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San Francisco Oct 26 and 27, 1996 |
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The People of E2A
Print me out!
Speakers, Hosts, Moderators
The People of E2A
Speakers, Hosts and Moderators
E2A Keynote Mark Pesce
together with Tony Parisi
The People of E2A
The Volunteers who are bringing you E2A
Personal Biographies
Mark Pesce is an Internet visionary and co-creator of VRML. What stared as a vision of 3D information on the Internet has blossomed into the reality of a true Cyberspace under his guidance. He has presented his vision of VRML on numerous occasions to the international World Wide Web community. Pesce is the co-recipient of Meckler's Market Impact Award for Virtual Reality, and was recently named one of Network Computing's Most Influential People in Networking. During their 1996 competition, Mr. Pesce received an Honorable Mention from the Ars Electronica Foundation for WebEarth, which creates a fully-interactive real-time model of the planet from space, on the desktop. Mr. Pesce is the author of two books, "VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace", and "VRML: Flying Through the Web", both published by New Riders Publishing. His latest project, "VRML University", a twenty-four week course on VRML, will be freely availble through Howard Rheingold's Electric Minds Web site later this fall.
Tony Parisi is a co-creator of VRML, the Virtual Reality Modeling Language. Tony is founder and president of his own company, Intervista which specializes in VRML technology.
John Sculley
CEO of Live Picture, Inc.
John Sculley describes his current role as a venture catalyst in information, communications and entertainment who stays abreast of four learning curves for emerging businesses: Imaging and publishing; educational entertainment; next generation Internet enabling technologies and Internet contentware, digital networks and communications.
Sculley is an active investor in several California start-ups including CEO of Live Picture, Inc; Seismic Entertainment; PeopleScape; Live World Productions and General Wireless.
Sculley is also co-founder of Sirius Thinking, Ltd. (a New York City children's educational entertainment company) and investor in several other early stage companies where brand building is important.
Sculley also invests in new ventures outside the USA including light emitting polymers for flat panel displays (UK); fixed based wireless for South Asia; Pay-per-view television for hotels in the Asia Pacific.
John Sculley was formerly CEO of Pepsi Cola Company for six years and CEO of Apple Computer for ten years, taking that company to no. 1 in worldwide PC market share by 1992, and the leader in multimedia computing. Sculley is best known as a marketing executive who brought big brand marketing to Silicon Valley in the early 1980's and led major brand building campaigns such as Pepsi Generation; Pepsi Challenge; Macintosh 1984; Apple desktop publishing; the launch of the PowerBook; the launch of QuickTime and the launch of Apple CD-ROM home computers.
Sculley divides his time between California and New York. Read more about John's vision in his Vera List lecture.
Bruce Damer
Co-Director, Contact Consortium,
President and CEO, DigitalSpace Corporation,
Founder, Biota.org
Bruce Damer is a founding co-director of the Contact Consortium, President and CEO of DigitalSpace Corporation, and a founder of Biota.org, the digital biology working group. Bruce spent a decade in software development creating object desktop systems for Xerox Corporation based on the pioneering Star workstation. This software is used in 120 countries to generate a significant percentage of the world's business documents. For Bruce, virtual worlds represented the first step beyond the desktop metaphor and the next wave of evolution for the Internet. Bruce conceived of the Contact Consortium as a force to enrich and power this new medium.
Bruce has degrees from the University of Victoria in his native country of Canada, and the University of Southern California. Bruce created one of the first and most successful software research and development laboratories in the former Eastern Bloc country of the Czech Republic. Other current research interests include optical computing, nanotechnology and paleobiology. Bruce has created community enrichment projects and groups worldwide, from art salons to research networks to the Contact Consortium.
Personal Statement
The greatest miracles in human history spring from chance meetings. Creating places
where people can meet and interact openly and pursue their passions will change the
future of the world. And we should care about the future, for we shall spend the rest
of our lives there. Virtual worlds on the Internet will be the biggest meeting place human
beings have ever made.
David Traub, a 1990 graduate of Harvard's Graduate School of Education with a focus on the application of virtual environemnts and multimedia to education, is a new media executive producer, entrepreneur and educational warrior. His lifelong focus is on the development of large-scale edutaintainment sites, venues and experiences where immersive technologies can be used to facilitate life-relevant epiphanies, and thus, improve the quality of a person's life.
Traub was most recently VP Creative, Executive Producer and a co-founding partner in Cloud 9 Interactive, producer of the "Wanna-Be" children's series of career CD ROM's, and Executive producer and Co-Founder partner in the production company MediaX. He was also producer and writer of EMI Records' "Promised Land" CD ROM, a values-based virtual reality game staring the band Queensryche, and associate producer of MCA Records' "On The Road With B.B. King;" was a development co-producer/writer for the proposed "In Search of the Lost Chord" CD ROM, starring the Moody Blues, and was consulting Executive Producer for Multimedia for Capital Records (1993-1994).
David has produced, written, consulted upon or co-developed multimedia and/or business development projects for or with entities such as Apple Computer, Apple Australia, Austrian Broadcast Network (ORF), Britannica Software, Capital-EMI Records, Cloud Nine Interactive Media, EMI Records, EMI Record Group North America, Enchante Innertainment, Inc., Enter Television (At Live!), Globo Television, Networks, The Government of the Republic of China, The Government of Ontario Ministery of Culture, GTE-Imagitrek, Hakuhodo, "The Lawnmower Man" (all display graphics), MCA Records (MCA Records Interactive), Microsoft Corporation, The MIT MediaLab, Netscape Communications, Pacific Telesis, Philips Interactive Media, The Rolling Stones, Second City, SONY Australia, Topix Interactive (Toronto), Viacom, Verbum, and Wanbishi Archives.
Stuart Gold
Bauer, Gold and Associates
Stuart Gold studied architecture at North London Polytechnic and practiced as an architect for five years, specialising in the development of computer aided design systems for use by architects.
He left mainstream architecture to establish a company that provided public videotext information on British Telecom's Prestel service. Seven years ago he began his consultancy, Bauer Gold Associates, offering bespoke database solutions. In the past year he has begun to specialise in the provision of corporate data over the Internet, and to explore the new technology of virtual reality in cyberspace.
