is the Tetherless World Constellation Senior Chair and Professor of the Computer Science and Cognitive Science Departments of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in New York State, USA. The Tetherless World Constellation aims to increase access to information at any time and place without the need for a "tether" to a specific computer or device. In 2001, Jim co-authored with Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Ora Lassila an article in Scientific American entitled 'The Semantic Web'. This has become the most cited paper in the field. Jim is also the Editor in Chief of IEEE Intelligent Systems and is the first computer scientist to serve on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science. He is a former member of the US Air Force Science Advisory Board and a former Chief Scientist of the Information Systems Office at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Before joining RPI in 2007, he held posts at the University of Maryland and directed the Joint Institute for Knowledge Discovery. http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~hendler

is the author of Soft Cinema: Navigating the Database (The MIT Press, 2005), Black Box - White Cube (Merve Verlag Berlin, 2005), and The Language of New Media (The MIT Press, 2001) which is hailed as "the most suggestive and broad ranging media history since Marshall McLuhan." He has written 90+ articles which have been reprinted over 300 times in many countries. Manovich is a Professor in Visual Arts Department, University of California -San Diego, a Director of the Software Studies Initiative at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (CALIT2), and a Visiting Researcher at Goldsmith College (London) and College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (Sydney). He is much in demand to lecture around the world, having delivered 270+ lectures, seminars and workshops during the last 10 years. http://www.manovich.net/

has been called "the first citizen of the internet". He coined the term "the virtual community" in 1993, and his book Smart Mobs (2003) explores the potential for technology to augment collective intelligence. Rheingold began his work in these areas in the 1980s at Xerox PARC, where he wrote Tools for Thought, about the early personal computer. Around that time he first logged on to The WELL, an influential early online community. He explored the experience in his seminal book, The Virtual Community. In 1991, he wrote Virtual Reality: Exploring the Brave New Technologies of Artificial Experience and Interactive Worlds from Cyberspace to Teledildonics. He has edited the Whole Earth Review, and HotWired, one of the first commercial content websites. In 1996, he founded Electric Minds to chronicle and promote the growth of community online. Today, Rheingold is working with the Institute for the Future to develop a broad-based literacy of cooperation, and has received a MacArthur Foundation Award to develop a Social Media Classroom. http://www.rheingold.com/

is a composer and writer, Professor and Researcher. He is the founding director of the IOCT at De Montfort University, Leicester where he established the Music, Technology and Innovation programme in 1997. He is also an Associate Researcher at L'Université de la Sorbonne in Paris and a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2006 he was highly commended for the Most Imaginative Use of Distance Learning by the Times Higher Education Awards.

He is the author of The Digital Musician (Routledge) and other recent publications include Contemporary Music Review 24:6 on Internet Music and a CD/booklet called 'Pataphysics' which has received rave reviews in almost every European language. His latest CD (released December 2007) is 'Pataphysical Piano'.

Andrew's internet project with the Philharmonic Orchestra, The Sound Exchange, was nominated for the 2004 BT Digital Music Awards, and his compositions have been performed and broadcast worldwide. They include music for solo instruments and ensembles, orchestral music and electronic and digital music. Some well-known works are: Pianolith (2003), Symphony for Cornwall (1999), Les Origines Humaines (1996), Island Symphony (1995), Brisset Rhymes (1990) and Catalogue de Grenouilles (1988) - massed frog recordings and human musicians. He has also written and translated French literature, including Raymond Roussel's New Impressions of Africa.

His current research includes a large-scale digital mapping project that comprises a range of human factors as well as navigable imaging, and the development of a digital sensory room for hospices. Through the IOCT he recently staged the first European Festival of Machinima and he is supervising several PhD students whose topics range from aspects of digital writing and learning to multimedia controllers for live performance.

is the new IOCT Professor in Digital Creativity based in the faculty of Art and Design. Martin has always been fascinated by the possibility of creating fragmentary narrative structures and interactive stories using new technology. This has led him into his current explorations using mobile and locative technologies and large-scale interactive video experiences. Martin has worked in the field of interactive arts for many years, having originally studied Literature and Philosophy, and subsequently Fine Arts at Goldsmiths and in Paris. Martin's current projects include; Riverains: a mobile location-sensitive exploration of underground Manchester which has been short listed for the Between Festival Awards, and Underground Vienna, which employs similar technology as part of the e-mobilart European artists' workshop. Secret Garden is a virtual-reality mini-opera in the round using virtual scenography and 3D viewing, it is in collaboration with Andrew Hugill, composer, and the FUSE Media Lab, which pioneers new technologies for public art for the Digital Media Centre in Leicester. The Street is an interactive projection-wall revealing narratives through public interaction, due to premiere in Melbourne in Autumn 2008. His current book The Mobile Audience is an exploration of Mobile technology and emergent artworks and is published this year by Rodopi.

is Professor of New Media in the IOCT and Faculty of Humanities at De Montfort University, Leicester. Her most recent book is the non-fiction travelogue of cyberspace 'Hello World: travels in virtuality' (2004). Other publications include the novels 'Correspondence' (short-listed for the Arthur C Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 1992) and 'Water' (1994); an edited anthology, 'Wild Women: Contemporary Short Stories By Women Celebrating Women' (1994) and 'Creative Writing: A Handbook For Workshop Leaders' (1995). She has published extensively in both print and online, and has initiated numerous online writing projects including The Noon Quilt, now an iconic image of the early days of the web. She founded the trAce Online Writing Centre in 1995 where she was Artistic Director until joining DMU in January 2005. She is Programme Leader of the online MA in Creative Writing and New Media and leads the Production and Research in Transliteracy group (PART). Her research interests include transliteracy, collaborative media, and psychogeography. She is currently writing The Wild Surmise, a study of the relationships between cyberspace and the natural world. For more information, visit www.suethomas.net or www.transliteracy.com.

is Microsoft UK's lead technology advisor, strategist and spokesman. Since being appointed to the role in 2005, Jerry has been responsible for helping to guide Microsoft's vision for how technology can transform the way we learn, live, work and play. He plays a key role in an international team of technology officers who work closely with Craig Mundie, Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer. Jerry's popular blog on issues of technology and policy can be found at http://ntouk.com.

Prior to being recruited by Microsoft in 1997, Jerry worked in some of the UK's most senior IT positions including as Head of Business Systems for the UK's chief financial services regulator in the City of London; as an Officer of the House of Commons, establishing the Parliamentary data and video Network at the Houses of Parliament; and as a Director of IT in the National Health Service (NHS).

As Microsoft UK's senior technology officer, Jerry works closely with key individuals and organisations across the UK, the media, analysts and professional associations, as well as with Microsoft product groups - to help ensure that Microsoft's vision, innovation and future technologies exceed expectations. He also regularly advises overseas governments and organisations on effective ways of using technology to enhance policy and services - and to accelerate innovation enabled by technology.

For more about Jerry visit http://fishenden.com.