Participants

Amanda Williams is a postdoctoral researcher in the Technoculture Art and Games group at Hexagram-Concordia. Her research centers on space and mobile bodies, and the ways in which they interpenetrate with, construct, and are reconfigured by computational technologies and media. She deals with tangible interaction, physical/social/spatial embodiment, DIY, and ubiquitous computing in urban environments. Because she has never been able to decide her disciplinary affiliation, she does design and ethnography, software and hardware hacking.

Daniela Rosner is a PhD student at the School of Information at UC Berkeley. Her research focuses on the interplay between technology, handcraft, and the creative communities around them. By designing and studying new creative tools, she studies how information technologies impact the process of creative handwork. She also investigates how the digital augmentation of handcraft products affects people’s relationships to the products and producers of handwork. Before coming to Berkeley, she worked at museums for three years, most recently at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL. In the museum environment, she developed interactive tools for the creative exploration and presentation of data. She holds a B.F.A in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Chicago.

Ugochi Acholonu is a doctoral student in the Learning Sciences and Technology Design program at Stanford University. She received a Masters in Computer Science with a specialty in HCI 2005, and Bachelors in Electrical Engineering in 2003. Both degrees were earned at Stanford University. Her research interests include Computers as cognitive tools, User Interfaces and Gaming Technology for the promotion of learning in young children, and cultural influences of access, use, and learning with technology.

Mouna Andraos: Working under the label Electronic Crafts, designer Mouna Andraos deconstructs everyday electronic experiences to discover how to reconstruct more personal --or poetic-- alternatives. Through open-source sharing of her research, Andraos works to demystify and disseminate technical knowledge, empowering people to customize and create technologies to fit their real, personal needs. Andraos’ own designs explore the intersection between mass-produced electronics and handmade craft: her translucent rubber nightlight glow gently in the dark, her portable power station brings alternative electricity to the streets. Her work has been showcased accross the US and Europe including as part of the 2008 YAP installation at PS1/MoMA in New York. Mouna has also been working in web for almost a decade and her online work has won numerous recognitions ranging from Best of Show at the SXSW festival, Interactive prizes from Communication Arts magazine and ID magazine and a CyberLion in Cannes. She holds a masters degree from New York University, where she also thought, and a Bachelors from Concordia university. She is also an alumni of Eyebeam's OpenLab R&D fellowship in New York City. She lives and works in Montreal.

Mark Argo is an artist and technologist who has worked extensively in creative applications of software, hardware and networks. His work has been exhibited internationally across Asia, Europe and North America, and has been featured in major technology magazines such as Wired and Linux Journal. Mark was a resident artist at the Fabrica Communication Research Center in Treviso, Italy for 2005-2006, recipient of the MobileAsia competition's grand prize in 2006, and is supported by the Canadian Arts Council to develop a series of new works for 2009-2010. Currently he is an instructor at Ryerson's New Media program and founder of Aesthetec Studio.

Steve Daniels uses electronics and communication technologies to create kinetic sculptures, ubiquitous spaces and networked events. He is currently interested in the non-utilitarian possibilities of DIY social devices. Through his practice Steve juxtaposes disparate knowledge systems and experiences in an effort to reveal their underlying structures and assumptions. Steve’s has recently presented his work at Mobile Nations, Together Elsewhere, Future Sonic, DorkBot (Toronto) and GOSH! (Banff Centre). Steve was the recipient of the InterAccess emerging artist award in 2003 while still a student at OCAD. He was hired by Ryerson University shortly after graduating in 2004 and is currently assistant professor and past Program Director of the New Media option in the School of Image Arts. Steve teaches courses in Physical Computing, Telepresence and Networked Objects. He holds an MSc from the University of Manitoba (Zoology) and is a graduate of the Integrated Media program at OCAD (Toronto).

Steven Dow is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the HCI Group at Stanford University where he researches human-computer interaction, prototyping practices, and computing for education and entertainment. He is a co-recipient of a Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Grant 2009-10. He received a BS in Industrial Engineering from University of Iowa, and an MS and PhD in Human-Centered Computing from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Adrian Freed is Research Director at UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT). As leader of CNMAT's Guitar and chordophone Innovation Group (GIG), he has focussed on hardware and signal processing software to take advantage of separate processing of each string. His lifelong efforts to improve the guitar are documented in sfweekly. He has worked on harps and augmented cello and developed a stringless cello. He is recognized for his inspiring, accessible teaching which in the last years has focussed on integrating sensors into new controllers and art installations. Recent workshops have centered around sharing new techniques that employ electrotextiles and other emerging materials.

Natalie Freed is a Masters student in Computer Science at Arizona State University, with a concentration in the Arts, Media, and Engineering program. She's generally interested in complex systems of computation and communication, in making things with her hands, and in working with kids and technology. Her current research is on technology for kids through character toys, including dollhouses with remote communication capabilities. She's excited about the movement towards making/hacking with technology and physical things because it offers an opportunity for hands-on ideation (which is much more fun than say, UML).

Kate Hartman creates new tools for expression through innovative applications of technology. Her individual and collaborative projects span the fields of wearable computing, mobile telephony, video installation, and conceptual art. Whether it's houseplants that make phone calls or hats that amplify the voices in your head, her work explores the idea of enhancing relationships and illustrating the unseen. Hartman holds a B.A. from Bard College in Film and Electronic Arts and an M.P.S. from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Her work has been exhibited internationally and has been featured by the New York Times, BBC World Service, NPR, in the recently published book "Fashionable Technology". She is currently an adjunct faculty member at New York University and teaches courses in soft circuitry and physical computing.

Joshua Murphy has a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim school of cinema at Concordia University, and has recently turned his eye to the field of game studies. He is particularly interested in narrative construction and the creation of meaning in video games. He has recently been studying the nature of trust relationships between players in World of Warcraft.

Bruno Nadeau is a computation artist with a special interest for technologies to thinker with, unusual interactive interfaces, and digital typography. His interactive artwork was shown in new media art galleries like Oboro in Montréal, and the Beall Center for Arts and Technology in Irvine. His publications were presented as part of international conferences such as Digital Arts and Culture (DAC) and Tangible and Embedded Interactions (TEI). Bruno received a M.S. in Information and Computer Sciences with a concentration in Arts, Computation and Engineering (ACE) from UC Irvine, and holds a B.Sc. with a major in Computations Arts from Concordia University in Montréal.

Steve Payette is an M.A. student in Communications at University of Ottawa, currently working on a thesis that explores reality in alternate reality games (ARGs) through Peircean semiotic. He has guest-blogged at Pervasive Games: Theory and Design on disability and pervasive games.

Ann Poochareon is a graduate of NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (2004) and once joined the ranks of elite young designers at Fabrica (2006). She makes interactive stuff and is currently living in Toronto, Canada.