He is a member of the Contact Consortium and as Campus Architect he is responsible for developing a virtual university to be built in Alpha World. He is currently organising an international competition for schools of architecture to design the university campus.
Linda Jacobson
VR Evangelist, Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Linda Jacobson is senior editor of COMPUTER LIFE and the author of the nonfiction books GARAGE VIRTUAL REALITY: THE AFFORDABLE WAY TO EXPLORE VIRTUAL WORLDS (SAMS/Prentice Hall) and CYBERARTS: EXPLORING ART AND TECHNOLOGY (Miller-Freeman). Since 1980, she has been a technical writer, editor, and contributor of articles and essays to numberous high-tech publications, including MacUser, MacWeek, A.I. Expert, and Wired, a magazine she helped launch. Her more recnt activities include serving as Virtual Worlds editor for Wired; helping scientists document ubiquitous computing inventions at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center; found, co-organizing, and hosting meetins of VeRGe, the Virtual Reality Educaitonal Foundation; and performing with musical/multimedia ensemble D'Cuckoo.
Stephen H. Lane, Ph.D.
President, KATrix Inc.
Dr. Lane has been involved with the research and development of intelligent control, artificial intelligence, and man/machine computer interface technology for the last 16 years. His responsibilities have ranged from basic technology development to computer hardware design, application software programming, project management and business development. Since its founding in 1993, Dr. Lane has overseen the internal development and marketing of KATrix's NeurRule Technology and has been responsible for project management of intelligent agent and game development efforts contracted with the David Sarnoff Research Center, the US Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM), Hasbro Inc. and AT&T. Dr. Lane received the Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University in 1980, the Master of Science Degree in Systems Engineering from UCLA in 1982, and the Ph.D. Degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 1988.
Mark Meadows
Creative Director, Construct Internet Design
Mark was most recently webmaster and online missionary for the Interactive Media Festival, as well as director of the Festival's VRML Arc Gallery. Through extensive graphics, programming, and writing experience Mark has established an international reputation in graphics and internet design. In 1994, he helped to set up the WeLL's website. Prior to this, he was a Photoshop artist and instructor, freelance illustrator and writer, painting instructor and magazine designer. Mark's fine arts background includes six solo painting exhibitions as well as three mixed-media exhibitions. A prolific writer, Mark holds a Bachelors degree in Math, Philosophy and Literature from St. John's college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also studied painting and photography at the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, biology with Harvard University, philosophy at the University of Colorado, and drawing and painting at Bemis Art School in Colorado Springs.
Todd Goldenbaum
Project Manager, Construct Internet Design
As an independent webmaster, Todd developed sites for the University of Phoenix Online Campus, the Esalen Institute, Ascend Communications, Wells Fargo Bank, and Orbit Interaction. Todd started developing multimedia for the Macintosh in college, amid the study of Mandarin Chinese and journalism. Since then, he has become an accomplished database programmer, multimedia developer, 3D modeler, and well-rounded Internet designer. Todd has a Bachelors degree from the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas, and a Bachelors degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures, also from the University of Kansas.
Michael Gough
Architect, Construct Internet Design
Michael is a professional architect with a design background that includes theater, graphics and painting. He brings 16 years of real-world architectural experience to the design of online spatial environments. Michael played a major role in the redevelopment of San Jose as director of the San Jose office of Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones, a nationally-recognized architecture firm, and subsequently as a partner at the design-focused spin-off, Jones Partners. Michael is proficient in the full range of computer applications in support of architectural work, from design and drafting to publication in print. He served as architect and primary modeler for the Interactive Media Festival's VRML Arc Gallery. This project inspired him to dedicate himself to the discovery and implementation of design principles for distributable cyberspace environments. Michael holds a Bachelors degree in Architecture from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. He also studied at the University of Oregon and at the College of Marin.
Mark Lawton
Architect, Construct Internet Design
In the physical world Mark has worked as a designer/model builder for Antoine Predock in New Mexico. In San Francisco he has worked at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as a designer/model builder/computer draftsman for the new San Francisco International Airport terminal.
Mark holds a bachelor of architecture from Cornell University where he also dabbled in photography, furniture design, and lithography. After studying under Donald Greenberg, Director of Computer Graphics, and subsequently working for him, Mark's plunge into cyberspace was official.
After funding (or lack thereof) precluded his skatepark design to be built in Ithaca, New York, he came to believe that the only way it could survive was in the virtual computer world... and on the pages of Thrasher Magazine. Mark believes the web will yield new horizons for shreddable architecture.
Gever Tulley
Pyrotechnician, Construct Internet Design
Gever brings a wealth of technical and graphical design to the Construct stew. His non-traditional synergistic approach to product design has netted many awards. Previously, he was a game designer at Protozoa (a leading-edge developer and producer of real-time motion-capture character animation systems). Prior to that he was the Director of Engineering at Xaos Tools. While there he managed the development of breakthrough organic image generation tools that won critical acclaim in the industry. His history in the computer graphics industry extends all the way back to the early eighties. He brings a very playful attitude to the graphical design of his projects which is reflected in the simple and effective fun-to-use products that he has developed.
John Shiple
Interface Designer, Construct Internet Design
I am insane. Stratus is even worse. I do the Crazy VRML. You have been warned.
Nathan Wagoner
DuckSoup Information Services
Nathan Wagoner was trained in fine arts, and spent 15 years working as a full time artist before becoming part of the online industry in 1992. He has been giving presentations on WorldWideWeb Marketing and design for the Web World Conferences (DCI) for 2 years, both as part of a team with Marketing Masters and individually. DuckSoup Information Services was formed with two other skilled, experienced designers in 1995 as a web design firm, but has changed orientation to concentrate on designing, building and understanding virtual worlds and how people use them.
Judith Rubin
Fujitsu Software Corporation
Judith Rubin is WorldsAway marketing writer for Fujitsu Software Corporation. Before she became an avatar, Rubin spent eight years as associate editor/publisher of World's Fair magazine, a special-venue entertainment quarterly. Her articles about entertainment trends and technology have appeared in several amusement-park trade publications including Funworld, At-the-Park and Sound & Video Contractor. Rubin believes that in-home and out-of-home entertainment are rapidly merging.
