Usva Friman
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usvaf.bsky.social
Usva Friman
@usvaf.bsky.social
Academy Research Fellow & Assistant Professor of Game Studies at Tampere University (Finland).

Akatemiatutkija ja pelitutkimuksen apulaisprofessori Tampereen yliopistossa.
Reposted by Usva Friman
Our Larpocracy project team has published their first report on larp festivals and conventions, describing these as sites of play and cultural co-creation that are sometimes cultural institutions and always part of a cultural public sphere. More in the thread quoted here:
February 12, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Usva Friman
Something for the fellow Arts+Tech crowd:

NordiCHI 2026 will host the track "Art-Based Approaches in HCI"!
We welcome artistic and art-based practice-forward approaches to Human-Computer Interactions under the broad umbrella term of "energy".

More information here:

sites.uwasa.fi/nordichi2026...
Arts-Based Approaches in HCI  – NordiCHI 2026
sites.uwasa.fi
February 3, 2026 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Usva Friman
❤️
January 30, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Tänään saimme kunnian puhua yliopiston juhlasalissa Essi Tainon (@essitai.bsky.social) kanssa pelikulttuurista, siihen kuulumisesta ja näiden tutkimuksesta 7.–9.-luokkalaisille nuorille osana Tampereen yliopiston Tiedon valoa -tapahtumaa. Olipa iloa ja intoa tuova tapa päättää työviikko! 🤩
January 23, 2026 at 1:05 PM
There's no skiing like cross-country skiing.
January 17, 2026 at 12:47 PM
New publication! Our team looked into how different types of game companies and other game cultural organisations (focused on digital gaming) in Finland understand DEI in their own activities and what kind of guidelines and practices they have for promoting DEI.
Our PEGASUS project team investigated how different types of (digital) game cultural organisations in Finland understand DEI in their own activities, and what kind of guidelines and practices they have for promoting DEI. The publication is openly available: revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/ij... 1/7
‘Cornerstones for Creativity and Success’ | The International Journal of Games and Social Impact
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are value-based principles that are widely utilised in building more socially and culturally sustainable environments that are experienced as welcoming and fair for all – also in diverse game cultural contexts. In this study, we investigate how different types of game cultural organisations in Finland understand DEI in the context of their own activities, and what kind of guidelines and practices they have for promoting DEI. The results are based on a reflexive content analysis on 18 public DEI documents from 11 Finnish game cultural organisations focusing on digital games and gaming. Based on our analysis, it seems that Finnish game cultural organisations view DEI as a pathway for their continuous success as well as for building better game culture for everyone. The examined organisations were actively expressing their commitment to promoting DEI both by working to prevent discrimination and harassment and by utilising practices to build safer and more inclusive environments. However, it was not always clear if these organisations had set specific goals for their DEI work and if they were following their progress in this area. Importantly, our investigation illustrates that a wide range of different types of organisations can contribute to the cultural ecosystem in which digital games are created, consumed, and utilised in various ways, and that inspecting this variety of organisations operating on different sectors of game culture may reveal more widely shared cultural values and practices within this environment.
revistas.ulusofona.pt
January 15, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Congrats, you have some extra time to submit your work on events and communities to our #GameStudies spring seminar!
Please note that the deadline for our spring seminar 'Events and communities' has been extended! The new deadline is 21 January 2026. You can find the CfP and full details here: springseminar.org/2026-call-fo...

The seminar will be organised at Tampere University, Finland, on 5–6 May 2026.
2026 | Call for Papers
Events are at the heart of game and play cultures. They are organized for many reasons and purposes, bringing people together to play, socialize, compete, learn and teach, network, sell, perform, c…
springseminar.org
January 13, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Kansallinen #pelikulttuuristrategia mahdollistaisi myös pelikulttuurien yhdenvertaisuuden järjestelmällisen kehittämisen
January 9, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Please note this call for an important special issue on 'Queer and Trans Game Studies in Global and Local Contexts,' dl. on 12 January! ⏰
CFP for the next issue of G|A|M|E – Games as Art, Media, Entertainment, on “Queer and Trans Game Studies in Global and Local Contexts” is out!
This issue aims to map current developments in queer and trans game studies.

