two c

2C - Sparkles on the Water

Moderator:

Susan Doran, Maine IDxA

Susan Doran, information architect and experience designer from Portland , has been working to infuse the internet with greater humanity to serve as a tool for social change and transformation, collaboration, creative learning, healthy communities, and ethical design since 1989. Susan spends half her year working on improving the user experience of large complex web sites of an array of clients, and the other half of the year volunteering her time to community projects. She is founder of MaineUX (a statewide network of people "contributing to the creative economy by way of doing cool things on the web and with software"), and now co-chair of Maine IxDA (a chapter of the Interaction Design Association), which convenes inspirational events and activities to Maine 's interaction desiogn community. In 2007 she was techMaine's Volunteer of the Year, is a 2009 graduate of the Institute for Civic Leadership's Collaborative Leadership Intensive, serves as Trustee for Portland Trails.

Speakers:

Steve Hand, CEO, Know Technology

Stephen D. Hand is the President and CTO of Know Technology. His primary responsibilities are leading the overall technical direction of the company and serving as the lead solution architect for many large client projects. His leadership led to Know Technology recently receiving the 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year Award for Network Infrastructure Solutions. Stephen is actively involved in the Maine technology community – serving on various boards for TechMaine, MTI and PopTech. He grew up in Rockport, attended The University of Maine receiving a BS in Business Marketing and today lives in the house he grew up in.

Stu Rich, Principal of Geospatial Development, Pen Bay Media

Stu Rich is Principal of Geospatial Development for Penobscot Bay Media (PenBay), a software solutions and professional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services company based in Camden, Maine.   He has more than 15 years of experience in the IT sector, with over 5 years dedicated to designing and creating in-building information systems.  PenBay uses its expertise and experience to build and implement Facilities Information Systems for customers in many parts of the U.S. and around the world.  His blog can be viewed at http://www.spatialexplorations.net   

Dr. Owen Smith, Chair New Media Innovation Research and Development Center, University of Maine

Dr. Owen F. Smith is the Director of the Intermedia MFA Program at the University
of Maine. He is also a professor of Art History and Digital Art in the Department of
Art and the Chair of the Department of New Media. He received his BA in Art History
and Russian Studies, his MA in Anthropology and his PhD in Art History from the
University of Washington in Seattle. He is a specialist in Modern and Contemporary
art, particularly what he calls alternative art forms. He has lectured widely in the
US and Europe on art in the 20th Century. His seminal book on the history of fluxus,
Fluxus: a History of an Attitude, was published by San Diego State University Press in 1998. More recently he was the co-editor of a two volume special issue of Visible Language, Fluxus and Legacy, Volume 39, No. 3 (Fall 2005) and Fluxus After Fluxus, 40:1 (Winter 2006) Owen Smith is also a practicing artist who works in digital art and new media forms and has exhibited his work in over 80 national and international exhibitions over the last ten years. More information on his creative work can be found on his web site: http://www.owenfsmith.com, and more information on the Intermedia MFA at the University of Maine can be found at: http://www.intermediamfa.org
    
Dana Hutchins, Creative Director/Founder Xhibitnet

Dana Hutchins is a computer system interaction designer and President and Creative Director of Image Works (www.imagewks.com), a web design and interactive technology R&D firm with a focus on science communication, science exhibit design, user research, usability, and human factors engineering.  Image Works clients include Unum, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, U.S. Library of Congress, NASA, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and Orlando Science Center. In 2005 Image Works was awarded a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant for R&D on software for science exhibits now used at an exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science and other science centers around the country.

Vinitha Nair, Co-founder & Executive Director, Platform Shoes Forum    

Vinitha Nair co-founded and is the Executive Director of Platform Shoes Forum, a nonprofit organization that builds digital learning networks with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for middle and high school demographics. Vinitha co-created the nonprofit's catalyst program, Zoey's Room, an award-winning online community maintained through peer-to-peer mentoring that encourages girls to pursue careers in STEM.  She partnered with Project New Media Literacies of the Comparative Media Studies department at MIT to produce The Learning Library to educate youth about their role in an increasingly online participatory culture and the skills necessary to be successful in that environment.  The new educational framework will integrate the innovation of social technologies within an educational framework for user's to be able to create and remix media-centric curriculum, encouraging learning through collective intelligence. Leveraging the development on this tool, she is currently working on a new phase of Zoey's Room to align STEM skills with current workforce needs. The goal is to provide a support system between students and STEM professionals/educators to increase the participation and retention of women in STEM fields.