Jim Bumgardner
The Palace, Incorporated
Jim Bumgardner, chief technology officer for The Palace, Inc, is the creator of the Palace. Jim designed the Palace architecture in 1994, wrote the code for the client and server, designed the original palace site and created some of the artwork and sounds.
Prior to the Palace, Jim worked at Time Warner Interactive since January 1991, where he helped create the CD-ROMs "How Computers Work", "Desert Storm", and "Seven Days in August", among others. He produced "Visions of Mars", a CD-ROM time capsule which is being sent to the planet Mars on the Russian Mars '96 space mission. A specialist in the area of multimedia programming (graphics, music, video, interactivity), Jim is also an amateur magician, and an accomplished pianist and composer. Visit Jim's Website at http://www.thepalace.com/jbum/.
Reid Hoffman
Fujitsu Software Corporation
Currently, Reid is the product manager for WorldsAway. His work there focuses on the landscape of social spaces, establishing real identities in virtual space, and building virtual worlds for real world purposes. He has worked for Apple Computer as a lead human interface designer for eWorld. His work there focused on making complex on-line environments easy to use and integrating international linguistic and cultural issues into consumer on-line systems.
Reid also appeared recently on Firing Line (the William F. Buckley show) to debate the regulation of the internet. He has also been interviewed recently by NHK for a show on the future impact of virtual communities upon real communities. Reid has a bachelor's degrees from Stanford University (Cognitive Science) and a master's degree from Oxford University (Philosophy). Reid has published an article on the future of Artificial Intelligence.
Greg "Ogilvie" Oberfield
Fujitsu Software Corporation
Greg "Ogilvie" Oberfield, has a long history with computers, online services and community. Starting off at the tender age of 15 and embarking with his (then) high-speed 300bps modem he quickly (over 10 years) realized the potential of this new means of communication. He has been sending his digital personae around the world through various services ever since. Having worked for America Online as a consultant and more recently as a producer and community manager at Apple's now defunct online service eWorld has given him a unique perspective on online community. He now amuses himself as the producer for Fujitsu's WorldsAway product, the premiere virtual world software product available today.
As a writer, producer, director, and performer, with an extensive professional background in theater, circus, opera, comedy, and puppetry; Petrakis' work focuses on the presentation of new and collaborative ideas as forms of entertainment. For fun, he co-produces ANON SALON, a monthly South of Market pARTy, as well as the occasional COBRA LOUNGE, an eclectic electronic vaudeville, hosted by his onstage and on-line alter- ego, Spoonman. In the so-called real world, he has served as a creative consultant to a wide range of technology companies such as Apple Computer, Broderbund Software, Kaleida Labs, and Living Books, Ameritech, Cunningham Communications, and PowerTV as well as to advertising agencies such as Jamison, Cawdrey, Benjamin and J. Walter Thompson. He is currently senior producer and Palace Creative Director for Electric Minds (www.minds.com), a new experiment in community raising, arriving this fall.
Paul Godwin
New Dog Music and The WorldSong Project
Paul Godwin is a composer and the director of New Dog Music, San Francisco's premiere studio for the creation of original music and sound design for new media applications. Recent projects include the live big-band music and retro sound design for Gravity/Grolier's Banzai Bug; sound design for MPath's MPlayer client and RealAudio surftours and Logo's for HotWired. Paul is originally from New York City where he spent the last decade creating music for rap records, tv commercials and such feature films as "Road Scholar". He is the recipient of the Gold Lion from the Cannes Film Festival for his 1991 IKEA commercial campaign.
With Mark Pesce and Phil Harrington, Godwin is a creator of The WorldSong Project, a virtual environment for the exploration and navigation of our planet's sounds. Recent presentations of his ideas have included The Doors of Perception in Amsterdam and at SIGGRAPH '96. Godwin records and performs with "DOGON" the Venezuelan/American electronic duo whose latest ethno-neuro-trance CD "notdunjusta" has just been released on New Dog Records.
Elisa Lodge is a an International Consultant, Motivational Speaker and Presentation Coach that has taken her message of vital Leadership throughout the world. She has over thirty years of experince teaching body/mind therapies. Elsa is an Expressive Arts Therapist, Professional Actress and has been a Group Leader at Esalen Institute since 1979. Elisa currently seves on the California Task Force for Self-Esteem in the Workplace.
Brenda Laurel
Member of the research staff, Interval Research Corp.
Brenda Laurel has worked as a designer and researcher in interactive media since 1977. Employers and consulting clients include Atari, Activision, Apple, LucasArts Entertainment, Fujitsu, Sony Pictures, Paramount New Media, Lotus, Citibank, and the Communication Research Institute of Australia. Since 1992 she has been a member of the research staff at Interval Research Corp. in Palo Alto, California, where she coordinates a program investigating gender and technology issues. She currently leads an advance development effort based on this research to create interactive media for young girls. Laurel has published extensively in the areas of human-computer interaction, computer-based agents, interactive narrative, and virtual reality. In 1993 she co-designed and produced the Placeholder virtual-environment project at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Laurel is editor of the book, The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design [Addison-Wesley, 1990], and author of Computers as Theatre [Addison-Wesley, 1991, paperbound edition 1993]. She holds an M.F.A. and Ph.D. in theatre from Ohio State University.
Cliff Figallo was Director of the Whole Earth Lectronic Link (the WeLL) for six of its most formative years. He has also worked as Director of member affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and as a consultant on virtual community building for the Institute for the Future and AOL among others. He is currently Developer of Interactive Applications, working with Web-based chat and conferencing tools for GNN. Before going digital, Cliff lived for a decade in an intentional self-sufficient community called the Farm where he learned a whole lot about how people behave when sharing resources.
Evelyn Pine is the former managing director of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. As Executive Director of the Community Memory Project, she managed a public access computer network in Berkeley. As the Deputy Director of the Foundation for Community Service Cable TV, she created a million dollar grants program directed to local governments, schools, and community groups. She is currently directing an Electronic Frontier Foundation-sponsored project to explore community uses of Internet TV technologies.
As Director of Conferencing, Gail Ann Williams serves as the "Online Innkeeper" for The WeLL. Since 1991, she has supported community-building efforts, resolved disputes and trained over 100 conference hosts.
