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Table of Contents
WELCOME! 2
Event Time Table 4
Social Program 5
Transportation 7
thought magnetism 8
Friday Rundown 10
Saturday Rundown 14
Program Committee 22
Special Thanks 23
Twitter Handle – #Xplay2
User and pass for wifi is medicon15
Welcome to The Sequel!
Let’s be serious for a second.
This might seem like a strange way to introduce a conference about play.
But only to those who are still new to the field of play and the enthusiasm
and momentum presently welling around play, games, and media. For those
of us who work in these fields, we are deeply aware of the seriousness of
these topics—that their histories are entangled with issues of labor,
warfare, do-mesticity, and power. When play is evoked, we are speaking to
these issues whether we like it or not. They follow in sequence from the
semiotic logics of the term, and unwind through our culture in manifold
paths and direc-tions.
How can we host a conference on play in the year 2015 without mentioning the disaster that is #gamergate? Though hopefully the worst is over,
we must now ask what new things will grow from the spaces produced by
its impact. What is its sequential logic, from where does it unwind and
proceed? To start, let’s consider the three elements embedded in its rallying cry. The hashtag denotes collectivity, anonymity, trolling, and tricksterism—things that are now hard-wired in the DNA of digital and social
media.
With “gamer” we have a term without origin and with a nebulous constituency of followers. Certainly, we can find some traces of the term in
the many magazines published in the 80s and 90s around games and home
computing, but it is invoked there as a sort of marketing magic—a way to
produce a loyal audience of game buying and identifying consumers. How
many millions has the term truly transformed into toads who identify more
with the Mushroom Kingdom than their friends, family, community, language, nation, or livelihood? Or is the gamer simply one who takes games
seriously? If that is the case, we must return to the start of this note and
begin enquiring what will become of societies that have forgotten to take
seriously the games they play?
The United States has one such cautionary tale. Apt to this discussion, the
third reference to be located in the term #gamergate is the Watergate Scan-
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dal. Here, the dependability of American politics in the 1970s was brought
into deep consternation. Watergate spoke to a moment where a set of politicians gamed our political and economic systems. It was an event that showed
how playful and laissez-faire attitudes threatened systems that were once
considered principled. But it is not play that ruins politics, nothing could
be further from the truth. Instead it was play that revealed how politics
had been a game that was rigged from the start. A game that provides key
players with networks, advantages, anonymity, fall guys, publicity teams,
money, and pardons.
When situating #gamergate, therefore, we must consider how it is, in fact,
a confluence of the anonymous collectivity of social media, the consumer
cultures built to sell computer and video games, and the fact that we live in
a world where neither corporations nor politicians are principled. #gamergate defines our present moment of angst, by revealing how the multiple
procedures, systems, and institutions we surround ourselves with are, in fact,
devoid of ethics and are as corruptible as the players within them. #gamergate is ethically debased because its constituents believe in the authority
of systems that have been rigged to support the ends of capital and patriarchy—and a rigged game has lost its sense of play. In this sense, we must
turn away from systems that will forever be stoic and serious; toward the
lively, heartfelt, and earnest world of play.
So let’s be playful! Let’s find new ways to test the limits of the systems
that exist, and by doing so, expose the ways they are rigged. And maybe,
just maybe, rig some systems of our own, for those who yearn to do more
than simply consume.
Sincerely,
Aaron Trammell
Chair and Lead Coordinator, Extending Play
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Event Timetable
Friday, April 17th
Registration Begins: 11:30AM
Opening Reception: 12:30PM – 1:00PM
Session I: 1:15PM – 2:45PM
Session II: 3:00PM – 4:30PM
ALTERCADE: 5:00PM – 7:00PM
Dutch Treat Dinners: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Night Out in New Brunswick: 9:00PM – Whenever
Saturday, April 18th
Breakfast: 8:00AM – 9:00AM
Session III: 9:00AM – 10:30AM
Keynote I: 10:45AM – 12:00PM
Lunch: 12:00PM – 1:00PM
Plenary Session: 1:00PM – 2:30PM
Session V: 2:45PM – 4:15PM
Keynote II: 4:30PM – 5:45PM
Closing Reception and Party: 5:45PM – 7:30PM
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Social Program
Although we will have several academic workshops and panels over the course of
the weekend, there are also many exciting social events – Warriors, come out and
play!
