2010 Judges
Track 1: User-Centered Design
Farhad Manjoo
Technology writer
Farhad Manjoo is Slate's technology columnist, and he also writes frequently for The New York Times, Time, and Fast Company. He is the author of True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society, which argues that digital technology is helping society abandon facts in favor of ideology. He lives in San Francisco.
Lars Beer Nielsen
Research & Technology Attaché, Innovation Center Denmark
As research attaché at Innovation Center Denmark, Lars works with Danish and Bay Area universities and researchers. His goal is to help build strategic relations and strengthen collaborations between research communities in Denmark and the Bay Area. Prior to joining Innovation Center Denmark, Lars has held various positions at the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and in the Confederation of Danish industries (DI). The last five years Lars has also worked as an external lecturer at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Denmark where he taught American university students about the Danish welfare system.
Scott Paterson
IDEO
Scott Paterson is a project lead at IDEO. His work focuses on the intersection of technology and space whether designing mobile applications, embedded interfaces or physical environments. Scott is passionate about understanding how our experience can be supported, mediated and inspired by great interaction design. Since joining IDEO, he has developed a range of media solutions from community building within senior living residences to improving the body care experience. Scott lectures internationally about interaction design and art. His PDA-based art works have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and venues in Amsterdam, Berlin, Florence, and Mexico City. When he's not busy with the art scene Scott likes to pedal around town or off-road, sail the bay and tinker around the house while his cats look on.
Track 2: Information System Design
Zach Gillen
MIMS 2008
Senior IT Project Manager, Kaiser Permanente
Zach is a senior project manager in Business Integration and Interoperability with the Kaiser Permanente Care Delivery group. His projects include a National Health Information Exchange (NHIE) application, for which he works closely with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Defense. He has previously developed end-to-end web-based solutions for San Francisco General Hospital and worked with clinical EMR and ancillary solutions.
Mark Jacobsen
Managing Director, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures
Mark has over 20 years of experience advising companies and entrepreneurs. Mark was a co-founder of O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures in 2005. Mark is currently a board member of AMEE, CollabNet, Instructables, O'Reilly Media and TripIt, and a board observer of Chumby Industries and Acquia. Mark joined O'Reilly Media in 1995 and, as Executive VP for New Ventures and Business Development, managed its investment portfolio for nine years. Prior to joining O'Reilly Media, Mark was the Business Affairs Director at Colossal Pictures, an animation studio in San Francisco. Mark holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from St. Olaf College.
Nicole Wong
Vice president & deputy general counsel, Google
Nicole Wong is a vice president and deputy general counsel at Google, where she is responsible for Google’s product and regulatory matters; she is also a co-editor of Electronic Media and Privacy Law Handbook (2003). Nicole is a frequent speaker and author on issues related to law and technology, including four appearances before the U.S. Congress regarding Internet policy. She also has taught media and Internet law courses as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, Stanford University and University of San Francisco. Nicole received her law degree and a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley.
Track 3: Information Research and Analysis
Katherine Ahern
MIMS 2008
Katherine Ahern works for Paradigm Healthcare Services, a Medicaid (Medi-Cal) and health billing and consulting firm, where she develops web-based information systems to serve school districts, county offices of education, and other county governmental agencies. This work is a continuation of her graduate work at the School of Information where her master’s project, MD:Notes, a web-based clinical note capture tool designed for public hospitals, won the Chen award, implementation category, in 2008. Before joining Paradigm she was an R&D Engineer at UC Berkeley’s Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways, where she developed web-based visualization and data collection tools for transportation research. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from UC Santa Cruz.
Pieter Hartsook
Communications Manager, Sakai Foundation
As Communications Manager for the Sakai Foundation, Pieter is responsible for promoting Sakai, building the open source community, and facilitating intra-community communications. Pieter spent six years as the marketing person at the Open Source Applications Foundation, Chandler project; was VP of Marketing Analysis and Research for Apple Computer; and Assistant Director of Libraries at Howard University. His market research newsletter The Hartsook Letter was judged by CMP publications as one of the PC industry's top 5 most influential newsletters. He plays racquetball and ukulele — but not at the same time.
Patrick Schmitz
MIMS 2007
Semantic Services Architect, UC Berkeley
Patrick Schmitz is a semantic services architect and manager of the IST Data Services Architecture and Design group at UC Berkeley, where he focuses on bringing semantic intelligence to cultural heritage communities. Prior to this, he was in research groups at Microsoft, Yahoo!, and CWI in Amsterdam. He has extensive experience as system architect and software developer on multimedia and information management platforms, including semantic search technologies, professional video editing and effects gear, and video game and animation authoring systems. He co-founded several high-tech companies including Geoworks, Accom, Nervana, and Dimension X (acquired by Microsoft). Patrick is an invited expert and collaborator with W3C working groups developing Internet multimedia standards, and has published and presented at conferences and research institutions worldwide.
Steph Tryphonas
Principal Director, Microsoft
Steph directs a product team focused on human-centered natural interaction experiences for large enterprises and consumers. Steph joined Microsoft three years ago from the Tellme acquisition. At Tellme, he held a number of leadership roles across engineering, product, and business. Prior to Tellme, Steph spent five years designing and delivering knowledge and content management solutions for the Fortune 100. He lives in San Francisco.