
Using a historical framework, and focusing on play as represented by material artifacts such as toys and games, this book explores play as a form of somatic engagement that reflects cultural attitudes about development and learning as these have evolved over time in western culture. The emphasis on games intended for children necessitates a discussion of the cognitive, behavioral, and neuroscience that supports play activities and physical engagement as a crucial aspect of development. The book then looks at the trajectory of digital games in contemporary culture and explores whether these artifacts (whether intended for learning or entertainment) have extended or are curtailing boundaries of somatic engagement. Finally, the book discusses alternative play and game design an
This new book (Springer, December 2015) first prospects the last millennium of interactive narrative and then provides an account of a small group collaboratively authored social media narrative, "Romeo and Juliet on Facebook: After Love Comes Destruction."
Researchers and educators around the world have taken up the discussion about the importance of imagination and creativity in education. This global relevance is represented here by writings from authors from Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Japan, and Romania. In the first part of the book, these authors explore and discuss theories of development, imagination, and creativity. In the second part, they extend these theories to broader social issues, including responsible citizenship, gender, and special needs education, and to new approaches to teaching curriculum subjects such as literacy, science, and mathematics, as well as to the educational environment of the museum.
Since the first edition of this book, Imaginative Education (IE) has developed increasingly accessible strategies for teachers to routinely engage imagination in everyday practice. New essays for the second edition include discussions about increasing political consciousness, improving teacher education, and using mathematical evaluation in Part I, and phenomenological approaches to media education in Part II.
Drawing on Disney films from the twenties through the thirties, and on the writings of historians, screenwriters, and producers, the book first presents how Walt Disney pushed the envelope for animated stories by taking advantage of emerging media and encouraging new uses of technology to get effects that engaged audiences. Disney’s belief in the importance of developing character and story content took his work from animated gags to full-length animated stories in theatres, to television features in people’s homes, and to a virtual world in his theme parks.
With this backstory, the book looks at how the Disney Company moved its stories into the virtual digital world in the 1990s and the online communities of the 2000s. When Disney reached out to its audience with The Lion King Animated Storybook in 1994, the company was simply following a well-established tradition of using leading-edge technology to improve story engagement. In this case, it offered interactivity and the opportunity to be part of the creation process. With the move into online MMORPGs such as Toontown, the immense community of Disney characters and stories was made easily available to anyone at a click of a button.
The story is told from the perspective of Newton Lee, a senior software engineer and producer who was instrumental in helping develop key online applications and activities at Disney Online, and Krystina Madej, a narratologist who looks at how stories change and make meaning with each new media development.
This series of 14 essays has been collected expressly to bring readers new ideas about imagination and creativity in education that will both stimulate discussion and debate and also contribute practical ideas for how to infuse our daily classrooms with imaginative activities.
The ability of children to think creatively, to be innovative, enterprising, and capable, depends greatly on providing a rich imagination-based educational environment. This discussion, about the importance of imagination and creativity in education, has been taken up by researchers and educators around the world. It is represented here by writings from authors from Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Japan, and Romania. In the first part of this book these authors explore and discuss theories of development, imagination, and creativity. In the second part they extend these theories to broader social issues such as responsible citizenship, gender, and special needs education, to new approaches to curriculum subjects such as literacy, science, and mathematics, and to the educational environment of the museum.
The entire podcast can be heard at http://disneybrit.com/?s=krystina+madej&x=0&y=0 or you can download just the interview as an mp3.
At the forefront of narrative innovation are social media channels – speculative spaces for creating and experiencing stories that are interactive and collaborative. Media, however, is only the access point to the expressiveness of narrative content. Wikis, messaging, mash-ups, and social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others) are on a trajectory of participatory story creation that goes back many centuries. These forms offer authors ways to create narrative meaning that reflects our current media culture, as the harlequinade reflected the culture of the 18th century, and as the volvelle reflected that of the 13th century. See talk at http://gvu.gatech.edu/event/brown-bag-archive/gvu-center-brown-bag-seminar-series-krystina-madej-0
From the late 1960s when the first programming language for children was developed at MIT, to today’s mixed reality applications, the evolution of children's digital games has travelled a continuum committed to both learning and entertainment. Their history shows a confluence of two different interests that emerged as the transformation of computers into a technology used by mainstream society was occurring: an interest in using computers as a means for increasing learning, and the development of video games for entertainment. For millennia society has had an ongoing desire to take advantage of children’s proclivity to learn as they play and adults have long used children’s games to educate as well as to entertain. It’s not surprising then that children’s video games had their start with a desire to use technology to benefit learning, or that, on their own, children prefer to accentuate entertainment over education. This duality set the pattern for development that helped shape game genres as new technologies emerged – tangibles, handhelds, internet, mobile – and continues today as augmented realities shape the next generation of games. This brief history takes the reader from the LOGO's drawing "Turtle" of the 1960s to Pokémon GO's "Squirtle," a representation of the breakthrough in computer games of bringing to children physical engagement with the world around them.
PageCraft is designed to bridge the gap in emerging narrative development for young children between physical and digital media. By associating physical objects with text and visuals displayed on a digital screen, the system offers a child progressive experiences in storytelling through a rich multi-sensory environment. The narrative media, ranging from traditional print based stories and computer-read digital stories, to editable self-authored narratives are all linked with a tangible user interface to leverage the capabilities of digital resources.
This paper explores the symbiotic relationship that evolves in communicational space when authors use intended and specific cultural metaphors.
https://cie.acm.org/articles/logos-60th-anniversary/