Opening Reception – Gathering Lounge 12:30PM - 1:00PM, April 17th
Bring ideas to seed a flash-workshop, make friends you will have all weekend
long, and munch on a light lunch.
ALTERCADE – Rutgers Zone 5:00PM - 7:00PM, April 17th
ALTERCADE is a multimedia exhibition and reception. Enjoy appetizers and a
cool drink, tinker with a plethora of subversive games, and listen to the hits of the
70s, 80s, and 90s get remixed as lounge jazz.
Dutch Treat Dinners – Downtown New Brunswick 7:00PM - 9:00PM, April
17th
Join a group of conference-goers for a lively dinner to discuss the day. Choose
from Destination Dogs (Fancy hot dogs, $12 and up, vegetarian options), Sahara
(Mediterranean cuisine, entrees costing $12 and up, with many vegetarian options),
or Cinco de Mayo (Mexican cuisine, entrees costing $8 and up). To learn more
please email [email protected] to see sign up lists and get more information
about who’s going where.
Night Out in New Brunswick –The Court Tavern 9:00PM – Whenever, April
17th
After dinner, please join us for a drink in New Brunswick, NJ’s legendary venue
and bar, The Court Tavern. Famous for hosting bands as diverse as Lifetime, The
Smithereens, and Pavement, drop a dollar in the juke and indulge in some after
hours confabulation with your colleagues and peers. 124 Church St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901.
Breakfast – The Gathering Lounge 8:00AM - 9:00AM, April 18th
Grab a light bite to eat and a cup of coffee before we begin our marathon Saturday
events!
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Keynote I – "Liberating Play" –The Gathering Lounge 10:45AM - 12:00PM,
April 18th
Today Anna Anthropy (Independent Designer) and Miguel Sicart (IT University,
Copenhagen) will liberate play! In this exciting discussion, the two will explore
the ethics of play as it is embedded in the indie game community. What are the
limits of play and how can they be subverted?
Lunch –The Gathering Lounge 12:00PM-1:00PM, April 18th
Fully catered lunch. Grab a box, and share vivacious conversation with some
friends in between bites.
Keynote II –"The Replication of Ideology" – The Gathering Lounge 4:30PM
- 5:45PM, April 18th
In this talk, Marcus Boon (York University) and Adrienne Shaw (Temple University) will discuss the ways that ideology replicates in our culture. Where is the
push and when can we pull? How do ideas spread in a variety of communities?
Closing Reception and Party – The Rutgers Zone 5:45 - 7:30PM, April 18th
Say goodbye to Extending Play with a brief reception and party! Light
appetizers, drinks and arcade space will be provided.
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Transportation
If you’ll be playing with us on Saturday April 18, 2015, here is some basic information
about returning to your train station or hotel that evening. Our conference will
conclude officially at 7:30pm with our reception/party. We have retained a local
passenger van service until 8:30pm that evening and we can coordinate with you to
make sure you get a ride back to downtown New Brunswick - either to a hotel or
the New Brunswick NJ Transit station. The ride between the Livingston Student
Center (where the conference is hosted) and downtown New Brunswick is roughly
8-10 minutes. Looking at the map below, point A is the Livingston Student Center
and point B is the New Brunswick Train Station. Please speak with one your panel
moderators or one of the many conference staff volunteers so they help you to
coordinate reaching your destination.
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thought magnetism
Are we the species that plays-or are we better
understood as the species that repeats?
