Not only is it an exciting time to be creative, innovative, entrepreneurial in Brisbane but opportunities are there for those who need 'the space' to be able to do what they do.  Most recently, YES Brisbane and Visible Ink have arranged a tenancy program (in fact tonight is their soft launch) for young Social Inkubators and there is potentially an upcoming new CBD space for artists.  This is my profile of Mark White while he was in the process of moving spaces so thanks Mark for giving in the time and emergy to answer these questions for BCI!

When I caught up with Mark White, he was in the process of moving into a space in Freshwater Films at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art.  To me, this could be an interesting dynamic between Mark, who has been involved with online businesses, eLearning and serious games, and Trish Lake who is involved with the screen production industry.  In fact, one of the topics that we discussed was potential collaboration between these two worlds in the future.  

First off, what is your mission and vision behind White Crow Productions?  

The vision of White Crow Productions is to stand out in the field of interactive media and, in particular, in the emerging field of serious games. I worked for Queensland's QANTM, a game and eLearning pioneer, and for the past several years have been client manager on some of the largest eLearning deployments in the country. Serious games have been an increasing focus for me since 2003, and there is intense academic interest, but not many Australian start ups in this niche as of yet.

The Judith Wright Centre is home to a number of tenants within the creative industries in Qld - AFTRS, CIRCA, Youth Arts Queensland, Expressions Dance Company, the Institute of Modern Art and more.   Just thought I'd mention that!  How did you come across the tenancy/space? 

We had been operating as a virtual team for about eight months but found we needed a place to have meetings and bring clients. We took some time to think about how to do this, but eventually realized that a physical space that fostered collaboration was important. The JWC is regarded as one of the best arts collaboration spaces in Australia. We are fortunate in Southeast Queensland to have a place that enables talented filmmakers such as Trish Lake and Cathy Henkel to mash up with a new breed of online media producers, interactive and game designers.

What are "serious games"?  Is gaming now considered mainstream due to serious games (not to mention consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and new platforms such as the Apple iPhone)?

Serious games is a slippery concept but can be defined as a game that has a broader purpose than pure entertainment. Wikipedia lists 11 sub categories of this genre, from edutainment games to immersive learning simulations where the only game-like element might be experiencing the outcome of a particular decision by playing a realistic simulation of a situation or a certain environment.

Gaming is certainly mainstream now. The average gamer profile is increasingly older and more female and never goes anywhere near a first person shooter. As the definition of who is a gamer has expanded, and the pervasiveness of games spreads via social media sites and portable devices such as the iPhone, the games industry is now already outselling Hollywood films.

What do we expect from White Crow Productions in the future?

Serious games are a rapidly emerging new genre that show gaming has a purpose and a bright future beyond the realm of pure entertainment. Our vision is to explore the potential of games to cross over and enhance audience interaction and conversations, moving audiences by design from passive bystander to active participant to committed players. A game like this can create its own alternative reality. The game world captures and holds attention, generates "flow" and leads the participant to discover more, to share knowledge, work together to solve problems. Playing and learning is happening and new mental pathways are formed.

Inspirational digital production/design/online learning case studies?

Games are the most difficult forms of interactive media to pull off. I've had the good fortune to be able to work with some very talented people who can apply the concepts and technologies to projects across a wide range of audiences. Highlights so far include the 3D Brisbane City Council Green Home (with Thom Saunders won United Nations World Summit Award for Digital Content in 2005) to touchscreen health games for remote aboriginal communities in Cape York. I've also worked on more conventional but interesting assignments, ranging from projects with Australian Defence Force peacekeepers to environmental and safety leadership courses for Rio Tinto, a large mining company. In 2008, another game project for Queensland Health won the iAward or Education in Queensland.

Complete this sentence: "The future..."

of learning is serious games! The age of our horse and buggy education system has long passed, and interactive social games will be increasingly pervasive in 21st century business and life.

In February 2010 we are rolling out nine new touch screen game units in Queensland universities and TAFEs that I am really excited about. Our collaborators at the Judith Wright Centre are also bringing new creative opportunities to create new 360 degree experiences to the table which is great. We've got a couple of film mashups underway in various stages that are very exciting, and a new health game collaboration in the USA with an NGO also looks exciting. The past year I've worked with a health care company, a large energy company, and am developing an interesting relationship with a big learning technology platform company, so for a start up I think we are doing OK.

Thanks Mark!