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Based on an ethnography of gamemaking in the Toronto game development scene, I introduce the concept of the everyday gamemaker to reveal how the everyday turn of game production work has transformed the identities of gameworkers. Whereas, previous research has documented the extensive self-exploitation and willingness of creative workers to accept difficult and precarious working conditions, I uncover how everyday gamemakers "make-do" with these modes of cultural production by their desires to going it alone as independent gamemakers, establish second careers through employment and craft work, and find professional development opportunities to make games. I argue these desires shape the nuanced work and leisure identities of everyday gamemakers and evoke their widespread struggle to achieve creative autonomy in the circuits of game production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings: The "Early Education Essentials" surveys use teacher and parent perceptions to measure 6 organizational conditions of early childhood education programs, extending and complementing existing measures of early childhood care and education (ECE) quality constructs. This study tests the reliability and concurrent validity of the "Early Education Essentials" in 81 school- and community-based ECE sites in a large Midwestern city selected using a stratified random sampling method. Using a Rasch item response theory model, scales were created; theory and exploratory factor analyses combined scales into higher level constructs called essentials. Multilevel models took into account individual measurement error to create site-level essential scores and assessed relationships between programs' essential scores and site-level teacher-child interactions scores and student attendance. Findings suggest that the "Early Education Essentials" is reliable in multiple ECE settings; it is sensitive to site-level differences; and some, but not all, organizational conditions measured are associated in expected directions with site-level metrics indicative of center-based ECE quality. Practice or Policy: The "Early Education Essentials" has the potential to provide leaders and practitioners with actionable data about organizational supports that enable ECE practitioners to be more effective in their daily work with children and families.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown in South Africa led to the closure of leisure spaces, and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, forcing parents who were non-essential employees to work from home. This created a crisis for families, with significant consequences for family leisure time and activities. This paper explored the impact of the pandemic for parents with pre-school aged children (PSAC) and aimed to identify changes to family leisure during this period. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires (n = 140) among parents at three selected ECD centres in Cape Town. The findings indicated that participants experienced higher emotional and tiredness levels because of the pandemic-induced changes, often neglecting themselves in their attempt to balance work, life and care for their PSAC, without their traditional support structures. The findings confirm a significant impact on family leisure, with leisure activities decreasing, and switching from outdoor, relational to home and family-based activities. The study identifies the type of leisure activities and changes caused by the pandemic and the effect it had on parents' work-life balance and overall wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To explore the relationship between nutritional intake, fermentable oligo‐, di, monosaccharides and polyols, and carbohydrate malabsorption, with gastrointestinal symptoms during a 56 km trail ultramarathon event and identify differences in nutritional intake between runners with severe and non‐severe gastrointestinal symptoms. Methods: Forty‐four ultramarathoners recorded and self‐reported dietary intake 3 days before, morning of, and during the ultramarathon with gastrointestinal symptoms obtained retrospectively and nutrient analysis via FoodWorks. Carbohydrate malabsorption was determined via breath hydrogen content pre‐ and post‐race. Spearman's rank‐order and Mann–Whitney U‐tests were used to identify relationships and differences between groups. Results: Total fermentable oligo‐, di, monosaccharides and polyols intake were not associated with gastrointestinal symptoms, but weak associations were observed for lower energy (rs = −0.302, p = 0.044) and fat intake (rs = −0.340, p = 0.024) 3 days before with upper gastrointestinal symptoms and higher caffeine intake 3 days before with overall gastrointestinal symptoms (rs = 0.314, p = 0.038). Total fermentable oligo‐, di‐, monosaccharides and polyols intake and breath hydrogen were not different between those with severe versus non‐severe symptoms (p > 0.05). Although those with severe symptoms had higher caffeine (p = 0.032), and total polyols intake (p = 0.031) 3 days before, and higher % energy from fat (p = 0.043) and sorbitol intake (p = 0.026) during the race, and slower ultramarathon finish times (p = 0.042). Conclusion: Total fermentable oligo‐, di‐, and monosaccharides intake and carbohydrate malabsorption were not associated with gastrointestinal symptoms. Additional research on the effect of fat, caffeine, and polyol intake on exercise‐associated gastrointestinal symptoms is warranted and presents new nutritional areas for consideration when planning nutritional intake for ultramarathoners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elite sport coaches are often expected to make high-stakes decisions in time-constrained environments, such as during matches. The quality or efficiency of these decisions is bound by context-specific constraints on their decision-making. Artificial intelligence-based tools could alleviate some of these constraints. In Australian football, it is not yet known what these context-specific constraints are, nor is there any understanding of the thoughts and perception of elite Australian football coaches towards the use of artificial intelligence to support their decision-making. This study is the first to explore these issues in the context of elite Australian football and aims to inform the effective design and integration of tools to support the in-match decision-making of coaches in a manner that is welcomed by coaches. Using semi-structured interviews with elite Australian football coaches (n = 6) and reflexive thematic analysis, two domains were explored: 'barriers to decision-making' and 'thoughts and perceptions of a decision support system (DSS)'. Coaches discussed seven 'cognitive' and 'environmental' barriers, some of which may be addressed using artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, four themes were generated for the second domain, namely 'willingness to adopt', 'expectation', 'concern and criticism', and 'DSS role'. The findings enable practitioners to design tools that are intended to address some of these barriers, while also providing insights into important considerations for the implementation and design of these tools that may increase the likelihood of achieving the endorsement of elite coaches and their support staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounts of digital game production are increasingly at the forefront of how we document and theorize conditions and transformations of how cultural media are produced, regulated, distributed, marketed, and consumed. These accounts have typically examined games as a global industry that coexists with and contributes to the formation of national industries, including publisher and studio formations, geopolitics, tax breaks and credits, regional regulatory frameworks, and cultural sovereignty. This introduction to the special issue "Local Game Production" reasserts the analytical value in using locality as an entry point for the study of digital game production. The special issue offers four articles that confront economic, labour, and technical formations in game production, and expose the encounters of localities with globalization. These articles reveal why considerations of the local are critical in understanding the wider infrastructures, governance frameworks, and economies that shape the production of culture through global games. Each article underscores the inequities in how game production localities leverage power via platforms, nation-states and economic regions, and predominant cultural activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]