PROGRAM FOR DIY DAYS NYC.

See speaker bios below schedule

**Please note that Brian Chirls' HTML5 Workshop in RM 510 is actually 45 minutes long.




Speakers in order of appearance

WOLLMAN HALL SPEAKERS

Frank Rose is the author of The Art of Immersion, just published by Norton. As a contributing editor at Wired and a contributing writer at Fortune before that, he has written extensively about the intersection of media and technology. Among his other books are the best-seller West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer, now available in an updated edition.

Lance Weiler is a critically acclaimed award winning writer / director. Recognized as a pioneer because of the way he makes and distributes his work – WIRED magazine named him “One of twenty-five people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.” He has successfully self-distributed his films THE LAST BROADCAST and HEAD TRAUMA to more than 20 countries while grossing over 5 million dollars in the process. Lance is currently developing a number of film, TV, and gaming projects.

Nicholas Diakopoulosis a Computing Innovation Fellow at the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Drew University. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His current research projects touch on human computer interaction, information visualization, and social media with themes spanning journalism, collaborative authorship, and games.

Molly Crabapple is an artist, author, and the founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, a drawing community with outposts in over 100 cities. She has spoken at the Museum of Modern Art, South by Southwest Interactive, and the Pixel Design Fair in Sao Paulo. Molly will be leading us through the world of Dr. Sketchy’s and define what an Anti-Art school is.

Brian Newman is the founder of sub-genre consulting, helping filmmakers and organizations to distribute content and connect with audiences and achieve greater impact through innovative uses of new technology. Brian was most recently CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI). He speaks regularly on new media, audience development and the future of the industry, and contributes to a blog on these subjects at Springboardmedia.

Christine Vachon is an American movie producer who, along with partner Pamela Koffler, founded indie powerhouse Killer Films in 1995. The company has produced a number of the most acclaimed American independent films over the past two decades including FAR FROM HEAVEN (nominated for four Academy Awards), BOYS DON’T CRY (Academy Award winner), ONE HOUR PHOTO, KIDS, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, HAPPINESS, VELVET GOLDMINE, SAFE, I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, CAMP, SWOON and I’M NOT THERE (Academy Award nominated).

21 GRAMS, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, HAPPINESS, THE ICE STORM, IN THE BEDROOM — Ted Hope founder of Good Machine, This is that and, most recently, Double Hope Films, has produced over sixty films, including three Sundance Grand Prize winners and the first features of Alan Ball, Michel Gondry, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, and Ang Lee. He blogs at HopeForFilm.com and co-founded the Indie Film review site HammerToNail.com. Ted’s most recent production MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, written and directed by Sean Durkin and starring Lizzy Olsen, Hugh Dancy, Sarah Paulson, and John Hawkes won the Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Ted’s next release, SUPER, written and directed by James Gunn, and starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler and Kevin Bacon, was the first sale of this year’s Toronto Film Festival; he is in currently in post-production on DARK HORSE, written and directed by Todd Solondz and starring Jordan Gelber, Selma Blair, Justin Bartha, Mia Farrow, and Christopher Walken.

Scott Macaulay is the Editor in Chief of Filmmaker Magazine and a New York-based producer. With his partner Robin O’Hara his producing credits include WHAT HAPPENED WAS…, RAISING VICTOR VARAS, GUMMO, JULIEN DONKEY-BOY, SAVING FACE and OFF THE BLACK.

Scott Lindenbaum is the Co-Founder/President of Broadcastr, a free social media platform for geo-located audio that lets people create and share recordings on an interactive map. On the Web, Broadcastr is a digital archive of human memory and narrative; mobile users can take a walk while stories about their surroundings stream automatically, like a museum tour of everything. He is also the Co-Publisher/Editor of Electric Literature, a new publisher dedicated to using electronic media and innovative distribution to keep literature a vital part of popular culture. The Washington Post has called his efforts “A refreshingly bold act of optimism.”

Winner of the first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He teaches media studies at NYU and the New School University, serves as technology columnist for The Daily Beast, and lectures around the world.

Faris Yakob is Chief Innovation Officer at MDC/kbs+p. He’s trying to make everything more awesome, stealing from the engines of innovation, technology and culture, to create innovative solutions for clients and partner agencies. Previously he was Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Strategist at McCann-Erickson New York. As Chief Technology Strategist he was tasked with helping to work out how brands, people and technology can play better together, developing consumer involved ideas for Nikon, Verizon and Kohl’s.

Brian Clark is the founder and CEO of media innovation think tank GMD Studios. For the last 16 years, he’s helped storytellers and brands find new ways to build connected experiences for audiences. He’s based in NYC and Orlando, Florida.

