#SCTalks Serious Games

ABOUT

Serious Games are games that have a purpose beyond entertainment. This doesn't mean they aren't fun - just that they aren't *just* fun. For most of us Serious Games mean education but thats not the case - there are many that are designed for scientific research, healthcare, city planning and and even politics.   
Meet some of the new startups in the space and hear from people who have been casually disrupting and moving way beyond 'gamification' for a while. 

 

Panel




Professor Johannes Cronjé, Dean of Informatics and Design at CPUT, whose accolades include being named Top ICT Educator in Africa, amoung others. A pioneer in the ICT field, Prof. Cronje is passionate about public speaking and “dabbling is social media”! He has over 30 years lecturing experience, has seen over 180 of his students awarded post-graduate degrees and has published over 42 research papers



Shane Marks is the Managing Director of RenderHeads South Africa, a software development company that specializes in developing serious games and interactive museum exhibits. Previously working as a technical artist, Shane has a background in animation, visual effects, and programming. He is part of the Vukuzenzele team, which recently won R1 million in the Serious About Games initiative.



Olivia Dyers describes herself as a "walking contradiction - a tech amateur who passionately promotes the socio-economic benefits of technology for future proofing our economy".
She is a civil servant and currently the Director for Digital Leadership at the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Qualified as a City planner, Olivia has spent most of her working life of almost 20 years, employed as an economic development practitioner, having been at the cold-face of the development and implementation WCG’s biggest single  recent investment, namely the WC Broadband programme.
Olivia is an extroverted-introvert, who loves a good woke conversation, responds to the name ‘mommy’ and is a try-er-of-new things who seeks out movie spoilers. If she could right now, she’d be travelling.
 
 

Anja "Nanna" Venter is fascinated by the intersection of art, culture and technology and has stubbornly evaded a singular job title, remixing the avenues available to her to forge a creative career that blends these domains. She studied 4 years of visual communication at Stellenbosch University and has since ‘made pictures’ for a variety ofplatforms and purposes, from client work to comics, to games and apps. In 2011 she returned to university to complete her Masters degree in Media studies with a focus on video game culture in marginal settings. She is currently working towards a Microsoft-sponsored PhD which looks at how creative tools, particularly those on mobile, can assist in democratising visual design capabilities. Anja has written papers on the topics of games, mobile media, digital youth culture and visual creativity for a variety of conferences and publications. She likes humans, animals, feminism and punk rock.

 

Yolisa Ndhlovu is a PR and Communications Consultant. She has worked in diverse Public Relations and Communications environments in both strategic and tactical roles. These have included  local government and development sector involvement , volunteering in PR industry bodies and co-managing a PR Consultancy. 
She is passionate about communications and making a difference in the lives of young people. She recently had the opportunity to participate as a Marketing and Community Engagement Manager in the Serious About Games Competition. Her team, Indie Collective, developed a game prototype to help young people reimagine their community centres. They made it to the final round after a fierce competition with the prize money totaling R1 million.


Date: Wednesday, 20 April 2017
Start Time: 18:30 (arrive 18:00)
End Time : 20:00
Venue: Workshop 17, Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

Tickets are free so book your’s now on Quicket.

Silicon Cape TechTalks are supported by the Technology Innovation Agency. For more information on the organisation and their funding instruments visit www.tia.org.za

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