shira chess
... media studies | gender studies | communication studies ...
Additional Digital Experience
1st Playable Productions
2006
As a consultant, I did research work for First Playable, primarily for their Nintendo DS virtual pet game, GoPets: Vacation Island. In this position, I helped with design documents, play testing, and survey research. Additionally, I contributed to initial meetings for several games including Disney Princesses and Ben 10.
http://www.1stplayable.com/
Children's Progress
2000-2001
Working as a freelancer for Children's Progress, I designed and created several educational games using Director. These games, meant for grade school students, were primarily grammar-related. (For instance, one game involved a "verb cow" and another a "noun newt.") Please note that CP no longer creates video games, and now only does student reporting.
Houghton Mifflin Co.
1999-2005
First as a freelancer and ultimately as a web producer, I worked for the publisher Houghton Mifflin in their college textbook division. While primarily my tasks involved textbook web resources, I also created a series of games and interactive exercises built in Flash. For example, one project for a world history and current events coursebook involved my creating a complex map of the Middle East region, with detailed demographics, cultures, and foreign relations for specific areas. Additionally, I created several smaller flash games, mostly for American History textbooks.
Emerson College
2001-2003
As a student at Emerson College, I took several courses in new media development as well as video production. In these courses I designed several small projects using software such as Director, Flash, Premiere, and Avid Editing Systems. My projects varied greatly, including creation of interactive poetry, short videos, and a battleship game.
Web Development
In addition to the previously mentioned web development work, I also worked for several other corporations on their web sites. These companies included Inc.com, Scudder Kemper, and Nova Southeastern University.