Michelle Hinn
Encyclopedia
Michelle Hinn is the current chairperson of the IGDA's Game Accessibility Special Interest Group, a game industry advocacy group for creating mainstream games accessible to gamers with disabilities
. She is involved with GameAccessibility.com, a game accessibility project funded by the Bartiméus Accessibility Foundation, and is the Vice-President of the Game Division of DonationCoder.com
.
Hinn has a bachelor's degree in music performance, a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master of arts degree in multimedia design from Virginia Tech, and has her Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
.
Hinn's experience includes an internship at Microsoft Game Studios
, where she focused on piloting usability
tests for Xbox
multiplayer games and ran playtest
s on Xbox games such as Halo: Combat Evolved
, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
, Fuzion Frenzy
, and Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
. Additionally, she has worked for Computer Sciences Corporation
, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
(NCSA), and the University of Nevada, Reno
.
Hinn was an instructor in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she taught game design courses and was the program coordinator and academic advisor for the Women in Math, Science, and Engineering (WIMSE) community. In September 2006, she was named one of Next Generation magazine's "100 Most Influential Women in Gaming for her work in game accessibility.
She is the co-editor of the book Visions of Quality: How Evaluators Define, Understand, and Represent Program Quality and is working with the IGDA's Game Accessibility SIG on an upcoming book. Hinn is on the editorial board of ACM Computers in Entertainment magazine, and has authored several award-winning papers on the topic of universal accessibility from organizations. She was one of the three 2006 recipients of the IGDA's Most Valuable Player Award.
Game accessibility
Within the field of human-computer interaction, game accessibility refers to the accessibility of video games. Game accessibility is considered a subfield of computer accessibility, which studies how software and computers can be made accessibility to users with various types of impairments.With an...
. She is involved with GameAccessibility.com, a game accessibility project funded by the Bartiméus Accessibility Foundation, and is the Vice-President of the Game Division of DonationCoder.com
DonationCoder.com
DonationCoder.com is a website hosting a community of programmers and software fanatics. It supports a donation-based model to organize and finance software development, and is one example of Donationware....
.
Hinn has a bachelor's degree in music performance, a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master of arts degree in multimedia design from Virginia Tech, and has her Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
.
Hinn's experience includes an internship at Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
, where she focused on piloting usability
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
tests for Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
multiplayer games and ran playtest
Playtest
A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and flaws before bringing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise....
s on Xbox games such as Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved, frequently referred to as Halo: CE, or Halo 1, is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The first game of the Halo franchise, it was released on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the Xbox gaming system, and is...
, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee is the third game made by Oddworld Inhabitants. Originally announced as a title in development for PlayStation 2, it was instead released exclusively as one of the launch titles for Microsoft Xbox. It is the second chapter of the Oddworld pentalogy, following Abe's Oddysee...
, Fuzion Frenzy
Fuzion Frenzy
Fuzion Frenzy is a launch title for the Microsoft Xbox. At its core, Fuzion Frenzy is a four-player party game featuring 45 different mini-games . A demo of the game was included with some other launch titles in the US, including Halo, Munch's Oddysee and Amped...
, and Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding is an Xbox exclusive snowboarding video game. It is the first of the Amped video game series....
. Additionally, she has worked for Computer Sciences Corporation
Computer Sciences Corporation
Computer Sciences Corporation is an American information technology and business services company headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, USA...
, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is an American state-federal partnership to develop and deploy national-scale cyberinfrastructure that advances science and engineering. NCSA operates as a unit of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but it provides high-performance...
(NCSA), and the University of Nevada, Reno
University of Nevada, Reno
The University of Nevada, Reno , is a teaching and research university established in 1874 and located in Reno, Nevada, USA...
.
Hinn was an instructor in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she taught game design courses and was the program coordinator and academic advisor for the Women in Math, Science, and Engineering (WIMSE) community. In September 2006, she was named one of Next Generation magazine's "100 Most Influential Women in Gaming for her work in game accessibility.
She is the co-editor of the book Visions of Quality: How Evaluators Define, Understand, and Represent Program Quality and is working with the IGDA's Game Accessibility SIG on an upcoming book. Hinn is on the editorial board of ACM Computers in Entertainment magazine, and has authored several award-winning papers on the topic of universal accessibility from organizations. She was one of the three 2006 recipients of the IGDA's Most Valuable Player Award.