Walter Benjamin suggests that, “For a child repetition is the soul of play.” Is play
always at its core a form of re-play, an iteration of an earlier moment that resists
a complete recurrence, yet is found in a series or sequence? We accept replication
as a matter of course: Successful games and films always already have a sequel in
the works, fashion is fueled by a recycling of its past, and images are increasingly
manipulated to mimic the earlier eras of photographic technique. But what is the
impact of these repeats, echoes, and continuations? And how do we understand the
experience of play as a chain of sequels in the age of digital surrogates, cybernetic
archives and networks of distributed storage?
Extending Play: The Sequel asks how conceptions of repetition, iteration, mimesis, chronography and sequence emerge through the dynamics and modalities of
play in an increasingly repetitive, yet always playful world. We aim to continue
the mission of the previous Extending Play conference, to entertain all approaches
to the traditions, roles, and contexts of play that extend its definition and incorporation into far-flung and
unexpected arenas. With
The Sequel, we hope to focus on how play is culturally
reproduced, repeated, continued, remixed, recycled,
resequenced, and reimagined,
and how play re-orders issues of power, affect, labor,
identity, and privacy.
8
hope
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Use the magnetic words in your
goodie bag to recreate the
Extending Play CFP as your own
interpretive sequel!
9
earlier
playful
accept
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traditions
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dynamics
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sequence
technique
cybernetic
modalities
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distributed
recurrence
Successful
surrogates
experience
understand
reimagined
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understood
reproduced
The Sequel
unexpected
approaches
increasingly
continue
moment
remixed
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emerge
species
species
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sequels
repeats
Extending Play: The Sequel
mediacon.rutgers.edu
Extending Play
chronography
continuations
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identity
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Friday, April 17
Early Registration and Sign In : 11:00am-12:30pm
Opening reception (Room 201AB): 12:30pm -1:00pm
Session I: 1:15pm - 2:45pm
Playspace - Room 201AB
Forget spherical players in a vacuum-- how does play function in actual space?
How can play be designed for space, and how can play shape the space where it is
played?
Back to the Bar: The Return and/or Persistence of Bar Based Video
Game Play
Samuel Tobin, Fitchburg State University
Building Ourselves a Sonic Palette: Crowdsourcing Music Composition with the Ableton Push
Jacob Robbins, Drexel University
Re-Playing the City: Ingress portals and re-contextualizing knowledge
of the urban environment
Kyle Moore, University of Sydney
Moderator: Charlie File
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Recursion Excursion - Room 202AB
We replay games and re-experience narratives. Is playing a game twice like déjà
vu? Is every new instance of play its own unique experience? What is it like to
look back, go back, and replay?
Replay and Regameplay: When a game is not the same game anymore?
Luís Felipe Matsya de Aruanda Ramos Garrocho, Universidade Federal de Minas
Gerais
Tabletop Remix: "Actual Play" Recordings and the Gaming Audience
William White, Penn State Altoona
Recursion in Narrative Spaces: Fractal Forms in Digital Narratives
German A. Duarte, Universidad de Bogotá
Moderator: Ian Dunham
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Session II: 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Ludic Vibrations - Room 201AB
Games of sound and touch. How can we play with our senses in order to remix the
sense we make of the world?
A Game of Silence
Zachary Loeb, New York University
In Tune
Allison Cole, Game Designer
Jessica Marcotte, Game Designer
Zachary Miller, Game Designer
Moderator: Frank Bridges
Replaying Culture - Room 202AB
How do games cultivate an audience? Where does representation meet simulation?
An examination of what games are doing in society.
Imperialism in the Worlds and Mechanics of First Person Shooters
Ansh Patel, New York University
Assessing Mass Effect 2 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim using Collaborative Criteria for Player Agency in Interactive Narratives
Lindsey Joyce, UT Dallas
Extending Play Ad Infinitum: Temporal Aesthetics and Ethical Implications of Play in Korean MMORPGs
Stephen C. Rea, UC Irvine
Moderator: James Hodges
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ALTERCADE (The Rutgers Zone)
5:00pm-7:00pm
ALTERCADE is a multimedia exhibition that pushes the limits of how we
understand play. ALTERCADE re-combines multiple kinds of arcade amusement,
from vintage cinema to interactive arts. Light fare and refreshments will be served.
