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Leanne Bowler, PhD, is an associate professor at the School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, where she leads the specialization in children and youth. She received her PhD and two master degrees (MLS, MEd) from McGill University, in Montréal, Canada. Her research and teaching interests lie in the area of youth information interaction, with a focus on intrapersonal knowledge and metacognitive practices.

Andreas Stefik is an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He completed his Ph.D. in computer science at Washington State University in 2008 and also holds a bachelor's degree in music. Stefik's research focuses on computer programming languages and development environments, with an emphasis on how competing language designs impact people in practice. He won the 2011 Java Innovation Award for his work on the Sodbeans programming environment and is the inventor of the Quorum Programming Language.

Michael Eagle: Michael Eagle is a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute working with Dr. John Stamper. Michael’s research focuses on deriving understanding from complex interaction data from intelligent tutors and video games. He has worked in data science at Blizzard Entertainment and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (Turbine Inc.) Michael received a NSF GRFP Honorable Mention award, a GAANN fellow, and Freeman-ASIA recipient.

Dan Lockton is assistant professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon, where he leads the Imaginaries Lab and is Chair of Design Studies. His research centers on people's interactions with technology, and how that affects the way we think and act. The Imaginaries Lab uses design methods to support people's imagining—both new ways to understand, and new ways to live, now and in the future.

James Landay is a Professor of Computer Science and the Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. He specializes in human-computer interaction. He is the founder and co-director of the World Lab, a joint research and educational effort with Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is also the Associate Director of the Stanford Institute for Human-centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI).

Paul Pangaro has been designing interactions for conversation, both human-machine and human-human, for over thirty years. He earned a PhD with Gordon Pask in Conversation Theory in the Cybernetics Department at Brunel University (UK), and collaborated with Pask on educational technology for over a decade. Pangaro’s career spans roles as entrepreneur, researcher, professor, and consultant.

Paul Resnick is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, on sabbatical at Carnegie-Mellon for the 2003–2004 academic year. His research focuses on Socio-technical Capital, productive social relations that are enabled by the ongoing use of information and communication technology. This paper is part of a larger project to understand the conditions under which reputation systems should work to create trust among strangers, how they are actually working, and how they might be designed to work better.

Dr. Denae Ford Robinson is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research in the SAINTes group and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Human Centered Design and Engineering Department at the University of Washington. Her research lies at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction and Software Engineering. In her work, she identifies and dismantles cognitive and social barriers by designing mechanisms to support software developer participation in online socio-technical ecosystems.

Randy Pausch is a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon, where he is the co-director of CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). He was a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. He has done Sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) and Electronic Arts (EA), and has consulted with Disney on user interfaces for interactive theme park attractions and with Google on user interface design and testing. Dr.

Marshini Chetty is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago where she directs the Amyoli Internet Research Laboratory (

Dr. Kraut has broad interests in the design and social impact of computing and has conducted empirical research on office automation and employment quality, technology and home-based employment, the communication needs of collaborating scientists, the design of information technology for small-group intellectual work, and the impact of national information networks on organizations and families.

Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author. He is probably best known for his work in Virtual Reality. He coined the term “Virtual Reality,” and was a principal pioneer in the scientific, engineering, and commercial aspects of the field. Currently, Lanier serves as the Lead Scientist of the National Tele-Immersion Initiative, a coalition of research universities studying advanced applications for Internet 2. He is a founding partner of the ground-breaking artist friendly music/tech start-up MusicisuM.