As the use of video games becomes more pervasive--think Angry Birds to Farmville to Wii Fitness--it becomes useful to consider their wider impact on our lives. Are they merely useful for entertainment, or can games help create change through creativity, imagination and play? Can games be valuable for mission-based groups like non-profits, NGOs and community organizations? How can game development connect students to real-world problems?

We’ll kick off the evening with a panel discussion including speakers at the intersection of gaming and game development for education, non-profit enablement and youth outreach. Our panelists will explore how gaming and the creation of games can positively impact our local communities and wider world mission-based efforts. Following audience Q&A, everyone is welcome to continue the discussion over networking, food and soft drinks.

Join us to discuss how creating games and game development can benefit the social good!

What: Meetup and Panel Roundtable
When: Thursday, June 21st 6-9pm
Where: Collective Agency, 322 NW Sixth Ave (between Everett and Flanders)
Who: Game Developers and Designers, Creatives, Educators, Non-Profits, Programmers, Entrepreneurs, Businesses

Please RSVP through Eventbrite http://gaming4good.eventbrite.com/ or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/189704944489416/

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Moderator

Erik Wecks, Author of How to Manage Your Money When You Don't Have Any and contributor to GeekDad on Wired.com

Panelists

Keld Bangsberg, Academic Department Director at the Art Institute of Portland including Game Art & Design, Media Arts & Animation, Visual & Game Programming, and Design Visualization.

Chris Brooks, VP of Technology at WebMD and Director at TechStart Education Foundation, which hosts the Oregon Game Project Challenge.

Scott Crabtree, HappyBrainScience. Video game designer, producer, and entrepreneur with over 10 years of professional experience managing the development of video games and has published games on PCs, consoles and the iPhone.

Jason Galbraith, Robotics and Programming Instructor at Sunset High School, Saturday Academy Instructor and coach for the Oregon Game Project Challenge.

Brian Jamison, founder of OpenSourcery, which specializes in Drupal for non-profits and hosts Donor Rally (http://donorrally.com), a free social fundraising game that has helped non-profits raise nearly a million dollars online.

About the Hosts:

PDXTech4Good People and technology creating social good.

Social changemakers and technological forerunners come together at PDXTech4Good events to mix, swap stories, share ideas, build new relationships, and reinforce the online communities of NetSquared and the NTEN 501 Tech Clubs. This group is organized/supported by volunteer efforts and open to all to attend.

Pixel Arts A social entrepreneurship that empowers groups to address social and economic issues through video games. We support innovative collaborations for social good through game development, education, entrepreneurship and community building.

One way to engage social good with games is through careful consideration of meaningful design. In this presentation, Corvus Elrod highlights occurrences of meaningful game design throughout history, as well as in video games.

Please join us for this exciting discussion and meet fellow members. We also will have a brief update on the status of Portland Games for Change including upcoming events and the next steps on setting group priorities.

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Corvus Elrod is a Semionaut and Play Designer. He is the co-founder of a Zakelro!, a two-person, one-poodle creative studio in Portland, OR. He is also the creator of Bhaloidam, an independently published tabletop storytelling platform.

Corvus has been designing participatory experiences for the better part of two decades, beginning with his exploration of improvisational theater. As he incorporated more and more game mechanics into his performances, he turned his attention to how game mechanics communicate meaning and began formalizing a semiotic theory of game design. He has contracted for a broad spectrum of clients, from major videogame studios and publishers--including THQ, EA, and Playdom--to installation artists and theater directors. He is also working on several small game projects in collaboration with other independent developers and artists.

Portland Games for Change is going as a group. If we gather more than 25, we can get a group discount rate of $12 instead of $15. Please let me know if you would like a group ticket on the facebook event page.

Direct Event Link: http://www.cu-portland.edu/jane/

Jane McGonigal, PhD is a world renowned designer of alternative reality games — or, games that are designed to improve real lives and solve real problems. She has created and deployed award-winning games in more than 30 countries on six continents, for partners such as the American Heart Association, the International Olympics Committee, the World Bank Institute, and the New York Public Library. She specializes in games that challenge players to tackle real world problems, such as poverty, hunger and education. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How they Can Change the World. She directs gaming R & D at the Institute for the Future, the nonprofit firm where she developed Superstruct, a massive multi-player game in which players organize society to solve issues that will confront the world in 2019.

