Keynote Speakers

Opening Plenary: Cory Ondrejka

Recursive Collaboration: Building Linden Lab and Second Life

Early decisions shape the future of projects and companies in ways rarely understood or anticipated at the time, and neither the virtual world of Second Life nor Linden Lab is an exception. Early choices around work styles, locations, and development methodologies translated directly into programming languages, protocols, architecture, and features that made Second Life what it is today. Some features -- anticipated and otherwise -- directly contributed to its phenomenal success. Of primary importance was the decision to make Second Life itself a constant part of its development process, as Linden Lab employees all over the globe used Second Life as a primary tool for collaboration. This talk will focus on the entangled histories of Linden Lab and Second Life, and how each shaped the other.

About Cory Ondrejka

Cory Ondrejka is SVP of Digital Strategy for EMI music, creating new connections and business models between artists and fans. Prior to EMI, he was the cofounder of Second Life, the hugely successful and award winning virtual world, where he architected the core code and hired the team responsible for Second Life's growth to over 12 million residents. He is currently a visiting professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He is an authority on the development and use of virtual worlds in game, entertainment, education, government, military, and business applications. In addition, Ondrejka is an expert on the complex interrelation between innovation and learning, as well as the technological and social requirements of product development across entangled, geographically dispersed teams. Prior to Second Life, Ondrejka led the development of numerous video games, including Road Rash 64. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he completed degrees in both Weapons and Systems Engineering and Computer Science.

Cory's Blog is at http://ondrejka.blogspot.com/

Closing Plenary: Sara Diamond

Between Cohesion and Cognitive Dissonance: Designs for Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Interdisciplinary collaborations hold the possibility of new forms of knowledge, new practices and new technological applications. Such collaborations are a given in the contemporary work place. The very nature of interdisciplinary exchange involves frictions between disciplinary approaches, descriptive language, social and cultural practices. Research suggests that a balance of cohesion and dissonance are required to bring a project to realization. Designers often play the role of weaving meaningful relationships within this dissonance. Design methods that draw from play, improvisation, participatory design, and engage all manner of technological tools can act as translators and enablers between disciplines. Such methods allow creativity to flourish, yet wrangle viable processes, meet project goals, suggest future research and are viable for all participants. Through commentary on case studies and research into collaboration methods, the end note talk identifies processes, patterns and the means through which shared understandings emerge in interdisciplinary collaboration.

About Sara Diamond

Sara Diamond is the President of the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD), Canada's foremost university of art and design. She holds degrees from Canada and the United Kingdom in social history, communications, new media theory and practice. She is currently a member of the Ontario Ministry of Culture's Minister's Advisory Council on Arts & Culture, the Board of Directors of the Toronto Arts Council Foundation and of ORANO, Ontario's high speed network. She is a founding member of CONCERT and the Chair of the OMDC funded Mobile Experience Innovation Centre. She provides media consulting to Heritage Canada, SSHRC, CFI, Industry Canada, CHRC and DFAIT, as well as international governments, institutions and agencies as diverse as China, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Finland, Australia, Brazil and the USA.

Prior to her presidency at OCAD Diamond was the Director of Research for the prestigious Banff Centre. She created the renowned Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) in 1995 and led it until coming to Toronto in 2005. Diamond developed international summits and business development workshops and accelerators that explored the near future of new media. She built alliances between artists, designers, architects, scientists, social scientists, and international and Canadian businesses. Diamond created and was Editor-in-Chief of www.horizonzero.ca, an on-line showcase for new media art and design, in collaboration with Heritage Canada. She is a visualization software researcher and developer www.codezebra.net.