Prior to joining The WeLL, Gail worked in arts and community organizations. As a founding member of the award-winning satire group, "Ladies Against Women," she learned of "flames" as "heckling" or "bad reviews." She values online interactions for their ability to (sometimes) instill empathy.
John Sanborn is a video artist and director who has been making ground breaking media works since 1978. In the interactive field he was affiliated with (Colossal)Pictures for five years where he served as creative director for clients such as "TV Guide", Time-Warner, Hewlett-Packard, Bell Atlantic, Paramount and Silicon Graphics, developing interactive environments and services. While at (Colossal)Pictures he created (with his screenwriting partner Michael Kaplan) and directed "Psychic Detective", the only interactive movie to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival.
Robert Rockwell
Chief Scientist, Black Sun Interactive
Robert Rockwell, Ph.D. is Chief Scientist at Black Sun Interactive. Bob's history in the worlds of computer graphics and computer-supported collaborative work dates from 1975, when he helped to create a set of visionary design requirements for a geographic data visualization system to display the social and environmental impact of proposed government policies, and so make them subject to informed public debate. Turning to software engineering in 1979, he co-developed one of the very first CASE toolsets for MIS applications. His move to Germany in 1981 began a 15-year involvement in the design, development and practical deployment of Maestro, the world's first collab-orative environment for enterprise-scale software engineering. As Technical Director of the multi- national Eureka Software Factory project, and later as Chief Technology Advisor for the Munich-based Softlab GmbH, Bob's many papers and talks on fundamental issues in software development have earned him a wide international audience.
Bob's previous and parallel lives include time as an actor/director and anthropologist, school reformer and researcher into the evolution of sexual behavior and organizational culture, which may explain why he finds the Contact approach to cyberspace so congenial.
Konstantin Guericke
VP Sales & Marketing, Black Sun Interactive
Before joining Black Sun, Konstantin was Executive VP at Caligari where he implemented key strategic partnerships and shepherded Caligari's VRML efforts. Prior to Caligari, he held senior management positions in sales, marketing and development at Micrografx, after establishing the Central European office of Roykore, a graphics start-up acquired by Micrografx. Konstantin holds a BS & MS from Stanford University.
Michael A. Hilgenberg
Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Integrated Data Systems
Michael Hilgenberg brought more than 15 years experience in sales and marketing of high-technology products and services to IDS when he joined the company in 1995. In his current position, he is responsible for cultivating relationships with strategic partners and customers, as well as overseeing the development of the company's distribution channels.
Hilgenberg's extensive experience includes corporate management, strategic business planning, sales and marketing management, channel marketing and the development and implementation of customer satisfaction programs.
Prior to joining IDS, Hilgenberg was president and chief executive officer for Stealth Computer Systems, Inc., a Sun workstation clone manufacturer. He also served as vice president of sales, marketing and service for Sony's Microsystems Division, where he helped establish the company as the world's sixth largest workstation vendor. Hilgenberg also held the position of director of customer service for Symbolics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of symbolic processing computer systems. Hilgenberg earned his bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif.
Mitra
Chief Network Technology Office, ParaGraph International
Mitra is Chief Network Technology Office for ParaGraph International, leading their networking development. He has 12 years of experience developing online systems including co-authoring the Moving Worlds proposal recently accepted for VRML2.0. His current standardization focus is on the Living Worlds proposal for personal, portable avatars and multiuser worlds. Find Mitra's complete resume at http://earth.path.net/mitra/. Reach Mitra at: mitra@earth.path.net.
Peter H. Rosen
V.A.R.I.O.U.S. and Creativity Cafe
Peter H. Rosen is a multimedia artist, interactive event producer and concerned citizen. He founded Visionary Artists' Resources Including Other Unique Services (V.A.R.I.O.U.S.), in 1980 to build a high tech artists' resource center for providing alternative income streams for artists, and for exploring the use of art and technology for educational entertainment, healing and global community empowerment. He directed a 1983 prototype including the worlds first video disk recorder programmed as an Image Storage and Retrieval System for contemporary art. His careers include radio program host, broadcast television cameraman for the ABC Television Network, recording engineer, photographer, music teacher, electronics technician and computer graphics artist. As a coordinator at the California Museum of Science and Industry's Creative Computer exhibit, he taught computer graphics to artists, school groups and visitors. In 1989, Mr. Rosen initiated the Arts for Social Change awards to recognize artists using technology for a better world. He currently is developing Creativity Cafe (R) a physical and cyber space educational entertainment venue, and community communication/resource center where the creative tools of today can support the storytellers and leaders of tomorrow.
Bonnie A. Nardi
Research Scientist, Apple Research Laboratories, Apple Computer
Bonnie A. Nardi is a Research Scientist in the Apple Research Laboratories at Apple Computer. An anthropologist, she has studied Samoan villagers, spreadsheet users, brain surgeons, reference librarians and American teenagers, among others. She is interested in intelligent agents, end user programming, and theoretical approaches to the study of human-computer interaction, especially activity theory. She is the author of A Small Matter of Programming: Perspectives on End User Computing, MIT Press, 1993, and the editor of Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer Interaction, MIT Press, 1996. The agents software she has been working on, Apple Data Detectors, will ship via the Internet early in 1997.
Steve DiPaola
Lead Architect and Director, Design Group, OnLive! Technologies
Steve DiPaola is Lead Architect and Director of the Design Group at the Cupertino startup OnLive! Technologies. For several years he was a member of the Advanced Technology Group at the San Mateo electronic entertainment company, Electronic Arts. From 1984 to 1992 he was a member of the computer animation research group at the New York Institute of Technology where he specialized in 3D character animation research. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from SUNY at Stony Brook and an M.A. in Computer Graphics from NYIT. His computer graphic art work has been shown internationally at art galleries, museums and major computer art exhibitions. His current email address is steve@onlive.com.
