1. Dear Badar,
Welcome to this Immersive Technology Strategies Newsletter. I wish you a very happy New Year full of success and happiness. This
month’s edition focuses on upcoming events and activities – I very much hope you find it useful
Contained in this newsletter :-
 Games Festival/Conference Feb 2013 at De Montfort University combined with Cultural Exchanges
 Jan 21st DNA Seminar at London Excel
 iSpectrum Serious Game for Helping Autistic Spectrum Sufferers into Employment
 Archived Presentations, Images and videos
 Serious Games and Immersive Technology Heroes 2 – Kam Star
 Employment Sought for Games Developer
 Upcoming Conferences
Games Festival / Conference Feb 25 – Feb 28th 2013 at De Montfort University, Leicester
Book Now for FREE Registration
The Cultural Exchanges festival is an annual cultural festival held at De Montfort University, Leicester, England. The festival
started in the year 2000 and is held over 5 days attracting up to 4,000 people each year.
Many celebrated guests from areas of the arts, media, literature, politics and film have appeared at the festival including
Alastair Campbell, Andrew Motion, Alan Yentob, Alan Moore[1], Sue Townsend, Alan Sillitoe, Ken Loach, Matthew Bourne, Ben
Okri, Louis De Bernieres, Billy Bragg, Andrew Davies, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Grayson Perry, Germaine Greer, Trevor Nelson[2]
and Lemn Sissay. This year Cultural Exchanges will be expanded to include a Serious Games Festival on specific thematic areas
:-
 Culture, Heritage and Tourism
 Health and Well-being
 Community Engagement and Development
 Creative Technologies and Immersive Experiences
The event is still open for additional presenters, researchers and practitioners to participate in a series of thematic days which
explore best practices and future thinking on the application of games and immersive technologies such as virtual worlds and
social networks to important global issues. If you are interested in presenting and/or attending a one day festival workshop on the
following themes, please email me at dwortley@dmu.ac.uk or call me on +447896659695
Feb 25th - Games and Immersive Technologies for Culture, Heritage and Tourism
In an age of globalisation, the preservation of culture and heritage is vital to the future of society and diversity. Today’s
immersive technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to capture and create highly interactive immersive and engaging
experiences that help us to learn about the past and explore the future. I am looking for experienced people in the use of 3D
immersive environments, video games and mobile applications to share their knowledge in this one day workshop and also
enjoy the rich variety of DMUs Cultural Exchanges Festival
Book your FREE place at www.dmugamesfeb25.eventbrite.co.uk
Feb 26th - Games and Immersive Technologies for Health and Well-Being (sponsored by Imaginary
The Ageing Society is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. As birth rates decline and life expectancy increases, and
shrinking working population may be forced to support a rapidly growing ageing population. There are many technologies being
developed support Independent Living and reduce the cost of care for the elderly but immersive technologies could offer a new
approach to these problems by harnessing the experiences of older people to continue to contribute to society well beyond
retirement age in ways which generate better well-being and thereby not only reduce the cost burden, but also create new
models for society where the wisdom of the elderly, once treasured so much in ancient cultures could be renewed and
regenerated. Please contact me if you would like to share your experiences and ideas.
Book your FREE place at www.dmugamesfeb26.eventbrite.co.uk
Feb 27th - Games and Immersive Technologies for Community Engagement and Empowerment (sponsored by the DMU
De Montfort University is a thought leader in the role of Universities within their local community and the DMU Square Mile
Project is a living example of staff and students working alongside local people in disadvantaged communities. This one day

2. workshop is designed to bring together leading practitioners and researchers involved in the use of Immersive technologies to
engage and empower local communities to shape a better future. My good friend Steve Thompson of Teesside University will be a
keynote speaker sharing his experiences of the use of Second Life to engage and empower his local communities is places like
Skinningrove. Steve will show how these technologies can be used to make engaging community videos at very low cost. Please
contact me if you would like to present or participate. This part of the festival will be held within the Square Mile project
community and will be a great opportunity to learn more about De Montfort’s work in this area.
