Wednesday, July 28 | 7—8:30 PM EST
Online via YouTube Live
FREE (no registration required)

In this panel discussion, Steve Saylor, Tiffany Witcher, and moderator Sandra Danilovic examine the design and development of accessible and inclusive digital games and gaming spaces. Inclusive design covers the full range of human diversity including ability, gender, age, culture, and other forms of human difference. This panel will expand upon inclusive design models by addressing the accessibility features and the promotion of a diverse user base in Triple-A games, independent games, art games, and video game live streaming platforms. Saylor, Witcher, and Danilovic reimagine video games by articulating creative, technical, and imaginative interventions that equalize access, build inclusive gaming spaces, and correct biases and assumptions embedded in the design of existing game technologies. The panel will comprise an hour-long moderated discussion followed by 30 minutes of audience Q&A.    

This event was presented in partnership with Hand Eye Society and OCAD University's Inclusive Design Research Centre for Vector Festival 2021. A recording of the event can be viewed here.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Sandra Danilovic is currently the lead designer of an educational mobile app called "Dreamer" for the Laurier Career Centre, which will be released on iOS and Android in the near future. This journaling app will help students to reflect on their skills and competencies while seeking career counselling at the centre. Danilovic has at least 20 years of experience working as an independent documentary filmmaker and multimedia artist/designer. Her documentary machinima on female self-image, avatar identity, and mental health/disability--Second Bodies--won Best Documentary at the New Media Film Festival in San Francisco and the Gordon F. Keeble Award at Ryerson University. My previous documentaries explored immigrant narratives set within historical and contemporary contexts; Portrait of a Street: The Soul and Spirit of College (funded by the National Film Board of Canada and Toronto Arts Council) and Just Arrived (commissioned by Rogers Media) were respectively broadcast on PBS and Rogers OMNI Television. 

Steve Saylor is a blind video gamer with a passion for creating great content and consulting with developers to improve accessibility for disabled users. Steve has been creating Digital Content professionally for over 14 years. From Podcasts to YouTube videos to Social Media Campaigns, he is well versed in how to produce content for the web. He brings a wide variety of creativity to any project, has elevated and executed concepts to a professional quality leaving clients more than satisfied with the results.

Known as the charity witch on twitch, Tiffany Witcher is a Virtual Streamer, Voice Actor and an advocate for accessibility and chronic illnesses in gaming. They have made it their goal to raise money for different causes and charities. Tiffany has personally worked and organized charity events with organizations such as the Lupus Foundation and Epilepsy Foundation. This is in honor of their Mother, Nyra Witcher, who sadly passed away due to Lupus on Aprill 11th, 2017. Tiffany has voiced in over two dozen indie video games and is now engaging in motion capture acting. They have hosted events on Twitch and at conventionsm and has participated in roundtable discussion with topics from Disabilities and Accessibility in games to POC issues in gaming spaces. Tiffany has personally worked with Twitch with Disability needs and improving charities. They have also appeared in articles and videos from The Washington Post to Wired recognizing their varied career thus far.

ABOUT VECTOR FESTIVAL

Vector Festival is a participatory and community-oriented initiative dedicated to showcasing digital games and creative media practices. Presenting works across a dynamic range of exhibitions, screenings, performances, lectures, and workshops, Vector acts as a critical bridge between emergent digital platforms and new media art practice. The festival was founded in 2013 as the “Vector Game Art & New Media Festival” by an independent group of artists and curators: Skot Deeming, Clint Enns, kris kim, and Katie Micak, who were later joined by Diana Poulsen and Martin Zeilinger.