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Producers Institute Summer 2011: Meet Your Mentors!
Posted on: Wednesday, May 11 2011
Banny Banerjee
Banny Banerjee is an Associate Professor at Stanford Design School. He is interested in realizing the design field's potential in catalyzing systemic change. As design begins to grapple with increasingly complex problems, at the Stanford Design Program, he is working on developing radically new processes in which design thinking can be leveraged. His focus is to develop transdisciplinary processes to bring about rapid change and large-scale impact. He is the founder of the “Design for Change Lab” to address issues of sustainability, technology futures, and the dynamics of rapid change. Currently he is working with faculty from behavioral sciences, social economics, systems analysis, management science, engineering, and art to generate new platforms for design thinking. Originally trained as an architect, Banny Banerjee holds graduate degrees in Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, and Design. In India, he worked in the fields of architecture, structural engineering, adobe housing for the rural poor, and low embodied energy building systems. After coming to the US, he worked in the fields of computer simulation for energy in complex systems, software engineering, mechanical engineering, product design, industrial design, furniture design, interactive art, and design strategy. His interests in the confluence between digital and physical experiences took him to Xerox PARC where he worked on ambient media and physical computing. Prior to Stanford, he worked for IDEO as designer and design strategist creating novel experiences and crafting futures for high technology companies.
Mark Belinsky
Mark Belinsky is Founder and President of Digital Democracy, a non- profit empowering marginalized groups through innovative technology solutions. His family fled the Soviet Union as refugees and their experience informs and inspires his work training grassroots groups around the world to in protecting their human rights. Mark has lectured at Harvard, Columbia, NYU and presented at conferences worldwide on the use of social media and technology to connect local voices and address crisis. He is also a founder of New Words Media, a strategic media firm based in New York and a founder, and board-member of Bem, a youth action center in Armenia that uses art and technology to support emerging civil society. He has produced media strategies and directed documentary films in the post-Soviet, USA and Asia.
Mark Belinsky is Founder and President of Digital Democracy, a non- profit empowering marginalized groups through innovative technology solutions. His family fled the Soviet Union as refugees and their experience informs and inspires his work training grassroots groups around the world to in protecting their human rights. Mark has lectured at Harvard, Columbia, NYU and presented at conferences worldwide on the use of social media and technology to connect local voices and address crisis. He is also a founder of New Words Media, a strategic media firm based in New York and a founder, and board-member of Bem, a youth action center in Armenia that uses art and technology to support emerging civil society. He has produced media strategies and directed documentary films in the post-Soviet, USA and Asia.
Gaby Brink
Gaby Brink is the Founder and Executive Creative Director of Tomorrow, a creative agency that partners with clients to build the future of their brands and innovations. Gaby leads a team of diverse talents to transcend tidy disciplines and create brand-centric communication programs that turn heads and grab hearts everywhere brands live. Tomorrow works with a wide spectrum of top global marketers and emerging companies, and because it believes in working for a brighter future, it fervently applies its creative firepower to nurture environmental and social causes. Gaby serves as Environment Chair on the board of AIGA SF and is an Advisor to the Center for Sustainable Design where she promotes the integration of sustainability strategies to design and business communities at large.
Gaby Brink is the Founder and Executive Creative Director of Tomorrow, a creative agency that partners with clients to build the future of their brands and innovations. Gaby leads a team of diverse talents to transcend tidy disciplines and create brand-centric communication programs that turn heads and grab hearts everywhere brands live. Tomorrow works with a wide spectrum of top global marketers and emerging companies, and because it believes in working for a brighter future, it fervently applies its creative firepower to nurture environmental and social causes. Gaby serves as Environment Chair on the board of AIGA SF and is an Advisor to the Center for Sustainable Design where she promotes the integration of sustainability strategies to design and business communities at large.