Book your FREE place at www.dmugamesfeb27.eventbrite.co.uk
Feb 28th - Creative Technologies and Immersive Experiences (sponsored by Dassault Systemes)
De Montfort University hosts the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) and is doing some ground breaking work in areas such
as digital music, immersive audio and computer art. DMU’s Game Art Design course is the only Industry accredited course of its
kind in the UK and DMU work closely with local arts organisations such as the Phoenix and the brand new Curve Theatre to bring
Digital Technologies to the creative process. This one day workshop is designed to showcase the best of creative technologies and
bring together practitioners, artists and researchers to share their ideas for the future of creativity and innovation. Please join us
for this one day workshop.at the Phoenix Arts Centre in Leicester
Book your FREE place at www.dmugamesfeb28.eventbrite.co.uk
DNA Seminar at London Excel January 21st
DNA London Seminar 2013 will be held on January 21 in conjunction with the EAG International Exhibition in London, which is sched
EXCeL London, EAG is a trade event dedicated to the amusement and leisure industries. DNA has been invited to hold a one-day sem
trade show floor opening.
REGISTER NOW BY CLICKING HERE
iSpectrum Serious Game for helping Autistic Spectrum Sufferers into Employment
The iSpectrum project was developed and co-funded by the European Commission, in a European context, where people on the
completely excluded from the working environment. The main outcome of this project was a serious game 1, that aims to increas
spectrum of getting into employment. The purpose of the game is to improve the social interaction skills of the players within p
training takes place in virtual working environments, where the user is confronted with realistic day-by-day situations.
Other target groups of this game are the carers in DSA environment, and the employers, allowing them to increase the comprehens
of the serious game are to stimulate the understanding of body language and facial expressions, to improve social relatio
comprehension of abstract concepts. People on the DSA spectrum often have difficulties in attending traditional vocational classes
in keeping a job. This serious game, due to its intrinsic motivation and the consequent arising gratification, also intends to give im
training in professional areas that are typical for people on the DSA spectrum: sales, IT jobs and gardening.
Using realistic virtual environments allows users to gain knowledge in a general context and to easily transfer this experience into th
is that the serious game delivers a protected environment, where players can experience new behaviours without the risk of real life
There is a significant amount of literature reporting positive experiences with digital games and the learning progress of children o
providing evidence that these users love playing this kind of games. Serious games are therefore a really big opportunity for changi
various advantages compared to traditional training methods.
The serious game is available in four languages (English, Italian, German and Bulgarian) and can be played on a PC, using an Inter
characteristics”).
A video of the game is available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCvYCLBqPf0&list=UU2nGGrzvXzLyb0qambzorrA
The iSpectrum game is now available under licence from Imaginary – contact Antonio Ascolese at antonio.ascolese@i-maginary.it
Archived Presentations, Images and Videos
I am archiving as many of my previous presentation, videos and event images as possible. You can access these from my web site
at :- http://www.davidwortley.com/conferences.html or visit my Slideshare page at :- http://www.slideshare.net/dwortley/
Serious Games and Immersive Technology Heroes 2 – Kam Star
1
Serious games are interactive virtual simulations, with the characteristics of a game, but with serious learning or training purpose

3. Each month , I plan to celebrate the contributions of some of the excellent people I have had the pleasure of encountering over
the last 12 years or so that I have been actively working with Immersive Technologies and Serious Games. I have met so many of
these amazing people that this section of my newsletter will be filled for many months to come. My regret is that I will inevitably
and inadvertently miss some of these wonderful people. To be included, the people I highlight each month as my heroes are not
only very experienced and expert in their field, but are also incredibly generous and selfless in their sharing of knowledge and
network contacts and extremely hard working and tireless.