Pwning Cancer brings together Portland’s vibrant gaming and geek communities to help defeat cancer through fundraising and the fun of playing together. A finalist in Awesome Portland’s July seed fund competition, Pwning Cancer will he held during the Hawthorne Street Fair, Sunday August 26th, and hosted by the East Portland Eagles Lodge.

The heart of the event is a video game tournament for kids and adults as well as a free-play area and prizes for winning teams. Games include Smash Bros, Rock Band, Halo and even PONG. Funds raised will be donated to OHSU’s Knight Cancer Research Institute to help support research for a cure and build community support.

The tournament is supported by local gaming organization including:

Portland Indie Game Squad: http://pigsquad.com/ Portland Games for Change: http://www.meetup.com/Portland-Games-for-Change/ Portland Area Game Developer Interest Group (PAGDIG): http://www.pagdig.org/

Sponsors and interested parties can contact Scott Sheppard through Pwning Cancer’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pwning-Cancer/204564349587120

Please help us in Pwning Cancer by playing games together as a community!

Affect Conf is a 2-day community conference examining the work, design, and culture of social change. To keep the emphasis on action, Affect also includes a Group Volunteering Half Day for attendees to directly help out local nonprofits.

This year: join us for our second-ever event on Sept 15 and 16 to go behind the scenes of social impact projects like 5 Calls, Code for America's Clear My Record, and We Read Too and get primers on social issues like intersectional disability justice and small-scale wealth redistribution.

Our keynotes Sydette Harry (@Blackamazon) and Shaun Lau (@NoTotally) will bookend Affect. Tickets are available via: https://affectconf.com/register

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At Affect, we work hard to prioritize accessibility and will have:

onsite childcare
a quiet room
live CART captioning
ASL interpreters
reserved seating
all-gender restrooms (multi-stall and one single stall)
wheelchair-accessible paths

This is your opportunity to learn about effective strategies for creating engaging content on your website and across the web, designing and evaluating digital campaigns with social media and email marketing, and integrating your online efforts to maximize participation and donations.

Technology will continue to change and the nonprofit sector cannot afford to be left behind. This two-day conference will educate, inspire, and prepare nonprofit professionals to implement or advance their organizational digital strategies, and campaigns. Attendees will participate in educational sessions and hands-on workshops, and have the opportunity to networ

The dream: The "Craig's List" of Activism & Civic Engagement, or.... Calagator + more features + more functions, focused on activism and available in every city every where. Because it should be.

Come tech types, come biz dev, come social media types, come change-makers!

Help create the site that will make your life easier, further your favorite causes, and impact the world!

One source for all the documentary screenings, protests, political debates, historical tours, and various geek events, in every city. A tool that empowers everybody to create change in their world. A tool for organizations to reach beyond their choir, discover new allies on issues and further their causes.

The event calendar is open source, forked from the Calagator code-base, in Ruby on Rails.

Yes, of course food and beer! Please RSVP http://www.eventbrite.com/event/7162879365/estw

We'll be talking about issues of diversity, accountability and representation in nonprofit technology and technology in general. Presenters will cover topics like:

• Building diversity in tech teams, and why diversity is critical to success whether you're for-profit or nonprofit.

• Local and national projects by nonprofits to broaden the types of people who get involved in technology and programming as young people.

• Local and national efforts by nonprofits to address sexism and racism that often plays out within "tech culture."

• The state of the Portland tech community when it comes to inclusion and accountability, especially as it relates to sexism and racism.

PRESENTERS

Melissa Chavez is a digital and physical space UX designer who organizes events for tech and nonprofit communities. Open Source Bridge, the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, PyDX, and Portland VegFest are some of the events she helps run. Reading YA novels helps keep her sane. Twitter: @capnleela

Jennifer Davidson works at Intel as a User Experience Researcher and Software Interaction Designer. She recently completed her PhD in Computer Science at Oregon State University, where she researched human-computer interaction, specifically involving older adults in the design and development of open source software. She is Interim Board President of ChickTeck. She strongly believes that everyone should have a say in our technology revolution. Twitter: @jewifer