Tim Riley
Technical Director, dFORM
Tim's background combines extensive scientific research with a comprehensive knowledge of Internet technology. He received a B.A. in 1991 from St. John's College, a unique liberal arts school that draws its curriculum from the classic works of western culture. Tim then went on to explored the application of molecular 3D visualization at NYC's Mt. Sinai Hospital; he researched the statistical impact of instabilities within genomic libraries at the LANL Human Genome Center; and he founded and directed the "St. John's College Spark Chamber Research Group" to examine subatomic dynamics. These experiences led him to search for new ways to visualize complex biological and chemical interactions. He discovered the burgeoning WWW and realized the immense potential it holds for improving education and the transmission of scientific information. In 1996, Tim co-founded dFORM, a VRML design company focused on science and education. Since then, Tim has worked with VRML and other Internet technologies to demonstrate the viability of using the Internet to transform existing educational models.
Josh Draper
Lead Modeller, dFORM
Josh started working with 3D media as a potter and later taught pottery to children. His design skills extended into sculpture, jewelry making and furniture. He brought the computer into his artistic process by creating laser cut furniture and sculpture. In 1995, he founded Draper Designs, and gained recognition as a designer and fabricator of custom furniture, vessels, and sculpture, including designing the awards for the Interactive Media Festival. Josh received his B.A. from St.John's College, where he acquired a love for education. This passion, combined with his extensive 3D visualization skills, led him to join the Euclid Project, a collaborative effort to model Euclid's perfect solids for a VRML based geometry tutorial. This project showed Josh the power of VRML as a learning tool. In 1996, Josh co-founded dFORM, a VRML design company focused on science and education. He now creates models ranging from scientific visualizations to educational demonstrations.
Adrian Scott
Founder and Principal, Aereal
Adrian Scott is founder of Aereal Inc., which has pioneered the dynamic creation of personalized VRML worlds. Most recently he founded VRMLSite Magazine, an online site published by Aereal which is devoted to helping advanced users and commercial Web developers use VRML. Aereal also creates Web advertising, including Java/VRML advertisements for GMO Advertising's Symantec Cafe campaign.
David Colleen
Founder, Planet 9 Studios
David Colleen is a founder of Planet 9 Studios. An architect by training, Colleen has led the development of virtual worlds for corporate marketing sites and virtual cities, including VRSoma.
Kris Hagerman
Founder, BigBook
Kris Hagerman is founder of BigBook, an online Yellow Pages site. He was previously a product manager in SGI's WebForce team. BigBook has created BigBook3D, a VRML interface to Yellow pages data, which includes VRML advertising.
Michael Tchong
Editor, CyberAtlas
Michael Tchong is Editor of CyberAtlas, published by I/PRO, and founder of MacWEEK. He is a veteran of several ad agencies, including DDB, Bozell & Jacobs, McCann-Erickson, and Chiat/Day. CyberAtlas is the preeminent Web site focused on Internet marketing and research.
Bernie Roehl
Software Developer, University of Waterloo, Canada
Bernie Roehl is a software developer based at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He is probably best known in VR circles for REND386 and AVRIL, free VR software packages that are still in widespread use by hobbyists. REND386 won the 1995 Meckler award for outstanding software achievement.
Bernie is also the author of two books on VR, Virtual Reality Creations and Playing God: Creating Virtual Worlds, and he recently co-authored Que's Special Edition: Using VRML. He has also contributed chapters on VRML to half a dozen other books.
He is currently writing for VR News, CyberEdge Journal and WebSMITH and has previously written for VR World and VR Special Report. He has also contributed articles to Real Time Graphics and Iris Universe magazine.
In addition to his writing, Bernie is an active participant in numerous online discussions of VR and VRML. He currently chairs the Virtual Humans Architecture Group.
Bernie also designed the curriculum for one of the first community college programmes in VR, for New Brunswick Community College. He is also a popular speaker on VR and VRML at various conferences throughout the year.
His home page is http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~broehl/bernie.html, and his email address is broehl@ece.uwaterloo.ca.
Andrea Gallagher
Executive Producer, Worlds, Inc.
Andrea is the Executive Producer at Worlds, Inc. She oversees the design of multi-user, virtual environments created by our production studio, and helps guide the design of our suite of products. Previously, as the first multi-media producer hired by the company, Andrea produced a number of innovative products including Worlds Chat, IBM Virtual World, and the Visa Electronic Courtyard.
Prior to Worlds, Andrea was an intern at Apples’ Advanced Technology Group where she pursued her interests in developing interfaces for advanced information retrieval, and human-computer interaction. Earlier, Andrea worked in interface design at Caltech where she designed a direct manipulation library catalog for young children. She received a B.A. in psychology at the University of Michigan researching the performance benefits of various features in information retrieval systems.
Marty Stoneman was the interdisciplinary innovator chiefly responsible for the Anthrobotics developments over the past twelve years. His formal education includes a B.Sc. in mathematics from Ohio State University and a J.D. from Capital University. After employment at Battelle as a research scientist studying brittle rock fracture in innovative methods of drilling rock, he worked at Battelle, at the General Electric Computer Department, and in private practice as a patent attorney. He has presented many technical papers at international conferences in areas from humor (How To Make A Computer Laugh, W.H.I.M. Conf., 1985) to AI Philosophy (Interdisciplinary Behavioral Languages, A.S.U. Conf., 1988) to Virtual Reality (Robot Brains And Teleoperation, N.Y. V-R Conf., 1993) to General Semantics (The Importance of Story-Telling to Time-Binding, Hofstra GS Conf., 1995); and his behavioral books of the early '80's presaged the growth of evolutionary psychology approaches. While at Anthrobotics, Marty was responsible for the system designs for the software demonstrating feasibility of many of his new strong AI approaches to building intelligent entities, including the use of a sort of virtual reality created inside the entity.
Rusel DeMaria has been playing electronic games for nearly 30 years. For many, that would be an admission of guilt, but Mr. DeMaria sees it as a badge of honor. After editing several gaming magazines, and writing more than 50 game strategy guides, most of his time now is spent designing original games and game doctoring - consulting with other companies to make their games more fun. Currently, Mr. DeMaria is the Creative Director of M3 e.Guide Publishing, which creates cool electronic strategy guides. He is also Computer Gaming World's Online Editor-at-Large for CGW's e-zine. He works with the Contact Consortium as a director in the gaming area.