Matt Johnston is a visionary marketing executive, transmedia technologist, and COO of Kinetic Fin, a digital agency and social experience design studio in NY. With a background in applied mathematics, Matt has run marketing and strategy teams for public and private technology companies, including a multiple Emmy-nominated and Emmy-award winning ITV studio. He is a frequent speaker and has lectured at Harvard Business School and Babson College on the subject of collaborative entrepreneurship.

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He has contributed over two million words to the pen-and-paper game industry, and served as developer of Hunter: The Vigil. He, with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter’s Lab. Their short, Pandemic, showed at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Chuck’s novel, Double Dead, will be out November, 2011. He currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Greg Trefry has wide array of experience designing games—everything from web-based MMOs to hit casual games to alternate reality games. He co-founded Gigantic Mechanic to push the bounds of game design. He serves as director of the Come Out & Play Festival, a festival of street games in New York City. Greg teaches at New York University and recently wrote the book, Casual Game Design: Designing Play for the Gamer in All of Us.

ROOM 404 SPEAKERS

As the son of an inventor and artist, Michael Margolis explores the role of storytelling in the change-making process. His work and ideas have been featured in Brandweek, Fast Company, and Storytelling Magazine. Recently, Michael produced the Reinvention Summit: a 2-week virtual conference on the future of storytelling. Michael is the author of Believe Me: A Storytelling Manifesto for Change-Makers and Innovators, which you can download for free at www.getstoried.com. Michael is also left handed, color-blind, and eats more chocolate than the average human.

Andrea Phillips is a freelance transmedia designer and writer. Her work includes the award-winning Perplex City, Routes Game, and True Blood. Right now you can join an experience as it runs at www.readyforthebigchill.org. She blogs about transmedia at www.deusexmachinatio.com.

Nick Braccia is a Creative Director at G2 USA in NYC and has also lead teams in LA and SF to support EA games Dead Space 2 and Dante’s Inferno. Prior to joining G2, Nick worked at Deep Focus where he directed “No Known Survivors” for EA’s Dead Space and “Vroengard Academy”, for Random House. Since 2001, he’s explored his passion for immersive narrative and contributed to Dave Szulborski’s ARGs “Catching the Wish” and “Unnatural Selection."

Aina Abiodun is an award-winning independent film producer with credits across media platforms. She has worked on campaigns and platform extensions for a wide variety of properties including Project Runway, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Seamless Web and The Huffington Post. Aina blogs as Film Futurist and is the founder of Transmedia NYC, a meetup for transmedia professionals and enthusiasts. She’s currently at work on a cross-platform media content company with its first project due to launch in May 2011.

A Transmedia Producer with Starlight Runner Entertainment, Caitlin Burns has worked on a number of blockbusters including Pirates of the Caribbean, Fairies, and Tron Legacy for Disney, James Cameron’s Avatar, Halo for Microsoft, Happiness Factory for Coca-Cola, and Transformers for Hasbro. She is also currently producing an independent transmedia experience, Jurassic Park Slope. She is an avid blogger about franchises and stories aimed at women and girls.

Zeke Zelker, a critically acclaimed, award winning filmmaker/entrepreneur with a number of projects to his credit, is in the midst of producing his latest transmedia project: Billboard an Uncommon Contest for Common People!. Zeke broke into the entertainment business as a clown, peddling balloons at an amusement park that his great grand father founded. He learned many lessons at that park, most importantly integrating amusements and entertainment with profit centers.

Vladan Nikolic is an award-winning filmmaker, and associate professor of Film and Media Studies at The New School. He has written directed and produced several feature films and docs, including Burn, Love, and The City. The films screened at Tribeca, Venice, and a dozens of other Film Festivals, winning critical acclaim. Most recently, he has written, directed and produced the feature film and transmedia project ZENITH, which is currently in release.

ROOM 510 SPEAKERS

Mark Harris started in theater, then went into technology, then went into movies. Now he’s figuring out how to combine all three.

Brian Chirls is a filmmaker, technologist and founder of Three Eyed Labs, a research and development lab based in New York, developing original cross-media content, new tools and innovative business models for media artists. Most recently, Brian launched Crowd Controls, a web service for filmmakers and musicians to track audience demand around the world to drive distribution. He has worked on the film Four Eyed Monsters as Manager of Distribution and Marketing and consulted on the distribution of John Sayles’s latest film, Honeydripper. Brian continues to share ways for independent artists to create and distribute their work as a writer on his blog and as a speaker at film festivals around the world. Brian has also produced and directed a number of short films, video blogs and a bit of machinima.