Robert Raleigh is helping underserved youth build successful careers as technology professionals in the software/IT industries. Robert is a front-end web developer, and the executive director of Log Camp, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) providing technology-focused career-and-technical education for low-income youth, and youth from communities of color. Log Camp's Tech Works Youth Developer Academy and after-school enrichment programming have created a diverse youth talent pipeline. Log Camp works with corporate, nonprofit, government, and educational partners to increase diversity and equitable access to technology, coding, and computer science education for youth in the Portland metro region. Robert is an Alaskan Native (Tlingit), a first-generation college graduate, and a former foster-child. In the past, Robert has worked for the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce, Technology Association of Oregon, and Oregon Health Sciences University. Robert is an active member of the NAYA Family Center Community Leaders Council, and the Portland City Club. Twitter: @RobertGRaleigh

Jennifer Cazares, better known as "Yenni," identifies as a vessel for social change. As a non-binary Queer Latin@, Yenni began the journey in activism at the ripe age of 15 when after taking over the high school Key Club was able to enlist over 70 active volunteers in community events. Despite leaving high school on the suspicion of a queer identity and experiencing fear of coming out due to a Latin@ upbringing, Yenni made it to engineering school in Oregon where due to the lack of support for diversity Yenni was pushed out. Having dedicated the last decade to positive youth development in various arenas of the youth empowerment movement with organizations such as Altamed, Six Rivers Planned Parenthood, ChickTech, Northwest Youth Corps, and currently with LULAC Vancouver. Yenni looks forward to creating change through the power of education and technology. Lover of the outdoors and all things living. "Dropping knowledge and love everywhere I go." (Pronouns: Yenni)

TWITTER

Event: Use the #pdxt4g hashtag, and/or mention @PDXTech4Good
Presenters: @capnleela @jewifer @RobertGRaleigh
Venue host: @idealist
Sponsors: @NTENorg and @NetSquared

AGENDA

Networking and refreshments: 6pm-6:30pm
Presentation: 6:30pm-7:30pm
Q&A: 7:30pm-8pm

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF PDXTECH4GOOD EVENTS

Nonprofit staffers will find a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for those not experienced with technology, and many chances to ask questions of tech-experienced nonprofits and experts.

Techies will find opportunities to hear the real-world stories of nonprofit clients, and put their own expertise to social good — as well as the potential for lasting relationships (be they paid or volunteer) with leading organizations in our community.

Activists and community organizers will see and be given the chance to present on successful uses of technology for social change. We'll explore how technology can help support activism and where activism can push it forward.

Make games and help save lives through organ donation!

Pixel Arts presents the Guts for Glory Game Jam in association with Gaming For Social Good's first game summit!

In a 20-hour challenge, you will work with fellow game developers to create a game prototype for the purpose of furthering the goals of a Portland nonprofit organization!

We will be working with Donate Life Northwest for this game summit. Participating developers will be creating a game prototype dedicated to aiding the mission of this organ donor registry nonprofit, the goals of which are outlined in the immediate link! http://www.donatelifenw.org/content/what-we-do

General schedule: Friday, October 19th: 6pm-10pm (Team Formation and Brainstorming) Saturday, October 20th: 9am-5pm (Production) Sunday, October 21st: 9am-5pm (Production) Sunday, October 21st: 5pm-7pm (Postmortem)

Facilitated by Corvus Elrod, this Game Jam will be focused on creating a deliverable for Donate Life in the long run; the event will be set in a production environment, allowing developers to consider aspects of game development such as budgeting, client input, marketing, and their own quality of life on a day-to-day basis. That being said, production managers, marketers, and advertising agents are welcome to sign up as participants!

We have room for 45 participants and will not be counting RSVP's in other locations, though walk-ins are welcome if space permits.

Light breakfast and full lunch will be provided; provide restrictive dietary information on your registration.

Please also consider bringing $10 for a suggested donation to Pixel Arts!

We have secured two venues to have regular meetings on Wednesday and Thursdays. if you have an item for the agenda, please let me know. Our current agenda is:

1. Select a regular week to have meetups each month.

2. Return to visioning goals and plan a calendar of events.

3. Enroll volunteers for talks, events, and so forth.

4. Planning for an October Game Summit to create games for NGOs and NPOs.

Agenda will be followed by announcements and mingling with PAGDIG and PIGSquad.