Fabrice Florin
President and Executive Producer, Zenda Studio
Fabrice Florin is President and Executive Producer of Zenda Studio, a provider of multiplayer games and virtual worlds that bring people together, both online and offline. Since forming Zenda in 1994, Fabrice has led the development of multi-user interfaces and online environments for market leaders such as Compaq, Disney, Electronic Arts, Philips and Sony. Zenda is also well known for creating a new genre of multiplayer entertainment: our award-winning CD-ROM games, Wacky Jacks and Travelrama, are fun, easy to use and played by over half a million users around the world.
Fabrice was Executive Producer and Senior Designer at Apple Computer from 1985 to 1994. As head of Apple's Discovery Studio, Fabrice designed widely acclaimed user interfaces for interactive TV (EZTV, Technopolis). As founding member of Apple's Multimedia Lab, he developed some of the very first educational CD-ROM products (Life Story, Visual Almanac). Prior to joining Apple, Fabrice was President of Videowest Productions, an independent producer of TV programming for young adults, from 1978 to 1984. As Executive Producer, he oversaw the production and distribution of award-winning magazine-style TV series for broadcast and cable - including ABC, BBC, MTV, USA, Showtime and PBS.
John Barrows
President, the blue wolf network
John's company conceives of and creates 3D web entertainment experiences using artificially intelligent bots and other multi-media tools. John started tbwn late last year. He has spent 25 years in upper management/marketing roles in the organizations of Ralph Lauren, Reebok International, and MCA/Universal. He has a BS in Economics from Union College, and an MBA from U. of Virginia's Darden School. He is a creative (ahem) genius and visionary who has practically no technical skills. His joint venture partner is Keith Cooley.
Keith Cooley
President, Coolware Inc.
Keith's company started 10 years ago as a software development company and established its web presence in 1994. Keith has 16 years of experience with Bell Labs, Bellcore, IBM's TJ Watson Research Center, and Apple Computer. He has a Bachelor's from U. of Nottingham. England. He translates the blue wolf's ideas into VRML and AI.
Maclen Marvit has spent many years bringing technology from the bleeding edge to a reliable practical state. ...making it real and making it work. has always been a priority for Maclen.
While at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories Maclen helped design fault tolerant fiber-optic networks for spacecraft and developed systems for optical neural computing. This, along with his work on secure digital voice and video transmission, contributed to his winning the prestigious Achievement Award prize.
At IBM, Maclen worked on RAID systems, disk arrays and controllers that are both higher speed more fault tolerant than conventional systems. This work was pioneering in making RAID systems the ultra-reliable systems that they are today.
Engaged as a multimedia producer at Knowledge Adventure, a leading producer of educational CD-ROM titles, Maclen co-produced the award winning Science Adventure II and produced Space Adventure II.
Maclen is now at Worlds Inc. where he is helping guide the creation of tools and technologies for 3D Multiuser virtual environments. Worlds corporate mission is to use computers and networks to create environments for social computing. To do this, to make multi-user VR a mass medium, a whole series of technologies must be developed, refined, and made widely accessible. This effort is currently the focus of Maclen's attention.
Pat Paquette
Research Director, Toonsmiths
Pat Paquette, Research Director of Toonsmiths, has 20 years of experience as a writer, researcher and writing consultant. Over the past five years, she has provided writing and consulting for computer industry clients, including Dataquest and Borland. Before that, she was a staff reporter for McGraw-Hill and The Associated Press, and a freelance correspondent for The New York Times, Business Week, the San Jose Mercury News and several other publications. In the course of her career in journalism, Pat interviewed high-profile personalities in government, business and entertainment, from country singer Barbara Mandrell to then-Sen. Al Gore Jr.
Pat holds a B.A. in Journalism from The George Washington University. She is working on her first novel, set in Silicon Valley in the not-too-distant future.
I remember starting out billions and billions of years ago as just another layer of protoplasm bacteria in the great soup of life. Sense then a lot of things have changed for me. I have had a strange and unique life filled with a rich esoteric value mix with a very cynical sense of karma, such as several very deep near death experience. (but I am feeling much better now.) The work I do is for the HE and the She that forms and are formed from the Tao, creativity in worship of creation.
I would like to thank everyone that I have meet in this Cybernation, for all
the support and the time that people have taken to share that of life with
me. I have found each person creating some part of me and my friends
shaping some deeper fragment, descending into that part of the being that
can only be reached by the mind's imagination to leap beyond logic or
reason, to go directly into the heart.
We are one tribe and one relation within this world our nation.
As a techno-psycho-social explorer, Kitty Wells has been working recently as a Webcast Director and consultant in Internet content product development. She served as VP of Strategy and Communications for MainStream Control, Inc., an early innovator in digital streaming technology. Immersed in interactive media since 1989, she has designed, produced, and written scripts for numerous interactive advertising programs, and was involved in prototype and standards development for interactive television. From 1981-1989, she developed, designed and produced music, video, art and photography projects in New York City.
Frank Schwartz
Producer and Technical Producer for IS?TV
One of Silicon Valley's most respected multimedia executives, Frank Schwartz combines interdisciplinary skills in content and business development, technology integration, operational planning, intellectual property, and standards development. Most recently, he has been involved in on-line entertainment as Producer and Technical Producer for IS?TV and L-Squared Communications, and as VP of Strategic Relations for 7th Level. Previously, he was President of MainStream Control, Inc., an early innovator in digital streaming technology. He has stayed on the leading edge of technology throughout his career, leading teams to develop digital streams control software and circuitry, satellite systems, interactive television, broadband and narrow-band networks, robotics systems, and mainframe-to-minicomputer interfaces. He has provided advice on changing technology directions and products to AMD, Avon, Cablevision, Compaq, Disney Imagineering, Deutche Bundespost, FCC, Goldstar, GTE, Intel, Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and many other organizations. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Video Electronics Standards Association, and was the founding Chairman of the VESA Open Set Top Standards Committee.
Brett Leonard
Director, creative architect, L-Squared Communications
One of Hollywood's new media visionaries, Brett Leonard is the creative architect of L-Squared Communications, a diversified media company, and IS?TV, an on-line entertainment company. In 1992 he directed and co-wrote the commercial hit motion picture The Lawnmower Man which introduced the concept of virtual reality to the pop culture. His most recent directorial efforts have been Hideaway, for Tristar Pictures, and Virtuosity, for Paramount Pictures. L-Squared Visual Effects, a division of L-Squared Communications, created all the critically acclaimed visual effects for Virtuosity. Mr. Leonard directed the first music motion simulation film, Peter Gabriel's "Kiss That Frog," which toured theme partks across the US and won the MTV Music Award for Best Special Effects. He was also involved in the creation of the first touring media pavilion The Future Zone, for Mr. Gabriel's North American WOMAD Festival. He has served as a consultant to many Hollywood entertainment companies, including Sony Corporation's high-tech think tank Sony 2000.
