NURA YAMAN (‘COUNTRY SPEAKS’): LANGUAGE, PEOPLE AND PLACE IN SERIOUS GAMES

Burrell, A; Hendery, R; Hromek, D

NURA YAMAN (‘COUNTRY SPEAKS’): LANGUAGE, PEOPLE AND PLACE IN SERIOUS GAMES

Burrell, A

Hendery, R Hromek, D

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Publisher:: MIT Press
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 2021, 23, (1)
Issue Date:: 2021-05-15

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Burrell, A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1690-7542
dc.contributor.author	Hendery, R
dc.contributor.author	Hromek, D
dc.date.accessioned	2022-03-09T23:19:10Z
dc.date.available	2022-03-09T23:19:10Z
dc.date.issued	2021-05-15
dc.identifier.citation	Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 2021, 23, (1)
dc.identifier.issn	1071-4391
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155122
dc.description.abstract	Layered Horizons is a series of serious virtual reality (VR) games [1] that entice users to playfully explore linguistic information across the Asia-Pacific. This essay focuses on Barrawao, a version of the game based on the region now known as Sydney, Australia—a region consisting of complex language ecologies, in which speakers are often multilingual in a variety of traditional languages, and are connected to this traditional linguistic landscape through protocols, beliefs, and identity. This essay argues that interfaces for games generally are influenced by a ‘monolingual mindset’ [2] which leads to simplistic models of language, with each mapped to a single region. Games are localized by swapping one language for another, without regard to cultural considerations or the realities of the Country (e.g. people, place, linguistic and cultural environment) in which the languages are embedded. Translations of game content and interfaces are often generated by machine learning or other automatic processes which, disconnected from context, can reproduce frameworks of colonialization and globalization. This essay considers the interrelationships between machine, human, language and environment, and discusses the ethical and practical impacts of machines mediating between language and Country. We argue that, if co-created with people who have a deep knowledge of the physical and linguistic landscape, VR provides opportunities to mitigate a potential disconnect, through the embodied experience of the game––the literal use of the body as an interface––and the recreation of place in a virtual world to provide critical context for language. We relate the responsibilities people have to their Country in the physical world with the responsibilities we have to our machine worlds of code and data, and connect this to the concept of Data Sovereignty.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	MIT Press
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP180100893
dc.relation.ispartof	Leonardo Electronic Almanac
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1203 Design Practice and Management, 1902 Film, Television and Digital Media, 1905 Visual Arts and Crafts
dc.title	NURA YAMAN (‘COUNTRY SPEAKS’): LANGUAGE, PEOPLE AND PLACE IN SERIOUS GAMES
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	23
utslib.for	1203 Design Practice and Management
utslib.for	1902 Film, Television and Digital Media
utslib.for	1905 Visual Arts and Crafts
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Design
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2022-03-09T23:19:09Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	23
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

Layered Horizons is a series of serious virtual reality (VR) games [1] that entice users to playfully explore linguistic information across the Asia-Pacific. This essay focuses on Barrawao, a version of the game based on the region now known as Sydney, Australia—a region consisting of complex language ecologies, in which speakers are often multilingual in a variety of traditional languages, and are connected to this traditional linguistic landscape through protocols, beliefs, and identity. This essay argues that interfaces for games generally are influenced by a ‘monolingual mindset’ [2] which leads to simplistic models of language, with each mapped to a single region. Games are localized by swapping one language for another, without regard to cultural considerations or the realities of the Country (e.g. people, place, linguistic and cultural environment) in which the languages are embedded. Translations of game content and interfaces are often generated by machine learning or other automatic processes which, disconnected from context, can reproduce frameworks of colonialization and globalization. This essay considers the interrelationships between machine, human, language and environment, and discusses the ethical and practical impacts of machines mediating between language and Country. We argue that, if co-created with people who have a deep knowledge of the physical and linguistic landscape, VR provides opportunities to mitigate a potential disconnect, through the embodied experience of the game––the literal use of the body as an interface––and the recreation of place in a virtual world to provide critical context for language. We relate the responsibilities people have to their Country in the physical world with the responsibilities we have to our machine worlds of code and data, and connect this to the concept of Data Sovereignty.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155122