This is a First call for papers for the 5th European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL) being held at The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece on the 20-21 October 2011.

Over the last ten years, the way in which education and training is delivered has changed considerably with the advent of new technologies. One such new technology that holds considerable promise for helping to engage learners is Games-Based Learning (GBL). The Conference offers an opportunity for scholars and practitioners interested in the issues related to GBL to share their thinking and research findings. Papers can cover various issues and aspects of GBL in education and training: technology and implementation issues associated with the development of GBL; use of mobile and MMOGs for learning; pedagogical issues associated with GBL; social and ethical issues in GBL; GBL best cases and practices, and other related aspects. We are particularly interested in empirical research that addresses whether GBL enhances learning. This Conference provides a forum for discussion, collaboration and intellectual exchange for all those interested in any of these fields of research or practice.

The conference committee welcomes both academic and practitioner papers on a wide range of topics using a range of scholarly approaches including theoretical and empirical papers employing qualitative, quantitative and critical methods. Action research, case studies and work in progress/posters are welcomed approaches. PhD Research, proposals for roundtable discussions, non-academic contributions and product demonstrations based on the main themes are also invited.

You can find calls for papers for these tracks at:

http://academic-conferences.org/ecgbl/ecgbl2011/ecgbl11-call-papers.htm

Conference proceedings are submitted for accreditation on publication. Please note that depending on the accreditation body this process can take up to several months.

Papers accepted for the conference will be published in the conference proceedings, subject to author registration. Papers presented at the conference will also be considered for publication in a special issue of the Electronic Journal of e-Learning.

For the first time there will be a prize for the best PhD paper and the best Poster presented at the conference.

The 4th SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center from 12 to 15 Dec 2011. See, meet, and interact with the international computer graphics community in the heart of Asia and learn from the best in the field in research, animation, art, software, visualization, hardware, games, visual effects, and education.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 will see the return of the Art Gallery and the Emerging Technologies programs. The event lineup will also include the Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Technical Papers, Sketches & Posters programs and a Trade Exhibition. The Student Volunteers program will again be offered, to nurture young talents by providing a platform for them to interact with the industry and academia.

Oh dear, someone stole my thunder, luckily they are real geologists 🙂
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/scientists-search-pink-and-white-terrace-treasure-3897400
A team of geologists and marine scientists are preparing to take to the waters of Lake Rotomahana, hoping to discover that part of the Pink and White Terraces still exist.

The group, from GNS, Waikato University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, are planning a series of underwater explorations next year to map the lake floor and to gain a better understanding of what happened to the famous geological feature once considered the eighth wonder of the world.

http://dilab.gatech.edu/ccc/index.html
The 8th ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition will be held from November 3rd through November 6th at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The theme of Creativity and Cognition 2011 is Creativity and Technology. We seek to understand human creativity in its many manifestations, to design new interactive techniques and tools to augment and amplify human creativity, and to use computational media technologies to explore new creative processes and artifacts in all human endeavors ranging from the arts to science, from design to education.
We cordially invite submissions to the 8th ACM Conference on Creativity & Cognition (C&C 2011) as well as to the related art program, tutorials, workshops, and graduate student symposium. We welcome contributions from researchers and practitioners, from artists and scientists, from designers, educators and decision makers. Submission deadline (for all kinds of submissions): March 25, 2011. Please see details under Call for Papers and Proposals.