Cheryl Contee
Cheryl Contee, partner at Fission Strategy, specializes in helping non- profit organizations and foundations use social media to create social good. She is also the co-founder of Jack and Jill Politics writing as “Jill Tubman” on one of the top 10 black blogs online. Cheryl is included in The Root 100 list of established and emerging African- American leaders. Fast Company has named her one of their 2010 Most Influential Women in Tech. She has over 13 years of award-winning interactive expertise and previously served as vice president and lead digital strategist for Fleishman-Hillard’s West Coast region in San Francisco. Cheryl has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, BBC, and CNN, among other media appearances. She is also proud to serve on several boards and advisory committees: Netroots Nation, BlogHer, Blogging While Brown, Applied Research Center, and CommonGoods.net. She received her B.A. from Yale University and has an International Executive M.B.A. from Georgetown University. In her spare time, Ms. Contee enjoys hiking, yoga, movies and tai chi sword.
Cheryl Contee, partner at Fission Strategy, specializes in helping non- profit organizations and foundations use social media to create social good. She is also the co-founder of Jack and Jill Politics writing as “Jill Tubman” on one of the top 10 black blogs online. Cheryl is included in The Root 100 list of established and emerging African- American leaders. Fast Company has named her one of their 2010 Most Influential Women in Tech. She has over 13 years of award-winning interactive expertise and previously served as vice president and lead digital strategist for Fleishman-Hillard’s West Coast region in San Francisco. Cheryl has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, BBC, and CNN, among other media appearances. She is also proud to serve on several boards and advisory committees: Netroots Nation, BlogHer, Blogging While Brown, Applied Research Center, and CommonGoods.net. She received her B.A. from Yale University and has an International Executive M.B.A. from Georgetown University. In her spare time, Ms. Contee enjoys hiking, yoga, movies and tai chi sword.
Nonny de la Peña
Nonny de la Peña is a transmedia producer, working across documentary and machinima filmmaking, journalism, writing and virtual world design. Her work includes two Second Life installations, GONE GITMO, a virtual representation of Guantanamo Bay prison that was funded by the MacArthur Foundation and MAUERKRANKHEIT/WALLSICKENSS, an Annenberg Public Good Merit Award winner. A former correspondent for Newsweek Magazine, she has written for the New York Times, Premiere Magazine, Texas Monthly, Time Magazine and others. She has written multiple episodes of dramatic television, including penning two pilots for CBS. She has also directed and produced four feature length documentary films exploring human rights issues which have been shown on national television and screened at theatres, festivals and special events in more than fifty cities around the globe. The Los Angeles Times wrote that, “de la Peña expertly personalizes the stories” in her films and the New York Times called her work, “a brave and necessary act of truth-telling.” De la Peña is currently exploring how non-fiction storytelling and journalism can be produced using first person immersive experiences in virtual environments.
Nonny de la Peña is a transmedia producer, working across documentary and machinima filmmaking, journalism, writing and virtual world design. Her work includes two Second Life installations, GONE GITMO, a virtual representation of Guantanamo Bay prison that was funded by the MacArthur Foundation and MAUERKRANKHEIT/WALLSICKENSS, an Annenberg Public Good Merit Award winner. A former correspondent for Newsweek Magazine, she has written for the New York Times, Premiere Magazine, Texas Monthly, Time Magazine and others. She has written multiple episodes of dramatic television, including penning two pilots for CBS. She has also directed and produced four feature length documentary films exploring human rights issues which have been shown on national television and screened at theatres, festivals and special events in more than fifty cities around the globe. The Los Angeles Times wrote that, “de la Peña expertly personalizes the stories” in her films and the New York Times called her work, “a brave and necessary act of truth-telling.” De la Peña is currently exploring how non-fiction storytelling and journalism can be produced using first person immersive experiences in virtual environments.
Tony DeRose
Tony DeRose is currently a Senior Scientist and lead of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios. He received a BS in Physics in from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1986 to 1995 Dr. DeRose was a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. In 1998, he was a major contributor to the Oscar (c) winning short film "Geri's game," in 1999 he received the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, and in 2006 he received a Scientific and Technical Academy Award (c) for his work on surface representations.
