HCII Seminar Series - Kathleen Mercury
Speaker
Kathleen Mercury
Lecturer, Cal Poly Humboldt School of Education
When
-
Where
1305 Newell-Simon Hall
Video
Video link
Description
"CreAItivity: The Creative Process, AI, and the Place Between"
The role of AI in the creative process is a difficult prospect for many people in creative fields, where the struggle to innovate is deeply personal and fundamental to the nature of creation itself. The ubiquity of AI in many design tools, and as a design tool itself, challenges us to ask questions about AI's role in human-centered design. Is it possible to be truly innovative when using AI tools as a source of creativity? If the creative process is a struggle, is it worthwhile to improve and ease that process? In this talk, attendees will engage in hands-on tabletop game design experiences to explore these ideas.
Speaker's Bio
Teacher and designer Kathleen Mercury, M.A.T., M.E.T., has been pushing the boundaries of using design thinking to merge game design and instruction from elementary to collegiate levels for over 20 years. She has taught everything from the core subjects to Design and Gifted Intervention in schools from the Midwest to California to overseas in Bucharest, Romania. Currently, she is a Lecturer in the School of Education at California Polytechnic Humboldt teaching methods courses and supervising student teachers. Kathleen is a published tabletop game designer with Greece Lightning (2021) and upcoming titles Tulip Season and Valkyrie. She shares all of her game design teaching resources at www.kathleenmercury.com for free, and is a frequent collaborator with education and game industry professionals to create innovative experiences and instruction, with past clients ranging from Riot Games, Catan Studio, and Guardian Adventures. She presents often at conferences for educators and game designers, and her Lightning Game Design Jam has been a hit at Tabletop Network and GenCon Trade Day, among other conferences. Kathleen thinks happiness comes from being able to create the life you want, and she feels very fortunate that she's been able to do that.
Host
Jessica Hammer