AGENCY (Ansh Patel, New York University) is a series of video games investigating meaningful action and player choice.
IN TUNE (Tweed Couch Games, Montreal) is a live-action game that has players
navigate intimacy and consent.
PUNKSIM (James Hodges, Rutgers University) is a text game exploring punk
subculture in all of its repetitions and complications.
MOVING IMAGES curated by PETER SUTTON (Rutgers University) will
revisit American culture at play, crossing through eras and contexts.
NEUROHACK (The Circle Machine, Montreal) reimagines the stealth and
puzzle genres in a lo-fi cyber-espionage mashup.
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Saturday, April 18
Breakfast (Provided): 8:00am-9:00am
Hallway near Gathering Lounge
Session III: 9:00am-10:30am
Regenerating Structures in Games - Room 201AB
A close look at the structures both internal and external to games? From where do
these structures come, and how can we take on a critical agency in their regeneration?
Market Play as Meta-Meta-Communication
Daniel Thomas Cook, Rutgers University
Destined to Repeat Itself: The Rise and Fall of "Indie" Games, 19791984
Laine Nooney, New York University
Ludic Spolia in "Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth"
Erin McNeil, Independent Scholar
Moderator: Nadav Lipkin
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Performing Play - Room 202A
Where does performance meet play? How do collectives of fans and new technologies complicate our prior understandings of this intersection?
Pop-Culture Poaches Back: On the Playful Back-and-Forth between
Fandom and the Culture Industry
Rachel Aparicio, Rutgers Unviersity
Celebrities' Replay Value
Tanine Alison, Emory University
"IT FEELS SO REAL!": Sense and Sexuality in ASMR Videos
Emma Leigh Waldron, UC Davis
Moderator: Thiam Huat Kam
Utopic/Dystopic Learning - Room 202BC
We live in classrooms permeating with play. How do we learn through play, and
how do we teach with it? How far can play take us in preparing for brave new
worlds?
Multicultural, Bilingual, and Interactive Arabic and Hebrew Digital
Edutainment
Abeer Aloush, University of Pennsylvania
Games for Promoting Understanding of Current Issues and Tolerance
Nancy B. Sardone, Georgian Court University
Gamification and the Compassionate Imagination
Renyi Hong, University of Southern California
Moderator: Fanny Ramirez
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Keynote I: 10:45am - 12:00pm
“Liberating Play”
Gathering Lounge
Anna Anthropy, Game Designer
Miguel Sicart, IT University Copenhagen
Moderator: Anne Gilbert, University of Kansas
Lunch (Provided): 12:00pm - 1:00pm
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Session IV: 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Plenary Session: Gender Play / Playing
with Gender - Gathering Lounge
This special panel has been organized and sponsored by the Women and the Arts
Collaborative and the Office of Institutional Diversity. Where do play and gender studies meet? How can we open up inclusive and critical spaces of play?
Procedural Feminism: Playing with Gender and Generative Systems
Gillian Smith, Northeastern University
New Machines for Inefficiency: Creative Misuse of Technologies as
Means for Expression
Myfanwy Ashmore, Independent Artist
Beyond Binaries: Recoding Bodies through Bio-Adaptive, Game-Based
Networked Performance Practices
Heidi Boisvert, Independent Designer
Co-Chairs:
Meredith Drum, Arizona State University
Kat Griefen, Rutgers University, Women and the Arts Collaborative
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Session V: 2:45pm - 4:15pm
Appraising the Audience - Room 201A
We like to play, and people like to watch us play. What are the consequences of
playing with the audience? What does it mean to be an audience to play?
