Jessamyn West, author, rural librarian geek and collector of mosses
Myths About the Digital Divide: How we approach the digital divide depends on what we think it actually is. What we think we know about the digital divide is often wrong. Jessamyn West, a public librarian in central Vermont and author of the book Without A Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide, will talk about some of the statistics behind the things we think are true and what librarians are doing to address technological inequality.
Bob Maresca, president of Bose Corp.
Bob Maresca has been president of Bose Corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts since June 2005. Bose Corporation is a leading manufacturer of high-quality sound systems for the home, automobiles and public venues, and of noise reduction systems for the military and consumer use. Mr. Maresca is responsible for company operations worldwide. Mr. Maresca joined Bose Corporation as a senior research engineer in 1986 to work on the Bose suspension research program. In 1996, he became chief engineer on that program. In 1997, he was named general manager of the Noise Reduction Technology Group, and was promoted to vice president of the Home Entertainment Division in 2003. Before coming to Bose, Mr. Maresca was a research engineer at Philips Laboratories and at Hewlett-Packard's Scientific Instruments division. He graduated with honors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. He also holds an M.S. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Stanford University, and he holds multiple patents in electromagnetics and controls.
Jeff Potter, Author of Cooking for Geeks
Cooking is both art and science, but for so many of us, even the basic mechanics of how to sauté an onion or cook a holiday roast can be a challenge. By knowing a little food science and taking an inquisitive approach to the kitchen, you can turn out a better meal. In this talk, Jeff Potter, author of Cooking for Geeks, will share some key insights into what happens when to food when we cook it and reveal some of the mysteries of the modern kitchen.
Brian Whitman, CTO The EchoNest on Music in the Time of Data
There is no doubt that the business and audience of music has changed drastically over the past few years; an incredibly disruptive span burgeoned exceedingly by the real-time availability of audio and context provided by the internet. Computers are now listening to both you and the audio, helping you "discover" new artists, helping labels and bands find audiences, and tracking your every play and skip while you bounce amongst a seemingly endless veldt of music from all styles. For better or worse, the short term future of music is inextricably linked to the glut of data it generates. We'll see ways this is terrible and ways this is incomprehensibly beautiful, look over some successes and failures, and try to figure out how to do it right, this time.
Amon Millner, Computing Innovation Fellow at Olin on All-Around Engineering
In this talk, (click to launch YouTube video) Amon discusses novel ways in which he has provided entry-points for diverse learners to engage in practices associated with different disciplines. He presents the merits of increasing people's abilities to express themselves and exchange ideas using engineering processes from different fields and rethinking relationships between people and their surroundings. He also presents examples of tools he has developed and activities he has designed in this spirit and explains how the "low floors, no doors" approach has helped young people show signs of becoming all-around engineers.
Halsey Burgund, Musician and Sound Artist on his Recent Work
Halsey's installations and musical performances make extensive use of spoken human voice recordings as musical elements, alongside traditional and electronic instruments. He collects these voices from otherwise uninvolved individuals whom he records in various locations, from museums to street corners to rock clubs.
His most recent sound art installation, Scapes, is on exhibit at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA through November 2010. This piece is a location-sensitive evolving musical composition that allows participants to augment the physical landscape of the museum's sculpture park by leaving audio commentary in locations of their choosing for future participant to hear.