As part of DiGRA Australia’s mandate to sustain an open, inclusive and transdisciplinary approach to games research, it is important for us that our members have the opportunity to provide input into the association’s governance and activities.
One mechanism for listening to members is through the formation of subcommittees—which are, essentially, groups of DiGRA Australia members that support the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities by focusing on specific areas of work. While the Board will sometimes identify the need for a specific subcommittee, the purposes for which a subcommittee may be formed are necessarily quite open and we therefore seek community input as well.
We invite DiGRA Australia members to lend us their expertise in proposing subcommittees they believe will help us support local games research.
What Subcommittees Can Do
Subcommittees can have a range of powers and functions, depending on their specific purpose and Terms of Reference. For example, DiGRA Australia has at different times formed or considered forming subcommittees to:
- Deliberate on the association’s various award categories;
- Lead the consultation and drafting for the review of the association’s constitution;
- Organise the local management and running of the yearly conference at an institution;
- Review abstracts for the annual conference and provide consistency in reviewing processes in an ongoing manner;
- Evaluate members’ grant applications that may benefit from organisational backing; and
- Provide direct representation and advocacy to the board for specific communities within DiGRAA (i.e. students) or around specific areas of focus (i.e. sustainability or diversity).
Some of these subcommittees may be standing (i.e. ongoing, like the Conference Programming Committee), whereas others may be ad-hoc (i.e. temporary, like the constitution reform subcommittee which was dissolved once the changes were accepted by Consumer Affairs Victoria).
Ultimately, the possibilities for what a subcommittee may look like and set out to achieve are endless—as long as it is consistent with DiGRA Australia’s primary purpose (to promote games research in Australia) and complies with the association’s legal obligations and responsibilities.
Our Current Subcommitees
For a sense of the scope and purpose of our current subcommittees, please see the terms of reference below:
- DiGRAA Awards Committee
- April Tyack’s Distinguished Scholars Award Committee
- Conference Programming Committee (Extended Abstract Track)
- Misconduct Subcommittee
Proposing a Subcommittee
To propose a subcommittee for the Board to consider, DiGRA Australia members are asked to outline what they imagine the Terms of Reference might be (e.g. purpose of the subcommittee, planned outcomes, timeframe, members). This will allow the Board to vote on the matter without additional delay.
We also welcome informal pitches or expressions of interest that can be further developed into Terms of Reference, but we note these pitches will not be brought to the Board to vote until their scope is refined with clearly defined Terms of Reference. Feel free to reach out to any member of the Board you feel comfortable chatting to sound your ideas out, or the DiGRAA president directly.
Please see the Subcommittee Policy for further details on what a subcommittee may involve and what is needed to be included in the Terms of Reference for a vote-ready proposal.
To submit your subcommittee proposal, please email the current president.