Tony DeRose is currently a Senior Scientist and lead of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios. He received a BS in Physics in from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1986 to 1995 Dr. DeRose was a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. In 1998, he was a major contributor to the Oscar (c) winning short film "Geri's game," in 1999 he received the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, and in 2006 he received a Scientific and Technical Academy Award (c) for his work on surface representations.
Eric Doversberger
Eric is a data visualization specialist in the Bay Area working at Google since early 2007. He speaks on the intersection of art and technology (Sundance, Tribeca Institute, SXSW), consults for non- profits (Bay Area Video Coalition, The Waiting Room, AXSmap), and occasionally works in projection/video for live music events.
Eric is a data visualization specialist in the Bay Area working at Google since early 2007. He speaks on the intersection of art and technology (Sundance, Tribeca Institute, SXSW), consults for non- profits (Bay Area Video Coalition, The Waiting Room, AXSmap), and occasionally works in projection/video for live music events.
Laura Hilliger
Laura F. Hilliger is a multimedia designer, technical liaison and the cofounder of Big Fun Arts, an online, educational portal with video based lessons featuring the arts. In addition to her collaborative work she has a successful freelance business, under the name Red Star Grafik. Although Laura does commercial projects, educational and social justice projects are more satisfying to her as an artist and a human being. Laura has developed curriculum for Adobe and the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught design and development classes at the Bay Area Video Coalition and Sonic Training. She develops multimedia art projects that satisfy her creative side and make a difference. Laura now lives in Dresden, Germany and uses communication technologies to continue her work with Big Fun Arts and clients around the world.
Laura F. Hilliger is a multimedia designer, technical liaison and the cofounder of Big Fun Arts, an online, educational portal with video based lessons featuring the arts. In addition to her collaborative work she has a successful freelance business, under the name Red Star Grafik. Although Laura does commercial projects, educational and social justice projects are more satisfying to her as an artist and a human being. Laura has developed curriculum for Adobe and the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught design and development classes at the Bay Area Video Coalition and Sonic Training. She develops multimedia art projects that satisfy her creative side and make a difference. Laura now lives in Dresden, Germany and uses communication technologies to continue her work with Big Fun Arts and clients around the world.
Anselm Hook
Anselm Hook is a Hacker, Dad, Backpacker, Entrepreneur, and former Games Developer. Anselm works at Xerox Parc and is the CTO of Meedan, a real-time English/Arabic translation project funded by IBM and MacArthur. Anselm is passionate about Social Cartography. He is focused on creating tools to help people understand and appreciate the world around them. He helped launch Ning and led the engineering of Platial. Currently he is the co-chair of WhereCamp, volunteered a tiny bit on Calagator, as well as co-founding the MakerLab, a project incubator based in Portland, Oregon. Within the Makerlab, the current project he is working on is the ImageWiki. With an ImageWiki a person can point their phone at an image of anything and have it find similar images and comments that other people have submitted on that image. One can take a picture of a favorite bar, or of a beer label or of a music album and see what people think about that thing, or even see if friends nearby have commented on the same thing.
Anselm Hook is a Hacker, Dad, Backpacker, Entrepreneur, and former Games Developer. Anselm works at Xerox Parc and is the CTO of Meedan, a real-time English/Arabic translation project funded by IBM and MacArthur. Anselm is passionate about Social Cartography. He is focused on creating tools to help people understand and appreciate the world around them. He helped launch Ning and led the engineering of Platial. Currently he is the co-chair of WhereCamp, volunteered a tiny bit on Calagator, as well as co-founding the MakerLab, a project incubator based in Portland, Oregon. Within the Makerlab, the current project he is working on is the ImageWiki. With an ImageWiki a person can point their phone at an image of anything and have it find similar images and comments that other people have submitted on that image. One can take a picture of a favorite bar, or of a beer label or of a music album and see what people think about that thing, or even see if friends nearby have commented on the same thing.
