Curriculum Vitae


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Contact

Stacey Mason
Univ. of California, Santa Cruz
1156 High St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

stcmason {the @ sign} ucsc {dot} edu
@stcymsn

Education

Ph.D., Computer Science. University of California, Santa Cruz (in progress)

M.F.A., Digital Arts and New Media. University of California, Santa Cruz (2014)

B.A. with honors, English. University of Florida (2009)

Publications

“On Games and Links: Extending the Vocabulary of Agency and Immersion in Interactive Narratives.” International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling 2014, Istanbul, Turkey. November 6-9, 2013.

“TouchStory.” Claus Atzenbeck, Mark Bernstein, Marwa Al-Shafey and Stacey Mason. Proceedings from ACM Hypertext 2013, Paris, France. May 1-3, 2013.

“Glitched Lit: Possibilities for Databending Literature.” Narrative and Hypertext 2012 Proceedings: a workshop at ACM Hypertext 2012, Milwaukee, WI, USA. June 25, 2012.

“Gothic.” Mark Bernstein and Stacey Mason. Narrative and Hypertext 2012 Proceedings: a workshop at ACM Hypertext 2012, Milwaukee, WI, USA. June 25, 2012.

“The Player’s Role”. Narrative and Hypertext 2011 Proceedings: a workshop at ACM Hypertext 2011, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Charlie Hargood and David E. Millard (eds.). Southampton, GB: University of Southampton, 2012. pps 21-24.

Teaching

Lecturer. University of California, Santa Cruz.

DANM 132 – Games as Literature (Summer 2014):
Hands-on course surveying the thriving micro-genres in the neutral zone between games and literature. Students read, play, and author stories that couldn’t exist on a printed page. Interactive fiction, algorithmic poetry, and brand-new experiments.

Teaching Assistant. University of California, Santa Cruz.

DANM 80I – Foundations of Play (Spring 2014):
Introduction to fundamental concepts when designing playful systems and approaches.

FILM 80V – Video Games as Visual Culture (Winter 2014):
Through the aesthetics and theory of electronic games, introduces the histories, ideas, and debates that inform game studies. Topics include: games and cinema; race, class and representation; narratology/ludology debates; interactivity; serious games; and alternative games.

CMPS 10 – Intro to Computer Science (Fall 2013):
An overview of the theory, foundations, and practice of computer science with emphasis on what computers can and cannot do, now and in the future. Topics include algorithms and data, correctness and efficiency of algorithms, hardware, programming languages, limitations of computation, applications, and social issues

HAVC 141E – Histories of Photography (Spring 2013):
Introduction to the histories of photography and the critical debates around different photographic genres such as medical photography, art photography, and political photography. Students develop a critical language in order to analyze photographs while considering the importance of social and institutional contexts.

FILM 80V – Video Games as Visual Culture (Winter 2013):
Through the aesthetics and theory of electronic games, introduces the histories, ideas, and debates that inform game studies. Topics include: games and cinema; race, class and representation; narratology/ludology debates; interactivity; serious games; and alternative games.

HAVC 43 – History of Modern Architecture (Fall 2012):
This course examines the origins and development of Modern Architecture, from the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution to the twentieth century and beyond. Buildings, urban plans, and works of art and design are discussed with relation to political, social, and cultural currents.

Professional

Scientist. Zynga (2015)
Contract position with the Empires and Allies Team
Research and development for intelligent design tools.

Instructor. Internal Drive Tech Camp, MIT. (Summer 2013)
Taught children age 7-12 the key concepts of programming, game design and development, and graphic design. Students designed games or interactive projects over the course of week-long classes.

Editor. Eastgate Systems, Inc. (2009-2013)
Served as acquisitions editor for hypertext literature submissions.
Assisted Mark Bernstein with research on hypertext and new literary forms.
Reported on the state of the field of electronic literature through social media outlets and blog posts.

Selected Talks

“Badges of Cred: Examining the Phases of a Scene”. Critical Proximity Games Criticism Conference. San Francisco, CA, USA. March 17, 2014.

“Captivating Choices: Reconciling Agency and Immersion”. Electronic Literature Organization Conference. Morgantown, WV, USA. June 22, 2012.

“Scruffy-Looking Note Herders: Agents and Document Structure in Tinderbox”. Tinderbox Weekend Boston. Boston, MA. Feb 4, 2012.

“Nuts and Bolts: Data Types, Prototypes, and Inheritance in Tinderbox”. Tinderbox Weekend Boston. Boston, MA. Feb 4, 2012.

“Programming Hypertext: Demystifying Actions and Expressions”. Tinderbox Weekend San Francisco. San Francisco, CA. Dec 10, 2011.

“Piecing Together: Hypertext Links and Document Structures”. Tinderbox Weekend San Francisco. San Francisco, CA. Dec 10, 2011.

“Digging Deeper: Attributes and Inheritance in Tinderbox”. Tinderbox Weekend San Francisco. San Francisco, CA. Dec 10, 2011.

“Dashboards: Summaries and Overviews in Tinderbox”. Tinderbox Weekend London. London, England. May 8, 2010.

“Secrets of Tinderbox: Incremental Formalization”. Tinderbox Weekend Boston. Boston, MA, USA. March 13, 2010.

“Spatial Relations, Incremental Formalization, and Hypertext Mapping”. E-Lit Camp Boston. Watertown, MA, USA. December 11, 2009.

Journalism

Founding Editor, Cerebral Arcade (2014-current)
Weblog examining the boundaries between games and other media. http://cerebralarcade.com

Contributing Editor, HTLit (2009-2013)
Web chronicle on hypertext literature and the future of serious reading. http://htlit.com

Service

Juror. Indiecade 2014: International Festival of Independent Games. Culver City, CA, USA. October 3-6, 2014.

Juror. Electronic Literature Organization 2014 Media Arts Show. Milwaukee, WI, USA. June 19-21, 2014.

Juror. Indiecade 2013: International Festival of Independent Games. Culver City, CA, USA. October 3-6, 2013.

Program Committee. ACM Web Science Conference 2013. Paris, France. May 2-4, 2013.

Convener. Dangerous Readings: Strange Hypertexts and Narrative Play (Second International Web Art Science Camp). Cambridge, MA, USA. November 19-20, 2011

Co-Convener. E-Lit Camp Boston 2010. Watertown, MA, USA. December 11-13, 2009.

Honors

Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, 2014-2019.

Best Paper Runner-up, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling 2013.

UCSC Porter College Associate Fellow, 2013.

UCSC Arts Division Dean Leadership Board, 2012 – 2014.

Florence French Scholarship for Artists, 2012, 2014.

Electronic Literature Organization Conference Scholarship, 2012.

Florida Bright Futures Merit Scholarship: Academic Scholars Award, 2004.

Affiliations

Association of Computing Machinery: Special Interest Group on Hypertext and the Web (ACM SIGWEB).

Electronic Literature Organization (ELO).

International Game Developers Association (IGDA).

Modern Language Association (MLA).

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