Chris Quintana is an Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. Professor Quintana combines his background in computer science and human-computer interaction with educational research in his work at the Center for Highly Interactive Classrooms, Curricula, and Computing in Education (hi-ce). At hi-ce, he is exploring the development of learning technologies that support middle school and high school learners engaging in inquiry-based projects, primarily in science classrooms. His two current research projects involve (1) developing software--the Digital IdeaKeeper--to help learners effectively use information from digital libraries for online inquiry projects, and (2) investigating the design of scaffolding features for handheld computers. His work in developing design methods and scaffolding guidelines for desktop and handheld-based software has resulted in a range of articles and book chapters in both educational and computer science conferences and publications.

Links:
Artemis Digital Library
IdeaKeeper

Links:
Mapping Japan

Saul Rockman is president of Rockman Et Al, an independent research, evaluation, and consulting firm consulting firm focusing on the impact of education, technology, and media. Saul has over thirty years of experience in the research and evaluation of children's media, technology in education, and school reform. Over the past years Saul has worked in television production, software design, and a regional education laboratory; his "last real job" was as manager of education research at Apple Computer. He is the producer of award-winning children's television specials, and the designer of award-winning multimedia projects, and has consulted for diverse organizations ranging from the Department of Education to The Disney Channel.

Links:
www.californiacolleges.edu

Nancy Ross is the Web Editor and Web Projects Manager at the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). She began her exploration of multimedia development at the Educational Development Center's Center for Children and Technology where she had the opportunity to work on numerous research and development teams, studying and building educational technology components and support materials. After working for a year in the commercial realm as a Senior Technical Producer and head of the producers division at Quantum Leap Communications, Ms. Ross took a position with Shedd Aquarium, serving as Multimedia Manager as well as the Project Director for Shedd Educational Adventures (www.sheddaquarium.org/sea). She is currently overseeing the redesign of the CHS website.

Links:
Shedd Educational Adventures

Rob Rothfarb directs web development at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He manages multimedia developers and technologists in the creation of online exhibits and educational resources. His background includes experience in software development, computer graphics, interaction design, and digital video. Rob‚s interest in community and interactive 3D technologies led to work with several pioneering virtual world software companies and to educational projects for museums including the National Gallery of Art and the National Constitution Center. His current interests include the application of enabling community and interactive technologies to educational media infrastructure and the development of dynamic, networked content.

Links:
The Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS)

Scott Sayre is a Principal of Sandbox Studios Inc. and specializes in guiding museums in the design, development and application of new technologies for learning. From 1991-2002 he was the Director of Media and Technology and the Interactive Media Group at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA). While at the MIA Scott lead the development of ArtsConnectEd, a collaborative Web site that integrates the collections, libraries, archives and educational resources of MIA and the Walker Art Center for K-12 teachers and students. Prior to his work with museums, Scott held the position of Applications Researcher at the University of Minnesota's Telecommunications Development Center focusing on distance education technologies to address the needs of rural communities. He has a Doctorate in Education from the University of Minnesota and also holds a M.Ed. in Training and a B.A. in Visual Communications Technology.

Links:
artsconnected
Sandbox Studios

As the founding partner of Eduweb, Dave is responsible for the overall creative direction of the company and the perpetual quest for the sweet spot where learning theory, Web technology, and fun meet. He has developed online interactives for a wide variety of clients from Brookfield Zoo to the Space Telescope Science Institute. He is also Principal Investigator on an NSF-funded study of children's learning styles and preferences for computer-based learning interactives. After ten years of experience with the Web as a learning medium, he still believes we've only just begun to realize its potential.

Links:
Educational Web Adventures

Rob Semper, a physicist and science educator, is Executive Associate Director of the Exploratorium, and is responsible for leading the institution¹s work in developing programs of teaching and learning using exhibits, media and Internet resources. He is head of the Exploratorium¹s Center for Learning and Teaching which contains the institutions programs in teacher professional development, youth programming, publishing, media and Internet development. Dr. Semper is the principle investigator on numerous science education, media and research projects including the National Science Foundation sponsored Center for Informal Learning and Schools, a research collaboration between the Exploratorium, U.C. Santa Cruz and King¹s College, London and numerous research and development projects in new media including wireless networks, handheld computing, public science Website and Webcasting and advanced Internet applications.

Links:
www.exploratorium.edu

Jennifer has over 15 years of experience working to integrate innovative education and ecological research. She is pursuing a PhD through Cornell's Department of Natural Resources, investigating citizen science and student science partnerships, and currently works in conjunction with programs at Cornell's Lab of Ornithology. Previous degree work, establishing a salamander monitoring partnership between Virginia high schools and the Smithsonian's Conservation & Research Center, highlighted the need for substantive web resources for communication among research partners. She is enthusiastic about learning and sharing ideas through this conference.

Chach (Kristin) Sikes has happily been a Web Developer at the Exploratorium for the past year. Her current digital interests include: designing learning experiences for groups using cellphones and multi-user environments, designing flash interactives that "really do something," and creating ways to collect data online. She studied history and anthropology at Bard College. At the Exploratorium, she worked on the Microscope Imaging Station website, and is currently developing interactives for an upcoming exhibition about the Mind. She has many, many other interests.