Antonio Kaplan
Antonio is CPO of NetVentures, and an Australian company making its way in Silicon Valley. He can code mobile apps overnight. He loves all things video and technology. Antonio believes the greatest achievement in life is the moment of inspiration that comes with a unique thought. One thought that no one else has thought before. The pursuit of innovation.
Antonio is CPO of NetVentures, and an Australian company making its way in Silicon Valley. He can code mobile apps overnight. He loves all things video and technology. Antonio believes the greatest achievement in life is the moment of inspiration that comes with a unique thought. One thought that no one else has thought before. The pursuit of innovation.
Seth Kaufman and Sophie Tusler from Whirl-i-Gig
Founded in New York in 1995, Whirl-i-Gig is a software development firm working in the varied (and surprisingly connected) worlds of museums, biological research and conservation, natural history, material culture, and art history. Our broad experience and multi- disciplinary background enable us to bring a fresh perspective to each project for our clients. Leaf through their scrapbook to learn more about them and what they do. http://www.whirl-i-gig.com/
Founded in New York in 1995, Whirl-i-Gig is a software development firm working in the varied (and surprisingly connected) worlds of museums, biological research and conservation, natural history, material culture, and art history. Our broad experience and multi- disciplinary background enable us to bring a fresh perspective to each project for our clients. Leaf through their scrapbook to learn more about them and what they do. http://www.whirl-i-gig.com/
Jabari Mahiri
Jabari Mahiri directs the TEACH Project (Technology, Equity, And Culture for High-performing schools), a research initiative that collaborates with urban schools and community partners on uses of new media for increasing student achievement and educational equity, and for improving teacher professional development. He is the Faculty Director for the Bay Area Writing Project, a Senior Scholar for the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, and he has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard. He received UC Berkeley's Chancellor's Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in 2007 as well as the Leon Henkin Mentorship Award, and in 2008 he received the AERA Outstanding Mentorship Award from Division G. He is author of Digital Tools in Urban Schools: Mediating a Remix of Learning (Forthcoming, 2011); Out of Bounds: When Scholarship Athletes become Academic Scholars (2010) with Derek Van Rheenen; and, Shooting for Excellence: African American and Youth Culture in New Century Schools (1998). He is editor of What They Don't Learn in School: Literacy in the Lives of Urban Youth (2004), and the forthcoming book, Virtual Lives: Nerdfighters, Scarlet Writers, Little Sisters, Future Souls, and Future Schools. He has also published a children's book, The Day They Stole the Letter J. Before coming to Berkeley, he helped found and chaired the inaugural board of directors of the New Concept Development Center, an independent school in Chicago that has been in existence for over 25 years, and he was a credentialed English teacher in Chicago Public Schools for seven years.
Jabari Mahiri directs the TEACH Project (Technology, Equity, And Culture for High-performing schools), a research initiative that collaborates with urban schools and community partners on uses of new media for increasing student achievement and educational equity, and for improving teacher professional development. He is the Faculty Director for the Bay Area Writing Project, a Senior Scholar for the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, and he has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard. He received UC Berkeley's Chancellor's Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in 2007 as well as the Leon Henkin Mentorship Award, and in 2008 he received the AERA Outstanding Mentorship Award from Division G. He is author of Digital Tools in Urban Schools: Mediating a Remix of Learning (Forthcoming, 2011); Out of Bounds: When Scholarship Athletes become Academic Scholars (2010) with Derek Van Rheenen; and, Shooting for Excellence: African American and Youth Culture in New Century Schools (1998). He is editor of What They Don't Learn in School: Literacy in the Lives of Urban Youth (2004), and the forthcoming book, Virtual Lives: Nerdfighters, Scarlet Writers, Little Sisters, Future Souls, and Future Schools. He has also published a children's book, The Day They Stole the Letter J. Before coming to Berkeley, he helped found and chaired the inaugural board of directors of the New Concept Development Center, an independent school in Chicago that has been in existence for over 25 years, and he was a credentialed English teacher in Chicago Public Schools for seven years.