The Playful Newsroom: Rethinking the Public Sphere through Iterative News Practices
Maxwell Foxman, Columbia University
Joshua Jarrett, University of West England, Bristol
Ri Pierce-Grove, Columbia University
The Connective Play of MOBA Spaces: How Player Streams Speak
to, Influence, and Direct the Actions of Wider Play Spaces
Joshua Jarrett, University of West England, Bristol
Binge: Framing Sustained Engagement with Digital Media
Ri Pierce-Grove, Columbia University
Replaying Cinema - Room 202A
What’s at play in cinema? Playing with images, playing with histories, playing
with audiences, genre, media. Really, what’s not at play in cinema?
Mapping Intertextual Relationships in Media
Jonathan Farbowitz, New York University
Re-Playing Bruce Conner: Moving-image Ecologies and the Foundfootage Remake
Leo Goldsmith, New York University
Moderator: Zack Lischer-Katz
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The End of Play - Room 202BC
What is in store for the future of play studies? How does play segue into different
fields, industries, and more?
Disney Infinity: Playing and re-playing across the physical/digital
divide
Meredith A. Bak, Rutgers University
Expanding understandings of contemporary play: Stigma Avoidance
and Visual Contextualization in Adult Toy Play
J. Tuomas Harviainen, University of Tampere
Katriina Heljakka, University of Turku
The Great Ification: A Think Piece on the Influences of Institutionalized Playfulness on Culture
Katriina Heljakka, Uniersity of Turku
Jaakko Stenros, University of Tampere
Moderator: Fredrika Thelandersson
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Keynote II: 4:30pm - 5:45pm
“The Replication of Ideology”
Gathering Lounge
Marcus Boon, York University
Adrienne Shaw, Temple University
Moderator: Melissa Aronczyk, Rutgers University
Closing reception & Party (Dinner Included):
5:45pm - 7:30pm
Rutgers Zone
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Behind the curtain
Organizing Committee
Aaron Trammell - Lead Coordinator and Chair
Zack Lischer-Katz - Programming Coordinator
Frank Bridges - Marketing Coordinator
Stephanie Mikitish - Treasurer
Katie McCollough - Programming Lead
Andrew Salvati - Programming Lead
Fanny Ramirez - Food and Meal Specialist
James Hodges - Friday Evening Reception Coordinator
Nadav Lipkin - Copywriter
Teis Kristensen - On-site Logistics Specialist
Review Board
Weixu Lu - Off-site Logistics Specialist
Elena Bertozzi
Sarah Lynne-Bowman
Jack Bratich
Programming Board
Shira Chess
Zack Lischer-Katz
Marija Dalbello
Katie McCollough
Nico Dicecco
Andrew Salvati
Christina Dunbar-Hester
Nadav Lipkin
Mathias Fuchs
Frank Bridges
Anne Gilbert
Ian Dunham
Emily Knox
Charlie File
Marianne Martens
Thiam Huat Kam
Erin Heisel
Fanny Ramirez
Julia Lane
Bryce Renninger
Erin McNeil
Si Sun
Karen Schrier
Fredrika Thelandersson
Aram Sinnreich
Aaron Trammell
Rob Spicer
Daniel Sutko
Samuel Tobin
Evan Torner
Graig Uhlin
Emma Leigh Waldron
Carlin Wing
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Special Thanks!
We would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to thank all of the people who
gave us their time, energy, and resources to help make this conference successful.
Without all of your time, attention, and care, we would have floundered.
Seriously! Extending Play: The Sequel was a labor of love, and not without its
ups and downs. But, for every moment where it seemed like the boat was about
to keel over, a friend was there to help lend a hand, reassure, and set things right
again. We couldn’t have done this without the support of the following people.
In fact, we wouldn’t have done this without their amazing support.