Links:
www.exploratorium.edu

Jim Spadaccini is the founder of Ideum, an interactive design firm specializing in developing interactive educational Websites and exhibits. The firm has collaborated with museums, nonprofits, and socially responsible companies including; Adobe Systems, California Science Center, Liberty Science Center, NASA, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Park Service, The Tech Museum, among others. Before founding Ideum, Jim was the Director of Interactive Media at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

Links:
Traditions of the Sun
Ideum

Lynne Spichiger has worked for over 25 years as a project manager in both the public and private sectors. She was an English teacher and project manager in the New Haven public schools; has served as evaluation consultant for non-profit educational organizations; and has extensive experience in the design, development and management of online interactive multimedia projects for business. She holds an Ed.D. from Harvard University, an M.A.T. in English from Wesleyan University, and a B.A. in History from the University of Rochester. She was the project manager for the 1704 Raid on Deerfield website which won an international award at the Museums & Web conference. Currently, Dr. Spichiger is the Director of Online Exhibits and the Administrative Director of the Deerfield Teachers' Center at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association/Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Links:
Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704

Andrew Spina began his interactive media career over a decade ago with LTI/Voyager, developing CDROMs and web tools for students and educators. He is currently the lead interaction designer for Scholastic.com. He strives to craft interfaces that are, learnable, memorable, forgiving and enjoyable. Andrew studied engineering at Rensselaer (R.P.I.), holds a Masters in Music from New York University and is a painter and a sculptor.

Links:
www.scholastic.com

I wear two primary hats - a Ph.D. candidate in the Education department at UC Berkeley and a media developer at the Lawrence Hall of Science. As such, I view the design practice as both an educator seeking to utilize cognitive and social learning theory and as a developer concerned with the realties of budget constraints, timelines, competing stakeholder agendas, and user expectations. My interests include interactive design for free-choice learning, principles of best practice, collaborative play and learning, and videogame culture.

Kirsten Stiehm is the multimedia specialist at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. As such, she is responsible for the design and development of educational media products that serve culturally diverse, largely disconnected audiences in a geographically challenged state. The Museum is a recognized leader in the planning and development of collaborative projects with Alaska Native communities as well as with many federal and state agencies, private businesses, school districts, and non-profit organizations. The Museum's educational projects have been supported by numerous state and national institutions, including The Alaska Humanities Forum, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Commerce NTIA, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Links:
LearnAlaska

Karen Vitek has been an educator for 27 years. She has been a classroom teacher, special educator and is currently a technology integration specialist. Using technology to make learning come alive for her students has been a longtime passion. She has received numerous grants to make her technology enhanced project based learning goals a reality. Her awards honoring her work include the Toyota Tapestry Award, BestBuy te@ch Award, Tech Valley Innovative Educator, TryScience Teacher Award, Technology & Learning Ed Tech Leader, Education's Unsung Hero Award, Apple iLife Educator, and she is a Palm Education Pioneer. Along with her students she manages websites that use webcams that observe different aspects of the environment: spackenkillschools.org/nassau/vitek/vitek. She is a frequent presenter on technology integration in the classroom. Recently she completed a blog (web log) on her trip to visit the monarch butterfly overwintering areas in Mexico: homepage.mac.com/kvitek/monarch.

Links:
Room 58

Kevin directs the development and operation of the Ontario Science Centre's Internet initiatives, computer-based exhibits, knowledge management and publications, and oversees science writing and French translation. He began his career as a crime reporter and first joined the Ontario Science Centre as a science writer/editor in 1987. As a cofounder of Content Under Pressure Inc., he has created works for America Online, Microsoft Network, Bell Sympatico and Canoe.ca.

Links:
Strange Matter

Jimmy Wales is an Internet entrepreneur and a wiki enthusiast, working with collaborative software to create websites on which users can add and enter content. He is best known as the co-founder of Wikipedia, and is currently the director of the Wikimedia Foundation, a Tampa-based non-profit organization that encompasses Wikipedia and its younger sister projects. More recently, Wales founded Wikia, which runs Wikiasari, a wiki-style search engine, and Wikicities, a for-profit wiki hosting service.

Links:
Wikipedia

I work with an extremely talented and dedicated group of people at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. We try to utilize a systems strategy in our work: we connect to many stakeholders, partners, and friends to get our work done. We currently operate the DesignIT Studio, and NSF ITEST initiative, are members of the Playful Invention and Exploration Network, the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative, the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative the Exploratorium Partnership for Exhibit-based Teaching, the Texas Network for Exhibit-based Teaching and Learning, and are home for the Texas Center for Inquiry. I help lead some of these projects, and support the leaders of others. This May we will open a new $3M dinosaur gallery which will feature a web-based component that will extend the exhibit experience to back home or school. We are constantly looking for ways to learn how to expand our impact. This conference will be pivotal to helping us learn how to use our web technology more effectively.

Links:
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

Scott Weinrobe is the Web and Educational Technology Manager at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), where he oversees the design and development of OMSI's website, online exhibits, and educational online resources. Prior to coming to OMSI, Scott produced a number of award-winning children's educational and entertainment CD-ROM software titles for companies such as Microsoft, Hasbro Interactive, and The Learning Company. Scott holds degrees from Tulane University and Columbia University, where he studied political science and philosophy prior to pursuing a career in web and multimedia design and development.

Links:
Explore Technology

I'm a co-founder of Forum One Communications, an Internet strategy and development firm based in Alexandria, VA. We work primarily with public sector organizations (non-profits, foundations, associations, government agencies) to define and build online services that create social value. My projects include Backyardjungle.org, recently licensed by PBS for the PBS Kids GO! site (http://pbskids.org/backyardjungle/); the International AIDS Economics Network (www.iaen.org); green.org for Earth Force; and many projects about site performance, quality, and technology for the World Bank. Forum One has produced the Online Community Report (www.ocreport.org) for about 9 years now and hosts the annual Online Community Summit in Sonoma, CA. My wife Claudia and I have 2 boys age 8 & 10.

Links:
Backyard Jungle
Selected Sites