Scott Arpajian
Cofounder, Dizzywood
Scott is a cofounder of Dizzywood, a virtual world for kids ages 8 to 12 focused on active learning and collaborative play. He oversees Dizzywood's business and product strategy, community outreach and content development. Prior to founding Dizzywood, he spent a decade at Download.com, which he founded at CNET in 1996. During his time at Download.com, he grew the business to over 50 million monthly users. Scott graduated in 1992 from Boston University with a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication. He is author of How to Use HTML 3, which won the Computer Press Award for Best How-to Book in 1997. He lives in Tiburon, California with his wife and two children.
Erik Beck
Network Producer, NextNewNetworks
Erik is an actor, producer, filmmaker and master of low budget special effects who was born and raised in California. He is the co-founder of the popular internet TV network Indy Mogul and creator of it's most popular show "Backyard FX". Indy Mogul averages a million video views a month and has large community of filmmakers and movie enthusiasts. Erik has been featured in The Wall St Journal, MediaWeek, Yahoo News, NewTeeVee, CNN, and G4 TV. He was recently named a Webby Award 2008 Honoree, as well as being a finalist in TV Week's "Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host". Erik graduated from Chico State University in Political Science and worked in various fields before creating Indy Mogul and joining Next New Networks.
Carla Engelbrecht Fisher
Educational Technologist
Carla is a children's technology developer, game designer, educational researcher, and author. She is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studies technology and its relationship with human cognition and development, particularly as it applies to children and games. Through the course of her career, she has worked for Highlights for Children, PBS KIDS Interactive, Sesame Workshop, and a host of other children's media groups to produce and consult on interactive content that includes a wide variety of games and Web sites. In 2007 and 2008, she held a Teachers College Rose Fellowship in partnership with Sesame Workshop. Carla also holds a master's degree in media studies from the New School University and has, on occasion, been known to make balloon animals and hats.
Alice Cahn
VP of Social Responsibility for Cartoon Network US
Alice’s responsibilities include directing content and the implementation of outreach and pro-social initiatives across all of the Cartoon Network divisions. Prior to joining Cartoon Network, she served as Managing Director of the Markle Foundation’s Interactive Media for Children Program. Alice came to Markle from Sesame Workshop where she served as President of the Television, Film and Video group. From 1993-1998 she was head of children's programming for US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Alice did her Master’s work in Educational Technology at San Francisco State University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from New York University. She and her partner live in Maplewood, NJ and have three children.
Jim Gray, Ed.D.
Director of Learning at LeapFrog Enterprises
Jim is responsible for LeapFrog Enterprises' core curriculum and the learning design of the company's numerous products. Previously, Jim managed the LeapFrog Learning Lab where he oversaw user experience and product development research involving thousands of children. He was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies, and Instructor of Interactive Media Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Jim has contributed to dozens of publications and published studies. He has a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Michigan State University.
Makeda Mays Green
Director of Education and Research, Digital Media, Sesame Workshop
Makeda is responsible for researching and developing content for various interactive platforms at Sesame Workshop including online, mobile devices, and video game consoles. She supports the Workshop’s mission by focusing and examining the potential of current and emerging digital media platforms to deliver quality educational material to children and families.
Most recently, Makeda was instrumental in the development and launch of Sesame Workshop’s re-designed website (www.sesamestreet.org). She has created content for Sesame Street Games, an interactive game service available on Cablevision, Panwapa, a website and outreach initiative to help increase children’s awareness of the wider world, and numerous games including the Parent’s Choice award-winning V.Smile title Bert & Ernie’s Imagination Adventure. She also co-authored the study The Use of Mobile Phones to Support Children’s Literacy Learning.
Previously, Makeda was a Senior Curriculum Specialist, who oversaw the development of content for various Outreach initiatives, including Talk, Read, Write; Happy Healthy Ready for School and You Can Ask. She also served as a Curriculum Specialist for Program Research and developed content for Workshop programs such as, Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat and Dragon Tales.
Makeda holds a B.A from Wesleyan University and a M.A. and Ed.M in Counseling Psychology, from Columbia University. She currently resides in Stamford, C.T.
Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D
Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor in the Department of Psychology at Temple University
Kathy serves as Director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University and was the recipient of the Great Teacher and the Eberman Research Awards. Her research in the areas of early language development and infant cognition has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and Human Development and has resulted in 10 books, and over 100 publications. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, served as the Associate Editor of Child Development and is treasurer of the International Association for Infant Studies. Her book, Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less, (Rodale Books) won the prestigious Books for Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003. Kathy received her bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. at University of Pennsylvania.