David Fox
LiveWorld Productions
David Fox and his wife Annie co-founded Marin Computer Center in 1977, the world's first public-access microcomputer center. He then became one of the founding members of the Games Division at Lucasfilm Ltd. (now LucasArts Entertainment Company) in 1982. During his 10 year stay with LucasArts, he was the designer, project leader, and one of the programmers for the games Rescue on Fractalus!, Labyrinth, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure. He also worked on Maniac Mansion as the primary script programmer. During his last two years at LucasArts he was the Manager of Entertainment Software on Mirage (a collaboration between LucasArts and Hughes Aircraft Corporation). This multi-player, networked Virtual Reality entertainment system was intended for theme parks. After leaving LucasArts, David spent a year independently designing and producing children's CD-ROM titles and consulting with various entertainment companies on Virtual Reality projects.
Ioannis Paniaras
University of Art and Design in Helsinki
Ioannis Paniaras is doing design research at the Media Lab of the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, and he is the founder and managing director for Warbot LifeLike Avatar, a start-up consulting company focusing on the inception and commercialization of avatar oriented design services. WarbotÕs vision is to make cyberspace inhabited from avatars representing the entire kaleidoscope of cultures and ethnic groups.
Ioannis started his education in fashion design and marketing in Florence, Italy. He is the recipient of numerous educational grants from national and private organizations in Europe. During the last six years he has been taking part in study programs in Stockholm, Paris, New York, and Helsinki. In 1992 he received the Avanguardia Italia award, for a clothes collection he designed together with two more colleagues in Italy.
In Finland Ioannis completed his studies in the subject of virtual identities in computer mediated communication at the University of Art & Design. He is currently focusing in avatar design development and he is interested in the social and cultural aspects of virtual communities. He is also studying the means fashion trends are created. His primary motivation is based on his vision to transform design, and style conscious artifacts into software based equivalents that will influence social life in cyberspace in the same way they influence people in real life. He envisages the creation of products and services for avatars that will make virtual visual and behavioral styling a daily cyberspace commodity. Ioannis this year will give lectures in the subject of virtual identities in computer mediated communication and avatar design, at the University of Art & Design in Helsinki, and at the University of Rovaniemi in Lapland. He can be reached at paniaras@uiah.fi.
Alexander Besher is the author of RIM: A Novel of Virtual Reality (HarperCollins West trade, '94; HarperPrism mass market, '96). His first novel, RIM was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award in 1994; it has been translated into 10 languages; and film and interactive rights have been acquired by TriStar Pictures for Robin and Marsha Williams' Blue Wolf Productions. Besher is currently writing two sequels to RIM for Simon & Schuster, including MIR and CHI'S CHILDREN. He recently completed a book entitled @: A Virtual Tale of the Coming Millennium with two collaborators, Pamela Engebretson and Françoise Bollerot. @ is a new genre--a meditation entertainment, or meditainment. A hybrid in form, it is part printed-page, part Web-oriented. (An @ hot link, The Virtual Tao, appeared in The Shambhala Sun and can be read on-line at www.shambhalasun.com.)
Born in China and raised in Japan, Besher is a San Francisco-based author and journalist, whose Pacific Rim weekly column on business and technology in the Asia-Pacific was syndicated by Chronicle Features (San Francisco) for seven years. He is also the author of THE PACIFIC RIM ALMANAC (HarperCollins Publishers, '92); and has served as a contributing editor to InfoWorld magazine as well as a consulting futurist on Pacific Rim affairs for Global Business Network, an Emeryville, CA-based think tank specializing in corporate scenario planning. He also consults in an advisory capacity to ParaSun Technologies, a new Vancouver, Canada-based multi-media company which is developing social-minded VR games for the world Internet market. Besher's e-mail address is besher@hooked.net.
Wendy Sue Noah
Independent Consultant
Wendy Sue Noah has played an active role in building online community over the past two years. As an early employee of Match.Com , the premiere online matchmaking service with over 120,000 subscribers, Wendy Sue organized and hosted national member events off-line as well as in virtual space. In collaboration with the Contact Consortium, she hosted the very first single’s social mixer in avatar form. As a specialist in building online relationships and community, Wendy Sue provided guidance to the membership base on how to effectively meet people in this new virtual environment. As well, she works closely with women by establishing the safety features involved with cyber-relationships and through implementing free women internet seminars last fall.
Mike Sellers
Internet Game Designer, The 3DO Company
Mike Sellers, 35, is a Internet Game Designer at The 3DO Company. Established in 1991, 3DO creates and publishes advanced entertainment software for personal computers, the Internet, and 32-bit and 64-bit video game platforms.
Prior to joining 3DO, Mr. Sellers founded Archetype Interactive, and developed Meridian 59, the first 3-D multi-user dimension (MUD) Internet game. Mr. Sellers was the Game Designer and Creative Director for the product, which is currently available worldwide.
Before Archetype Interactive, Mr. Sellers was a User Interface Designer at ISG Technologies where he designed and developed user interfaces for ground-breaking radiological products for use by physicians. Mr. Sellers holds a degree in Cognitive Science, a self-designed degree incorporating psychology, neurology, and computer science, from Lewis and Clark College.
Jon M. Fox, Jr.
MediaCast Co-Founder
Jon Fox has worked in various media for over 9 years including audio, video and film production, and photography, as well as managing several sales, marketing and public relations endeavors. This last year has been devoted exclusively to forming MediaCast, a company that specializes in live Internet broadcasts which feature cultural and corporate events. The company has brought to the Internet such diverse subjects as Hewlett Packard's CEO Lew Platt giving a keynote address, Former President Jimmy Carter partaking in a world peace forum, and the first ever Cyber Luau featuring Hula dancers, slack key guitarists, and a pig roast.