For full details: www.gamejournal.it/n-132025-bey...
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
January 8, 2026 at 8:36 AM
I’ve had the honour of writing a chapter on gender equality in esports organisations to the wonderful Sport, media and discrimination collection. Can recommend this to everyone interested in diversity and discrimination in sports media and media sports, esports included!
New publication: Gender equality in esports organizations
I’ve had the honour of writing a chapter on gender equality in esports organisations to the wonderful Sport, media and discrimination collection edited by Daniel Kilvington, John Price, Jasmi…
usvafriman.net
January 7, 2026 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Usva Friman
US imperialism & aggression is hardly news - it's just been more mask-off recently. But as academics the question we need to ask is how we can act in relation to it, & at least part of the answer is to interrogate the default centering of US institutions, viewpoints & agendas in global research.
January 4, 2026 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Usva Friman
It could be one more weird anomaly in this unending cycle of what the fuck.
December 26, 2025 at 1:45 AM
@matildastahl.bsky.social et al. are working on this really cool new research project, check it out:
December 20, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Usva Friman
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
December 16, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Playing at work today 🙃
December 4, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Usva Friman
it's advent you know what that means
December 1, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Dear colleagues working in a field related (e)sports and discrimination, please note this CFP for the 2026 Sport and Discrimination conference, focusing especially on online discrimination in sport and its prevention. DL is this Friday 5 December: sportanddiscrimination.com/2025-confere...
2026 Sport and Discrimination Conference – Sport and Discrimination
sportanddiscrimination.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Neljänkympin kriisi valittu. 💪
November 25, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Usva Friman
The Punctuation Collection™️
November 20, 2025 at 2:37 PM
PEGASUS-hankkeemme loppuraportti on nyt avoimesti saatavilla! Täältä löytyvät keskeiset oivalluksemme ja hankkeessa kehitetyt työkalut selkeänä, tiiviinä pakettina – myös sarjakuvamuodossa! 🤩
PEGASUS-hankkeen raportti on nyt julkaistu: urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978... 🎉

Raportissa kuvataan hankkeen keskeiset tulokset (yhteenveto kommenteissa) ja miten niitä voidaan hyödyntää kestävämmän pelikulttuurin rakentamiseksi käytännön tasolla.

Hanketta rahoitti #SuomenAkatemia
Kansikuva: Tuuli Hypén

1/3
November 20, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Our next #gamestudies spring seminar is about events and communities! Remember to submit your abstract at the latest on 14 January.
The Spring Seminar 2026 CfP is out now! This time, the theme is “Events and Communities”. Please have a look at the full CfP on the Spring Seminar website: springseminar.org/2026-call-fo...

⏰Abstract submission deadline is 14 January 2026.

📍The seminar is organised on 5-6 May 2026 in Tampere.
2026 | Call for Papers
Events are at the heart of game and play cultures. They are organized for many reasons and purposes, bringing people together to play, socialize, compete, learn and teach, network, sell, perform, c…
springseminar.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Elections for the academic board, i.e. the highest democratically elected decision-making body within our uni, are underway. Today, we gathered in the coffee room to discuss elections and decision-making processes at the uni and to chat with some candidates. We need more of this at the university!
November 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Today, we finally saw some sunshine (!) and snow (!!!) in #Tampere #winteriscoming
November 14, 2025 at 4:29 PM
@hs.fi kertoi, miten etäilijöitä houkutellaan työpaikalle askartelulla, mustamakkaran maistelulla ja äänimaljahoidoilla. Kokeilisiko joku rohkea IT-yritys seuraavaksi rauhallisia ja viihtyisiä työpisteitä, jotka tukevat keskittymistä niin, että työt saa hoidettua työajalla?
www.hs.fi/talous/art-2...
Työelämä | Yritys päätti repiä etätyöläiset konttorille erikoiskeinoin
Kun työntekijät karkasivat kotiin, it-yritys perusti erikoistiimin houkuttelemaan väkeä konttorille. HS seurasi mood managerien eli fiilisvastaavien päivää.
www.hs.fi
November 13, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Reposted by Usva Friman
Timo R. Stewartin nimitys vuoden tieteentekijäksi on hyvinkin ansaittu. Tämähän siis ei ole niinkään tunnustus julkaisuista tai tutkimuksellisista läpilyönneistä -- niitäkin tietysti olisi -- vaan yhteiskunnallisesta vaikuttavuudesta tutkijana.

Tätä asiaa voisi taas käsitellä lyhyen ketjun verran.
Suorapuheinen Gazan sodan kommentoija Timo R. Stewart on palkittu Vuoden tieteentekijänä
Stewart kertoo, että vihapostin lähettäjät ovat yrittäneet vaientaa hänet.
yle.fi
November 8, 2025 at 6:55 AM