Larry Hitchcock
CEO, Kidthing.com
Larry created Kidthing with one goal: to make a safe digital media platform that would engage his young daughter. After 2 years of development, Kidthing.com was born. Happily, his daughter uses it every day.
Larry has spent over 20 years in the Internet and television industries. As President and Executive Producer of Skyrocket Pictures, he oversaw strategic branding for leading broadcast networks such as MSNBC, ABC Family/Disney Channel, CBS Sports NBC Nightly News, and The WB Network. His work has been awarded 5 Emmys and 25 Promax/BDA Awards.
Larry has extensive digital media and Internet publishing experience. As VP, Business Development for Pearson's Headland Digital Media, he led digital business development across Pearson, and created Headland's Digital Event business and strategy for developing leading technologies, including e-commerce, active demographic acquisition, and multi-player online games.
With his brother Jeff, Larry helped launch Children with Diabetes ( www.childrenwithdiabetes.com) in 1995. CWD is now the largest community of kids and families living with diabetes.
Maggie Jackson
Journalist and Author
Maggie is an award-winning columnist and author of the recently published book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. Chosen as a best summer book of 2008 by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Distracted has been featured in BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Vanity Fair, Chicago Tribune, The Sunday Times of London and in other media outlets around the world. PublishersWeekly calls Distracted "a richly detailed and passionately argued ... account of the travails facing an ADD society and how to reinvigorate a 'renaissance of attention'." Jackson is the Boston Globe's popular "Balancing Acts" columnist and has written for many national publications. Her first book, What's Happening to Home, examined the loss of home as a refuge. A former foreign correspondent for The Associated Press in Tokyo and London, Jackson has won numerous awards for her coverage of work-life issues, including the Media Award from the Work-Life Council of the Conference Board. Maggie is a graduate of Yale University and the London School of Economics. She lives in New York City with her family.
Margaret Johnson
CEO and Cofounder, Sabi, Inc.
Margaret is CEO and co-founder of Sabi, Inc.,a startup game company that makes brain games to stimulate creative thinking.
Sabi's first game will launch in October, 2008.
Prior to establishing Sabi, Margaret worked at Microsoft for eighteen years, starting out as technical marketing support for the Los Angeles sales office. She then became a core member of the team and participated in the ship of several versions of the Windows operating system. It was when she was exploring advances in gaming while in the Xbox team that she was able to see firsthand, the positive affects video games can have on children. This experience got Margaret hooked on creating innovations within video games to help kids practice skills they need in the 21st century.
Prior to leaving Microsoft in February, 2008, Margaret led an incubation team that discovered new ways to fuse practice in reading understanding and creativity into really fun and novel children's games.
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Michael Jones
Chief Technology Advocate, Google
Michael is charged with advancing Google's technology to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. He travels the globe to meet and speak with governments, businesses, partners, and customers to carry out this mission. He previously was Chief Technologist of Google Maps, Earth, and Local Search——the teams responsible for providing location intelligence and information in global context to users worldwide. Before its acquisition by Google, Michael was CTO of Keyhole Corporation, the company that developed the technology used today in Google Earth. He was also CEO of Intrinsic Graphics, and earlier, was Director of Advanced Graphics at Silicon Graphics. A prolific inventor and computer programmer since the 4th grade, he has developed scientific and interactive computer graphics software, held engineering and business executive roles, and is an avid reader, traveler and amateur photographer using a home-built 4 gigapixel camera made with parts from the U2/SR71.
Barry Joseph
Director of the Online Leadership Program,
Global Kids, Inc.
Barry came to Global Kids in 2000 through the New Voices Fellowship of the Academy for Educational Development, funded by the Ford Foundation. He has developed innovative programs in the areas of youth-led online dialogues, video games as a form of youth media, the application of social networks for social good and the educational potential of virtual worlds, combining youth development practices with the development of high profile digital media projects that develop 21st Century Skills. He has also worked with GK's development program to secure funding from a number of foundation's and corporations. Barry served on the steering committee of the MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning initiative and his writing appeared in the Foundation's Ecology of Games volume in 2007. He has spoken at numerous conferences and published articles in a wide variety of publications. Barry holds a BA from Northwestern University and an MA in American Studies from New York University.
Alexandra Kennedy
Vice-President, Editorial Director for FamilyFun and Wondertime Magazines
Alix is Vice-President, Editorial Director for FamilyFun and Wondertime magazines, part of Disney Publishing Worldwide. She was on the launch of FamilyFun in 1991, and has overseen its editorial throughout its growth. She also conceptualized and developed Wondertime, a learning-focused magazine for parents with young children; it launched in 2005. In addition to the magazines, Alix manages brand extensions including book publishing, online publications, and broadcast efforts. She has a B.A. from Colgate University and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Massachusetts. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.
