Eric Gordon is a researcher and game designer who investigates how games and social media can enhance civic learning and local engagement. He is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and the director of the Engagement Lab at Emerson College, where he is an associate professor in the Department of Visual and Media Arts. He is the co-author (with Adriana de Souza e Silva) of the book Net Locality: Why Location Matters in a Networked World (2011) and the author of the Urban Spectator: American Concept-cities from Kodak to Google (2010). His game Participatory Chinatown was designed to engage people in Boston’s Chinatown in the city’s master planning process. It was named “best direct impact” game in 2011 by the organization Games for Change. More recently, his game Community PlanIt, which is a mission-based game platform for local community planning, has been played in a dozen cities in the US and Europe, and has involved thousands of players. Eric has made games and served as an advisor for the UN Development Program and the Red Cross / Red Crescent, as well as municipal governments throughout the United State
Website: https://elab.emerson.edu/