Larisa Mann
Along with pursuing scholarly and policy interests at JSP, Larisa Mann is a dj and a journalist. She is interested in the social implications of intellectual property rules, copyright in particular, and in the legal implications of people's actual creative practices as explored through ethnographic and other qualitative research, as well as analyzing media accounts of copyright in popular press. She is generally interested in grounding property rights debates in empirical research, especially examining the connection between enclosure movements and struggles over political/economic power. In her work for the Samuelson Clinic for Law, Technology and Public Policy, she focused on issues of privacy in public places and the embedding of values/policy in technology design. Her other strand of research is on the implications of networked life (daily life permeated by technology and the internet) for our concepts of rights. In recent years, She has been a columnist for the progressive youth news site WireTap, and a resident DJ at Surya Dub, voted "Best Club Night in San Francisco 2007" by readers of the East Bay Express, and "Best Dance DJ" in the SF Bay Guardian's Readers Poll of 2008. Larisa is a Berkeley Empirical Legal Studies Research Fellow.
Along with pursuing scholarly and policy interests at JSP, Larisa Mann is a dj and a journalist. She is interested in the social implications of intellectual property rules, copyright in particular, and in the legal implications of people's actual creative practices as explored through ethnographic and other qualitative research, as well as analyzing media accounts of copyright in popular press. She is generally interested in grounding property rights debates in empirical research, especially examining the connection between enclosure movements and struggles over political/economic power. In her work for the Samuelson Clinic for Law, Technology and Public Policy, she focused on issues of privacy in public places and the embedding of values/policy in technology design. Her other strand of research is on the implications of networked life (daily life permeated by technology and the internet) for our concepts of rights. In recent years, She has been a columnist for the progressive youth news site WireTap, and a resident DJ at Surya Dub, voted "Best Club Night in San Francisco 2007" by readers of the East Bay Express, and "Best Dance DJ" in the SF Bay Guardian's Readers Poll of 2008. Larisa is a Berkeley Empirical Legal Studies Research Fellow.
Kevin McMahon
Kevin McMahon is a journalist, author and writer. In May of 2007, Kevin was honored with a retrospective of his films at Hot Docs in the Focus On program. In 2005 Kevin won two Geminis for Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii, a feature-length documentary that follows the cultural rejuvenation of the Haida people. He has also won a Gemini Award for the Discovery Channel series Cod: The Fish that Saved the World. Feature films Kevin has directed include The Face of Victory; An Idea of Canada; McLuhan’s Wake (Chris Award, Columbus Film Festival); Intelligence (Best Documentary Feature nominations at Hot Docs and Gemini Awards); In the Reign of Twilight (Award, Columbus Film Festival) and The Falls (Best Documentary Feature nomination, Genie Awards; Toronto International Film Festival selection). Kevin’s films for television include Lifting the Shadow, Truth Merchants, and The Music Garden, a collaboration with cellist Yo Yo Ma. Kevin is also the author of the non-fiction book Arctic Twilight and several audio essays for CBC Radio’s “Ideas”. His newspaper work was honored by the Canadian Association of Journalists for investigative excellence, and he has received a Governor General's Award nomination for public service journalism.
Kevin McMahon is a journalist, author and writer. In May of 2007, Kevin was honored with a retrospective of his films at Hot Docs in the Focus On program. In 2005 Kevin won two Geminis for Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii, a feature-length documentary that follows the cultural rejuvenation of the Haida people. He has also won a Gemini Award for the Discovery Channel series Cod: The Fish that Saved the World. Feature films Kevin has directed include The Face of Victory; An Idea of Canada; McLuhan’s Wake (Chris Award, Columbus Film Festival); Intelligence (Best Documentary Feature nominations at Hot Docs and Gemini Awards); In the Reign of Twilight (Award, Columbus Film Festival) and The Falls (Best Documentary Feature nomination, Genie Awards; Toronto International Film Festival selection). Kevin’s films for television include Lifting the Shadow, Truth Merchants, and The Music Garden, a collaboration with cellist Yo Yo Ma. Kevin is also the author of the non-fiction book Arctic Twilight and several audio essays for CBC Radio’s “Ideas”. His newspaper work was honored by the Canadian Association of Journalists for investigative excellence, and he has received a Governor General's Award nomination for public service journalism.