We'll be discussing several matters including:

1) An overview of our plans and volunteer needs.

2) A development schedule to complete the game summit prototype for Donate Life Northwest

3) Upcoming events: John Wilkes would like to offer some workshops in programming including C Sharp and a presentation by Donna Davis Nov 14, an Ethnography of Digital Social Capital in 3D online worlds.

4) Pixel Arts' educational group to development a game camp.

5) Supporting the OGPC with mentors and coaches.

If you would like to add an item to the agenda, pelase reply on our website. We welcome new collaborations and alignments.

Meet fellow members and help develop our agenda for events, initiatives and programs.

Join web and mobile experts on Sun., May 19th at the Portland Hackathon for Social Good. Hackathons are events when programmers and designers meet to work collaboratively to build programs and applications.

The day will begin with short presentations by educators and non-profit organizations, followed by informational sessions on building sites and web applications to help benefit non-profit organizations: The Dalai Lama Center, Dress for Success, Habitat for Humanity (Re)Store and Compassion & Choices.

Register online at http://wvpdx13-hackathon.eventbrite.com

Please join us for an informational session on youth adult partnerships in technology at PAGDIG (Portland Area Game Developer Interest Group). We will discuss mentoring and volunteering opportunities through three local educational non-profits serving youth: PixelArts, ChickTech, and OGPC.

*The meeting will start at 7:45; please do not arrive before 7:30 as there will be another meeting at the space until that time.

How can we create community based game development for social good?

Hosted by the 4th Annual Emergent Learning Commons conference.

Presenters: Valerie Egan of Donate Life Northwest Brandon Bozzi of Game It Forward Local game developers Corvus Elrod, David Galiel and Wolfgang Wozniak

Hackathons and game jams often suffer from top-down approaches led by technology rather than the needs of users and clients. We flip this by inviting NPOs and NGOs to share their missions, goals and challenges; and, one of our case studies comes from Donate Life Northwest, an organ donation non-profit seeking to update their video game Scalpel Pal.

Our panel explores ways to approach the challenges of these NPOs and NGOs through game-based design perspectives. Following the conference, we will be hosting a startup game jam, Guts for Glory, to develop games for Donate Life Northwest.

Social capital is a key concept for thinking community enrichment, resource building and the social structure of networks.

How does this concept work in games and 3D spaces? What happens to social capital when communities move into persistent digital worlds? Does digitizing social capital fundamentally transform our sense of place and connectivity?

Join us as University of Oregon professor Donna Davis shares insights of a multiyear ethnographic study of digital social capital in 3D online spaces.

She will also discuss her current research, joined by Barbie Alchemi, founder of Creations for Parkinson’s, Second Life’s Parkinson’s support group dedicated to working with people with Parkinson's while raising money and awareness of the disease and for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Location: Take elevator to 3R, Turnbull Center's Pape Forum

Please no food or drink in the meeting rooms.

Affect is a new 2-day event about the work and design behind social good. It's part regular conference, with speaker talks, and part volunteering sessions, in which you'll get to head to local nonprofits and help out for half a day.

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Program:

Ijeoma Oluo (The Establishment):
Opening Keynote

Deep Shah:
Healing Heathcare and Healing Yourself

Jessica Tate (ThinkShout)
Fighting Internet Censorship with Multi-cultural Design

Kahlief Adams (Spawn on Me):
Spawn4Good: A Lesson in Activist Gaming

Alfie Padilla (Pixel Arts):
Non-Binary Genders: A Queer and Practical Revolution

Amelia Abreu (Abreu Consulting):
Towards an Ethics of Care for Technology

Justin Kemerling:
Six Years of #NOKXL Design

Molly McLeod (Code for America):
Public Service Design: How You Can Make a Difference in Your Community

Liz Susong (Catalyst Wed Co):
When Wedding Media and Feminist Politics Meet

De Nichols (Civic Creatives):
Designing in Times of Social Conflict & Transition

Nadia Gathers (CODE2040):
Fatigue: on Burnout

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Volunteering

Choose between helping out with p:ear, the Welcome Home Coalition/#Yes4Homes campaign, or Hack Oregon!

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Tickets available at: https://affectconf.com/register