We couldn’t have done this without the guidance and support of the first
Extending Play team. The infrastructure of this conference was built upon
their hard, unerring, and often thankless efforts. If it wasn’t for Anne Gilbert’s
amazing work in establishing a technique for playful programming, Jonathan
Bullinger’s tireless work in planning rooms, food, transportation, hospitality
and more, Jessica Crowell’s steadfast and solid budgeting, Brian MacDonald’s
heart and networking expertise, Nadia Riley’s proactive promotional spirit,
Nathan Graham’s technological wizardry, Sean Leavey’s imaginative and
authentic after-hours activities, or Jessa Lingel (generally), we would be
without name, motivation, or direction. Thank you all. This conference will
always be yours.
In addition to the original crew, we must also thank all of our peers in the
School of Communication and Information Doctoral Student Association. In
particular both the generosity and support of John Leustek and the bureaucratic
negotiations of Sarah Barriage have been instrumental in helping us to set up
this year’s conference. But this is not to say that the encouragement, support,
and enthusiasm of the many who have not been named here has been for
naught. Quite the opposite, our Doctoral Student Association is the best in the
world, and this conference is proof of that.
Additionally, we must thank all of those in the School of Communication
and Information who have made this event possible. This includes The Ph.D.
Program, The Department of Journalism and Media Studies, The Department
of Library and Information Studies, and The School of Communication and
Information Social Media Cluster. Because of their commitment to the goals
of this project, we have been able to stage this re-do, and again with stellar
content! We really could not have done this without the extensive feedback
and support of Marija Dalbello, Jack Bratich, Marie Radford, Mary
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Chayko, Ross Todd, Melissa Aronczyk, Sharon Stoerger, Regina Marchi,
Aram Sinnreich, Christina Dunbar-Hester, and Deans Claire McInerney,
Karen Novick, and Hartmut Mokros. Finally, Joan Chabrak, Narda Acevedo,
Vicki White, Elizabeth Ciccone, Linda Dondero, Diana Bell, and Kamini
Chopra have all been truly helpful as well. Thank you greatly and truly for
your kind wisdom, insight, and support.
Outside the School of Communication and Information, we have also received
a fantastic amount of support from The Department of Student Life and their
Geek Week initiative, The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion,
The Women and the Arts Collaborative, and The Center for Cultural
Analysis. If it were not for the support of Carey Loch, Connie Tell, Jorge
Schement, and Neela Patel, we would have never been able to locate either
the space or resources to organize this event. We appreciate and support your
commitment to programming for diversity and social justice in all areas of
student life and are honored to work with you.
Finally, great thanks must also be given to those who managed the first
round of reviews and who have not been thanked elsewhere: Karen Schrier,
Emma Leigh Waldron, Marianne Martens, Erin McNeil, Erin Heisel, Sarah
Lynne Bowman, Rob Spicer, Evan Torner, Daniel Sutko, Graig Uhlin, Elena
Bertozzi, Nico Dicecco, Shira Chess, Julia Lane, Mathias Fuchs, Samuel
Tobin, and Carlin Wing. It was amazing to review all of your fascinating
feedback as we moved into crunch time and staged an all-night programming
session filled with pizza and spirits. And, of course, we would also like
to thank those who stuck it out to the bitter end with the programming
committee in our final programming session: Fredrika Thelandersson, Thiam
Huat Kam, Charlie File, Bryce Renninger, Ian Dunham and Si Sun. And, of
course many thanks to all of the others whose support and small acts of help
can not be overlooked: Xiaofeng Li, Jacob Sanchez, Jennifer Sonne, Emily
Knox, and Eugene Geis.
This is all to say that we couldn't be in better company this year. Thanks for
making The Sequel better than the original!
Sincerely,
The Organizing Committee
Aaron Trammell, Zack Lischer-Katz, Frank Bridges, Stephanie Mikitish, Katie
McCollough, Andrew Salvati, Fanny Ramirez, James Hodges, Nadav Lipkin, Teis
Kristensen, and Weixu Lu.
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