Patrick Meier
Born and raised in Africa. Director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi and co-founder of the International Network of Crisis Mappers. Previously co-directed Harvard's Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning and consulted extensively for international organizations in Africa, Asia and Europe. Completing PhD at The Fletcher School and currently a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Program on Liberation Technology. MA from Columbia University. BA from York and EAP at UC Berkeley.
Born and raised in Africa. Director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi and co-founder of the International Network of Crisis Mappers. Previously co-directed Harvard's Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning and consulted extensively for international organizations in Africa, Asia and Europe. Completing PhD at The Fletcher School and currently a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Program on Liberation Technology. MA from Columbia University. BA from York and EAP at UC Berkeley.
Ben Moskowitz
Ben works for Mozilla and teaches open video at NYU ITP. He ran the Open Video Alliance and the Open Video Conference. He likes to play Capcom fighting games and go skateboarding. His favorite thing in the world is new ideas.
Ben works for Mozilla and teaches open video at NYU ITP. He ran the Open Video Alliance and the Open Video Conference. He likes to play Capcom fighting games and go skateboarding. His favorite thing in the world is new ideas.
Takaaki Okada
Takaaki Okada is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of Condition One, a mobile media technology company developing the tools and platform to combine filmmaking, photojournalism and mobile devices to pioneer powerful immersive experiences. While a lead Designer at Pentagram, he also worked with numerous Producers Institute projects including Pam Yates’ Granito/Every Memory Matters, and American Promise, by Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster.
Takaaki Okada is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of Condition One, a mobile media technology company developing the tools and platform to combine filmmaking, photojournalism and mobile devices to pioneer powerful immersive experiences. While a lead Designer at Pentagram, he also worked with numerous Producers Institute projects including Pam Yates’ Granito/Every Memory Matters, and American Promise, by Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster.
Carlos Souza
Carlos Souza, Jr., is a recognized leader in rainforest conservation, developing, in Imazon, the first independent deforestation monitoring system for the Brazilian Amazon. Carlos joined Imazon in 1990 to head efforts in technical mapping and satellite imagery. In 2008, the Brazilian government launched a new policy to control illegal deforestation, focusing on “hot spot” deforestation municipalities identified by Imazon.
Carlos Souza, Jr., is a recognized leader in rainforest conservation, developing, in Imazon, the first independent deforestation monitoring system for the Brazilian Amazon. Carlos joined Imazon in 1990 to head efforts in technical mapping and satellite imagery. In 2008, the Brazilian government launched a new policy to control illegal deforestation, focusing on “hot spot” deforestation municipalities identified by Imazon.
Tony Walsh
Phantom Compass founder Tony Walsh is a game producer/director with 15+ years experience in interactive production. During his career, Walsh has been a key creative contributor to a number of award-winning and award-nominated interactive projects including “This is Daniel Cook,” the “Regenesis” extended reality games, the “Fallen” alternate reality game, and “Rollbots Online.” Since 2007, he has been a mentor in cross-media labs held in Canada (for CBC and for Achilles Media), Australia (for AFTRS), and the USA (for the Bay Area Video Coalition). Through these programs, he has coached international participants in developing interactive entertainment, cross-platform documentaries, and even factual games on such topics as the U.S. criminal court system and Iraqi refugee integration in America. In mid-2010, Walsh became the Canadian co- founder of StoryLabs, a transmedia training and matchmaking organization operating out of Toronto, Sydney, New York, and London. In late 2010, Walsh co-facilitated Film Training Manitoba’s “Transmedia Production Lab,” where participating teams developed a series of rapid prototypes demonstrating transmedia storytelling techniques. Noted as a thought leader at the intersection of games and culture, Walsh appeared in the 2008 game culture documentary "Second Skin," is an occasional media commentator, and has been cited in such publications as Wired, Discover, Utne, and the Harvard Business Review. He presents several times yearly to audiences internationally on such topics as sex and gaming, the role of marketing in virtual worlds, and documentary games. He is on the advisory committee for the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival’s Screenburn game conference, Interactive Ontario’s 2010 iLunch series, and is a program advisor to George Brown College and triOS College.