Jon has also been the producer for several "netcasts" featuring artists such as Grammy Award nominee Joan Osborne, as well as events like the Rally for Free Speech in Cyberspace, and the 3 day Eden Music Festival from Toronto. He has helped secured sponsorship from technology as well as entertainment companies, and has been instrumental in negotiating contracts with artists, unions, and others in order to further the growth of MediaCast. Visit MediaCast at: http://www.MediaCast.com.
Steve Nichols
System Architect and Designer, Sierra Online
Steve Nichols is the System Architect and Designer for The Realm, Sierra's first on-line multiplayer graphical fantasy world. The game has supported eight hundred users and is currently up and running on AOL's Games Channel.
Steve has been with Sierra for five years working on a number of on-line projects for Sierra's Imagination Network now owned by AOL. Steve is currently Sierra's leading expert in on-line game development and resides at the Sierra Publishing Division located in Oakhurst, California near Yosemite National Park.
Craig Alexander
General Manager of Sierra Publishing, Sierra Online
Craig Alexander is the General Manager of Sierra Publishing, the original division of Sierra On-Line, Inc. located in Oakhurst, California near Yosemite National Park. In addition to the on-line product The Realm, Craig's other games include Phantasmagoria, Police Quest SWAT, and Gabriel Knight 2:the Beast Within (CGW's Game of the Year).
Craig has a wide variety of computer industry experience ranging from spacecraft development to microprocessor design. He received his BSEE degree in Computer Engineering from USC and his MBA from UCLA.
Charles Ostman
Science Editor, Mondo 2000; Director of Content development, Nanothinc
Charles Ostman, Founder, Developer Berkeley Designs
Berkeley Designs is a company which specializes in computer generated visualization of objects, quasi-organic component entities, events that occur in synthetic environments, and development of specialized software tools and techniques that relate to both technical and asthetic content expression. Particular emphasis is placed upon the investigation into the discovery of asthetic content derived from synthetic environments which utilize various dynamic rules to describe forms, structures, and surfaces as they would occur in "alternative" forms of nature.
Also, over the past two years, the author has been involved with recent developments in nanotechnology, including the creation of models of virtual nano-environments, molecular assembly com- ponents and component systems, self replicating and self modify- ing molecular "machines", quasi-viral components and pseudo- organelles, and other related areas of nanotecnology.
Please see his Extended Biography.
Johnny L. Wilson
Computer Gaming World Magazine
Johnny L. Wilson has written hundreds of computer game reviews in his 14 year association with Computer Gaming World magazine. In addition to being the top-ranked editor at CGW for the last five years, he is the author or co-author of The SimCity Planning Commission Handbook, The SimEarth Bible and Sid Meier's Civilization or Rome on 640K a Day. Wilson is also an inveterate fantasy gamer and usually has two or three other Play-by-Email games going on simultaneously. He has a background in English, Drama and Old Testament Studies, and has published scholarly works in the latter as well as his more lucrative writing on computer games.
Lynn Macias
Membership Coordinator, Contact Consortium; Webmaster,
Coherent Medical, Palo Alto, Ca
Lynn Macias came on board as the Contact Consortium Membership Coordinator in March, 1996. Lynn is also the webmaster for Coherent Medical Group in Palo Alto and freelances for an import/export internet mall. Freelance work also includes design, writing, and public relations assignments.
Lynn earned a degree in Journalism from San Francisco State University and has several years experience in Marketing and Marketing Communications. When time permits, she is also researching and writing a novel set in the gold rush era.
Lynn's interest in virtual worlds is primarily centered on the social communication aspects of digital space as well as the technical aspects of world building. Lynn compares the current convergence of the virtual worlds industry to surfing. Just wax your board and ride the wave!
Larry Kay
Creative Director,
Toonsmiths
Larry Kay is Creative Director for Toonsmiths, which specializes in creating animated comedy entertainment and family edutainment for the Internet and multimedia. His writing and game design credits include Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds (Humongous Entertainment), Muppet Treasure Island (Activision), 9 (Tribeca/GT Interactive), and his original cyberpunk comedy 3D action game, Surf and Destroy (Toonsmiths/MediaX/Grolier Interactive). Larry consults on Internet and multimedia projects for select clients, including: Brøderbund, Disney, Silicon Graphics, and Vortex Media Arts. Prior to Larry's digital media epiphany, he was a TV/film writer, producer, and executive producer with credits ranging from TV cartoons for MGM/UA’s Pink Panther series to PBS documentaries and educational films for the New York City Board of Education.
See our special page for Toonsmiths.
Gano Haine
Acting Director of Interface Design, Mpath Interactive
Gano Haine is a game designer and producer who recently has formed Stunt Puppy Interactive, an electronic entertainment developer targeting on-line games and environments, with Karen Johnson and Denise McKee of Karen Johnson Productions, Inc. How did this happen to them? What did they do to deserve it? All three worked on The ImagiNation Network's CyberPark, an immersive 3-D environment built with SGI graphics, with Gano in the producer role, Karen as outsource art director, and Denise as art project management.
Gano purchased a 2400 baud modem for an outrageous amount of money in 1986 and discovered sysoping, on-line chat, and other harder-to-describe experiences before it was fashionable. From a background in performance art and interactive education at Northwestern University and The University of Toronto, she became a game designer for Sierra On-Line in 1989 and later learned producing at Electronic Arts. She is currently acting Director of Interface Design at Mpath Interactive to continue studying the question: what do people really want to play on-line and how can a developer successfully provide it? Of course, understanding this involves much important primary research.
Timothy Childs
Co-founder, Curve Incorporated
Timothy Childs is a community builder and Virtual Reality professional who began researching Virtual Reality in 1989. In 1991 Childs was recruited by Ono-Sendai, an early virtual reality company. While at Ono-Sendai, Childs co-founded VeRGe. In 1993, Childs signed on at Colossal Pictures as technical producer of the Time Warner/SGI Orlando I-TV project. Childs relocated to Seattle in 1994 to join virtual reality start-up, Virtual I/O. He left in February of this year to return to the San Francisco Bay Area to co-found Curve, Inc., a 3D-online content company. Childs has currently been consulting with leading virtual reality software company, Superscape.
His interests include most dangerous sports which have a high degree of vertical displacement.
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