Current 

 

 Megan Boler is Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Theory and Policy Studies, at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She is Associate Faculty of the Center for the Study of United States and the Knowledge Media Design Institute also at UT. Her books include Feeling Power: Emotions and Education (NY: Routledge 1999); Democratic Dialogue in Education: Troubling Speech, Disturbing Silences (M. Boler, ed., Peter Lang, 2004); and Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008). She is currently completing a three-year funded research project, “Rethinking Media, Citizenship and Democracy: Digital Dissent after 9/11,” through interviews and surveys examines the motivations of producers of “digital dissent”–practices of digital media to counter mainstream media. Her web-based productions include a study guide to accompany the documentary The Corporation (dirs. Achbar and Abbott 2003), and the multimedia website Critical Media Literacy in Times of War.

P.Y. Chau has had over 15 years of design and production experience in the Toronto Fashion Industry. Her experiences include extensive travel to source potential manufacturers on behalf of her employer, research styling, and source fabrics and trimming for the North American apparel market. Her continual involvement in fashion includes consulting with emerging designers. Her consultant work encompasses production development, size specification, verify fit and advice and implement efficient production methods. She teaches part-time in the School of Fashion, Ryerson University. Areas of expertise are design, pattern making and construction.

Jennifer Cole is a founding member and Program Director of the GimpGirl Community. Jennifer (known as JennyLin on-line) is also an undergraduate studying cultural anthropology at Oregon State University, a board member of the Portland, Oregon nonprofit People Helping People and a research associate in the Experiential Design and Gaming Environments (EDGE) Lab at Ryerson University. Recent publications include: ‘GimpGirl Grows Up: Women With Disabilities Rethinking, Redefining, and Reclaiming Community’ (New Media and Society), ‘GimpGirl Community’s Best Practices for Facilitating an Accessible Community in a Virtual World’, ‘GimpGirl Community: Supporting the Lives of Women with Disabilities’ and ‘GimpGirl Community: Women with Disabilities’.

Kenneth Emig (emigresearch.com) is a transdisciplinary researcher, designer, and artist who finds the intersection of discipline, media and material the place where things happen. Kenneth’s transdisciplinary research explores the intersection of audio and design, design and manufacturing, sculpture and dance, and ultimately, the connection of the body to anything. He has been an acoustic designer on multi-disciplinary teams at Bell-Northern Research, Nortel Networks, Research in Motion and Emig Acoustics. As an artist, his sculpture, installation and dance performances include commissions from the City of Ottawa and the Canada Dance Festival, a trans-Canada performance and talk between Ottawa and Vancouver, and sculpture for the 4th Moscow Biennale.

Jennifer Jenson is Associate Professor of Pedagogy and Technology in the Faculty of Education at York University. She is currently co-editor of Loading: The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association and president of the Canadian Game Studies Association. Working with Suzanne de Castell (Simon Fraser University) and a team of students, she has co-designing an educational game, “Contagion” and is currently working on two new games, “Epidemic: Self-Care for Crisis” and a Baroque music game.

Sae Kimura was born in Odawara, Japan. She studied weaving and dying in Stockholm, Sweden. She is now artist in residence at the EDGE Lab and her work can be viewed on her website www.esalalamu.jimdo.com

Liam O’Donnell is an award-winning children’s author, educator and gamer. Currently, he is a teacher-librarian with the TDSB, where he uses alternative literacies, like comics, CCGs and video games to engage students in critically-minded, inquiry-based learning. He is a founding member of the GamingEdus, a growing group of teachers using video games to foster critical thinking and literacy skills in students. With his GamingEdu colleagues and the support of the EDGE Lab, Liam recently launched the Multi-School Minecraft Server Project, bringing together 30 elementary students from 3 inner-city schools in a single Minecraft server. The students played together in this virtual space, negotiating social norms, documenting and reflecting on their play through wiki entries and multi-media production. When he isn’t teaching, Liam is writing. He is the creator of the award-winning graphic novel series Max Finder Mystery and Graphic Guide Adventures and the author of over 30 fiction and non-fiction books for children and young adults. You can find him online at:liamodonnell.com

Alex Truesdell is the founder and current Executive Director of the Adaptive Design Association, a nonprofit organization based in New York City. Alex has taught hundreds of courses in adaptive design to professionals and parents in the United States, and has facilitated replication efforts in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India, Poland, and Guatemala. In 1996, Alex was awarded a 3-year fellowship in International Community Development co-sponsored by the Partners of the Americas and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Fellowship led Alex to establishing the Adaptive Design Association in 2001, and her current commitment to widespread replication of ADA’s unique mission. Alex holds a Master’s degree in Teaching the Visually Impaired from Boston College, and a Master’s degree in Curriculum Development (with a concentration in Conflict Resolution) from Lesley University. Alex is co-author of Creative Constructions: technologies that make adaptive design accessible, affordable, inclusive and fun (2001).

Tony Walsh is a multi-disciplined creative leader with nearly 20 years of interactive digital media planning and production experience. He founded Toronto-based game studio Phantom Compass in 2008 and helped raise over $500k in third-party financing for the studio’s original game products since 2011. Phantom Compass is an independent game studio staffed by a combination of game industry veterans and experts in web game development. Since 2008 Phantom Compass has supplied content producers and broadcasters with web games and now develops casual and mid-core games chiefly for PC and iOS-based devices.

 

Past

Leigh Casey
Jaime Woo
Danny Bakan
Tracey Kennedy
Sally Kotsopoulos
Laura Mae Lindo (Post Doc.)