Phantom Compass founder Tony Walsh is a game producer/director with 15+ years experience in interactive production. During his career, Walsh has been a key creative contributor to a number of award-winning and award-nominated interactive projects including “This is Daniel Cook,” the “Regenesis” extended reality games, the “Fallen” alternate reality game, and “Rollbots Online.” Since 2007, he has been a mentor in cross-media labs held in Canada (for CBC and for Achilles Media), Australia (for AFTRS), and the USA (for the Bay Area Video Coalition). Through these programs, he has coached international participants in developing interactive entertainment, cross-platform documentaries, and even factual games on such topics as the U.S. criminal court system and Iraqi refugee integration in America. In mid-2010, Walsh became the Canadian co- founder of StoryLabs, a transmedia training and matchmaking organization operating out of Toronto, Sydney, New York, and London. In late 2010, Walsh co-facilitated Film Training Manitoba’s “Transmedia Production Lab,” where participating teams developed a series of rapid prototypes demonstrating transmedia storytelling techniques. Noted as a thought leader at the intersection of games and culture, Walsh appeared in the 2008 game culture documentary "Second Skin," is an occasional media commentator, and has been cited in such publications as Wired, Discover, Utne, and the Harvard Business Review. He presents several times yearly to audiences internationally on such topics as sex and gaming, the role of marketing in virtual worlds, and documentary games. He is on the advisory committee for the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival’s Screenburn game conference, Interactive Ontario’s 2010 iLunch series, and is a program advisor to George Brown College and triOS College.
Peggy Weil
Peggy Weil is a digital media designer and artist with a focus on interactive media and immersive design. A graduate of Harvard University, she received her Masters Degree at M.I.T. As an original member of the Architecture Machine Group (now the M.I.T. Media Lab) from 1980-1982, she worked on pioneering interactive projects in design and telepresence, going on to create titles for The Voyager Company, Broderbund, Electronic Arts, Von Holtzbrinck and Ravensberger Interactive. The award-winning Voyager title, A Silly Noisy House, published in 1991, was one of the first interactive titles for children. She designed the original Roden Crater website in 1996 for Skystone and James Turrell. Weil was awarded the MILIA D'OR in Cannes in 1998 for the CD-ROM series Moving Puzzle. She is the mind behind MrMind, a computer program who challenges us to convince him that we are human. Weil has several titles in the Serious Games space: she was creative producer/designer for USC's Institute for Creative Technology E.L.E.C.T. project, a role-playing game to increase cultural awareness in Army Officers and The Redistricting Game, a USC Annenberg Center sponsored project to increase voter awareness about redistricting. Current projects include Gone Gitmo, a virtual installation of Guantánamo Prison (protoyped at BAVC Producers Institute and recently acquired by EDGE Lab at Ryerson University in Toronto), Wall Jumpers, a global visualization of political separation barriers and The IPSRESS Project, a collaboration with The EVENT LAB in Barcelona. Her work is has been exhibited internatinally at FeedForward, The Angel of History at LABoral in Gijon, Spain and presented at Games for Change in NYC, The Center for Human Rights at UC Berkeley, MIPDOC and MIPTV in Cannes, Arte e Ciencia in Benasque, Spain, RAVE (Real Actions Virtual Environments) in Barcelona, Simposio Feedforward in LABoral, Gijon, ARGFest (Alternative Reality Game Festival), and PICNIC Amsterdam. Weil has taught graduate level courses as Visiting Assistant Professor at USC-SCA Interactive Media Division and Adjunct Professor at the Design School at California College of the Arts CCA in San Francisco.