Deborah L. Linebarger, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Communication in The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
Deborah's research focuses on the relationships among children's developmental status, their use of media, and their larger social worlds. Her research combines descriptive work evaluating relationships between children's media use and their cognitive and social development; micro-level experimental work to detect the features used in media that elicit attention and contribute to comprehension of content; and macro-level program evaluation and intervention work that combines the knowledge gained through both descriptive and basic research and applies it in various real-world contexts. Her research has been presented at numerous conferences and published in psychology, communication, education, and pediatric medicine books and journals. The courses Deborah has taught include children's cognitive development and media use; childhood and play; and research methods and challenges unique to children and families. She received her Ph.D. from University of Texas, Austin.
Michael McNally
Brand Relations Director, LEGO Systems
Michael has over 10 years of experience in the toy industry, the majority of which he has spent overseeing communications for The LEGO Group, makers of the world's leading construction toys for children. Daily, he tackles the question of how a classic toy stays relevant in a high-tech world. His success in keeping low-tech LEGO bricks in the headlines and top of mind with today's parents attests to his communication skills. McNally directed launches of BIONICLE and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT, and serves as a member of the communications outreach committee for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. His "online" role in communications is guided by his "offline" duties as dad to two girls.
Mike Nakamura
Founder and CEO, Senario
Mike's life dream was to play shortstop in the major leagues. But when his tryout for the Cincinnati Reds in 1979 fell short, he shifted his sights to going pro in business. After gaining extensive experience in retail management, sourcing, buying and merchandising, Mike set out to create his own import company. In the eight years since he founded Senario, it has become one of America's fastest growing private companies. With his incisive ability to identify products that captivate mass consumer audiences, Mike has not only created many popular consumer goods but has amassed hundreds of today's most coveted licenses and developed new products to help youth and kids develop healthy, beneficial play patterns.
Nakamura's latest innovation, HURU HUMI™, will be launched by Senario in August 2008 and is designed to encourage self-discovery and social skills by using technology to spur real-life interaction among 'tweens and teens.
Mitchel Resnick
Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab
Mitch, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, develops new technologies to engage people (especially children) in creative learning experiences. His Lifelong Kindergarten research group developed the "programmable bricks" that were the basis for the LEGO MindStorms and PicoCricket construction kits. Mitch co-founded the Computer Clubhouse project, an international network of after-school learning centers for youth from low-income communities. His group recently developed a new programming language, called Scratch, which makes it easier for kids to create their own interactive stories, games, and animations -- and share their creations on the web.
Nancy Schulman
Director, 92nd Street Y Nursery School
Nancy has been the director of the 92nd Street Y Nursery School in New York City since 1990. She is also a member of the 92nd Street Y Wonderplay Leadership Team, the Y’s early childhood initiative. Before joining the 92nd Street Y, she was the admissions director and a teacher at Horace Mann Lower School in New York from 1973 to 1990. Nancy has served on the ISAAGNY (Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York) Board since 1984 and is co-editor of the New York Independent Schools Directory. She serves on the NYU Child Study Center Education Advisory Board and the Syracuse University School of Education Advisory Board. Nancy received a B.S. in Elementary Education from Syracuse University and an M.A. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from New York University.
Nancy is the co-author of Practical Wisdom for Parents: Demystifying the Preschool Years Knopf July 2007.
Peter Shafer
Vice President, Harris Interactive
Peter is charged with developing new business in the association, not-for-profit and youth and education markets for Harris. He is also the managing director of the Youth Center of Excellence, a division of Harris that focuses on research with youth ages 8 to 24. Prior to joining Harris, Peter was Director of Marketing for The Gallup Organization and The Gallup Poll, where he led all strategic aspects of Gallup's on-line publishing, magazine publishing and electronic data services for clients, including The Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing, and The Gallup Brain.
Peter is the author of two books relating to public affairs measurement and has written numerous articles for journals, periodicals and newspapers. He is a founding member of the editorial board of the Journal of Association Management and currently chairs this group. Peter has a BA in Political Science from Washington College and a Masters in Marketing from the University of Maryland. He is also a Division I college football official. Peter and his wife have four children.
Carly Shuler
Fellow, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Carly is a researcher, developer and author in the children's media and toy industry. Currently, she is a Fellow at The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, where she recently authored an analysis of the informal educational media market for children entitled D is for Digital. Throughout her career, Carly has worked with a host of children's media and entertainment groups including Sesame Workshop, SpinMaster Toys, and WGBH. She holds a master's degree in Technology, Innovation and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she studied how media and technology can be used to educate children effectively. Carly is passionate about the magic that happens when fun, research, and education converge and is dedicated to working on quality children's products that inspire thought and creativity. |