Kam Star is the Founder and Managing Director of Playgen (www.playgen.com) , one the longest established and most respected
serious games companies in the UK. He is an outstanding social entrepreneur and a driving force behind Digital Shoreditch -
http://digitalshoreditch.com/
Employment Sought for Games Industry Staff – Karima Maach
I try to help people involved in serious games internationally to find opportunities to use their skills. Karima is a multi-lingual
games developer with programming and technical skills looking for employment opportunities. If you have any vacancies or
potential opportunities, contact Karima at mkeng02@yahoo.co.uk
Upcoming Conferences
Below is a list of forthcoming conferences – also accessible at http://www.davidwortley.com/events.html
Date Event Location URL
Jan 15- 3rd International Taipei, Taiwan http://www.icass-conf.org/
16 Conference on Applied
Social Science (ICASS 2013)
Jan 21st DNA Seminar Excel London http://www.dna-association.com/conferences/uk-2013/
Jan 30- BETT 2013 – UK’s largest Excel, London, UK http://www.bettshow.com/
Feb 2 Educational Technology
Exhibition
Feb 2-3 BVIMR's 6th International Pune, India http://www.bvimr.com
Conference on "Innovative
Ways of Managing Business
in the Post Globalised Era
Feb 13 SGI Second Wednesday Coventry, UK http://www.eventsforce.net/c u/278/register
Seminar - Our Education:
Using Digital Technologies
for transforing our schools,
colleges and universities
Feb 25 - De Montfort University Leicester, UK www.dmugamesfeb25.eventbrite.co.uk
Cultural Exchanges Games
Festival on Culture, Heritage
and Tourism
Feb 26 - De Montfort University Leicester, UK www.dmugamesfeb26.eventbrite.co.uk
Cultural Exchanges Games
Festival on Health and Well-
Being
Feb 27 - De Montfort University Leicester, UK www.dmugamesfeb27.eventbrite.co.uk
Cultural Exchanges Games
Festival on Community
Engagement and
Development
Feb 28 - De Montfort University Leicester, UK www.dmugamesfeb28.eventbrite.co.uk
Cultural Exchanges Games
Festival on Creative
Technologies and Immersive
Experiences
March Association for Business Oklahoma City, USA http://www.absel.org/
6-8 Simulation and Experiential
Learning (ABSEL) 40th
Annual Conference
March Gameon Asia and Asian Shanghai, China http://www.eurosis.org/cms/ ?q=taxonomy/term/330
7-9 Simulation Technology
Conference
Mar 13 SGI Second Wednesday Coventry, USA http://www.eventsforce.net/c u/278/register
Seminar: Solving Business
and Social Challenges: The
Use of Virtual Organisations
Mar 25- CAA 2013 - CAA (Computer Perth, Australia http://caa2013.org
28 Applications and
Quantitative Methods in
Archaeology) is the premier
international conference for
all aspects of computing,
quantitative methods and
digital applications in
Archaeology.
April *EUROMEDIA'2013* University of Lincoln, http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/ho me
15-17 17th Annual International UK
European Media Conference
2013
May 8 SGI Second Wednesday Coventry, UK http://www.eventsforce.net/c u/278/register
Seminar - Smart Cities: New
Digital Technologies and
Computer Modelling
May 29- E-Learning Africa 2013 Windhoek, Namibia http://www.icwe.net
31
June 5- ACCESS 2013 International Singapore http://www.accesscongress.o rg/
7 Congress on Advances in
Citizen, Cyberspace and
Environment Safety &
Security
June 12 SGI Second Wednesday Coventry, UK http://www.eventsforce.net/c u/278/register
Seminar - Our Health: Using
Digital Technologies for
therapy and awareness
raising around health issues

4. Aug 20- Serious Play Conference Digipen University, http://seriousgamesmarket.b logspot.co.uk/2012/11/save-
22 USA date-2013-serious-play.html
Aug 26- SGSC Conference 2012 Singapore http://www.seriousgamescon ference.org/
28
Sept 11 VS-Games Conference Bournemouth, UK http://www.vsgames2013.org
-13
Future Newsletter Articles
If you would like any event to be included in future newsletters or on my web site – www.davidwortley.com please email me at
david@davidwortley.com
I hope you find the contents of interest and value. Should you not wish to receive these monthly newsletters, please simply reply
to this email with the word UNSUBSCRIBE
Best Regards
David Wortley FRSA
Founder of Immersive Technology Strategies
Email : mailto:david@davidwortley.com?subject=General Enquiry
Skype: davidwortley
Second Life : Hobson Hoggard
Web: http://www.davidwortley.com
New Book: www.gadgetstogodbook.com
If you no longer wish to receive these newsletters, simply reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE and I will remove you from the
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