Peggy Weil is a digital media designer and artist with a focus on interactive media and immersive design. A graduate of Harvard University, she received her Masters Degree at M.I.T. As an original member of the Architecture Machine Group (now the M.I.T. Media Lab) from 1980-1982, she worked on pioneering interactive projects in design and telepresence, going on to create titles for The Voyager Company, Broderbund, Electronic Arts, Von Holtzbrinck and Ravensberger Interactive. The award-winning Voyager title, A Silly Noisy House, published in 1991, was one of the first interactive titles for children. She designed the original Roden Crater website in 1996 for Skystone and James Turrell. Weil was awarded the MILIA D'OR in Cannes in 1998 for the CD-ROM series Moving Puzzle. She is the mind behind MrMind, a computer program who challenges us to convince him that we are human. Weil has several titles in the Serious Games space: she was creative producer/designer for USC's Institute for Creative Technology E.L.E.C.T. project, a role-playing game to increase cultural awareness in Army Officers and The Redistricting Game, a USC Annenberg Center sponsored project to increase voter awareness about redistricting. Current projects include Gone Gitmo, a virtual installation of Guantánamo Prison (protoyped at BAVC Producers Institute and recently acquired by EDGE Lab at Ryerson University in Toronto), Wall Jumpers, a global visualization of political separation barriers and The IPSRESS Project, a collaboration with The EVENT LAB in Barcelona. Her work is has been exhibited internatinally at FeedForward, The Angel of History at LABoral in Gijon, Spain and presented at Games for Change in NYC, The Center for Human Rights at UC Berkeley, MIPDOC and MIPTV in Cannes, Arte e Ciencia in Benasque, Spain, RAVE (Real Actions Virtual Environments) in Barcelona, Simposio Feedforward in LABoral, Gijon, ARGFest (Alternative Reality Game Festival), and PICNIC Amsterdam. Weil has taught graduate level courses as Visiting Assistant Professor at USC-SCA Interactive Media Division and Adjunct Professor at the Design School at California College of the Arts CCA in San Francisco.
Jennifer Wilson
Jennifer Wilson is a Director of The Project Factory (a multiplatform media company), teaches Multiplatform Content for the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, lectures in mobile and convergent media for the University of Western Sydney and has taught on the Asia Australia Media Emerging Leadership program (AAMELP). She is member of the Screen Producers Association of Australia and has authored two white papers for the film industry aimed at helping screen content producers understand how and why to get more engaged in the digital space and looking at copyright and piracy issues. In 2008, Jennifer co- authored “The writer’s guide to making a digital living” for the Australia Council for the Arts.Jennifer is fascinated by the intersection of creative concepts, their technical implementation and the commercial reality that underpins this in the digital space. More than cross-platform – the intelligent exploration of how to generate engagement on the third and fourth screens (computer and mobile) through social, play, story, sharing and interactivity. Jennifer has been on the board of AIMIA for four years. She also chairs AIMIA’s Mobile Industry Group.
Jennifer Wilson is a Director of The Project Factory (a multiplatform media company), teaches Multiplatform Content for the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, lectures in mobile and convergent media for the University of Western Sydney and has taught on the Asia Australia Media Emerging Leadership program (AAMELP). She is member of the Screen Producers Association of Australia and has authored two white papers for the film industry aimed at helping screen content producers understand how and why to get more engaged in the digital space and looking at copyright and piracy issues. In 2008, Jennifer co- authored “The writer’s guide to making a digital living” for the Australia Council for the Arts.Jennifer is fascinated by the intersection of creative concepts, their technical implementation and the commercial reality that underpins this in the digital space. More than cross-platform – the intelligent exploration of how to generate engagement on the third and fourth screens (computer and mobile) through social, play, story, sharing and interactivity. Jennifer has been on the board of AIMIA for four years. She also chairs AIMIA’s Mobile Industry Group.
