Speakers 2022 – Dust or Magic

Dust or Magic features talks by some of the leading children’s media experts.

Joe Brumm

[by Zoom]

Joe Brumm is the creator of BLUEY, the number one children’s animation show that has taken Australia by storm. The show has been nominated for the International Emmy Kids Awards and has won many awards in Australia. Bluey is distributed by BBC in the UK and was released in the U.S. on Disney +. Previously, Brumm built his career as an animator for 10 years in London where he worked on numerous children’s series. Some projects include the Bafta winning CHARLIE AND LOLA, working in Kenya and training local crews for the BBC/Disney show TINGA-TINGA TALES and being commissioned to create the short film THE MEEK which won at the 2015 Austin Film Festival. Brumm now resides in Brisbane, Australia where he has founded Studio Joho, who produce animation for the likes of CollegeHumor, New Form Digital, GOMA and others.

Daren Carstens

Daren Carstens founded Carstens Studios Inc., where he authors, designs, programs and develops educational products for children. He has worked in K-12 educational publishing for 20 years, and his work has received many awards including the prestigious international Bologna Children’s Book Fair New Media Prize in the Best Educational Software category, 2010 & 2011 Parents’ Choice Gold Awards – Parents’ Choice Foundation, and 2010 & 2011 Editor’s Choice Awards – Children’s Technology Review. Daren combines the rare talent of a thorough understanding of learning processes with the ability to bring creativity and innovation to sound instructional products. In addition to creating and developing its own products Carstens Studios has partnered with other companies including PBS, The Jim Henson Company, and Money Savvy Generation.

Barbara Chamberlin

Barbara Chamberlin directs development of educational media at NMSU’s Learning Games Lab, including games, apps, interactive media and VR programs. Her background is in instructional design, with a PhD in educational technology. Their university-based shop operates as a non-profit design studio, and reaches a variety of audiences (from toddler to adult) with a variety of content (such as food and nutrition, math, financial literacy, and science). She’s also a mom, museum nerd, and maker of multi-part lists.

Cathy Tran

Cathy’s been part of product teams as a UX researcher, design strategist and writer for apps, physical toys, television and playgrounds. Her collaborations have centered around crafting educational and engaging experiences for kids while meaningfully involving and empowering parents and teachers. She’s currently working on projects at Google to define the features of high-quality kids media and to guide designers in creating better products for kids.

Playtest with Kids is a new toolkit designed to enable teams to create magical products by conducting meaningful research with kids. The methods, techniques, and examples have been shared by dozens of companies and vetted by child development researchers. The idea is to inspire teams to include children’s voices in their product design process. This session will feature a demo of the site and discussion of tips and best practices.

Robin Raskin

Robin Raskin is a long-time journalist, author, publisher, event producer and advocate for integrating technology into lifestyle. She was one of the early editors of PC Magazine, and one of the first women in technology publishing. Later she founded FamilyPC and helped to create Yahoo!Tech as well as other tech-forward publications. She’s the author of 6 books on kids and technology and appeared regularly on CBS and other networks.

In 2008 she founded Living in Digital Times (LIDT), the producers of a number of conferences and expos at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) and at conferences and events worldwide. The company’s trademark events include: The Last Gadget Standing, Digital Health Summit, FashionWare, Fitness Tech Summit, Kids@Play Summit, High Tech Retailing, Wearable Tech Summit and others. Raskin successfully sold the company in January 2020 and continues to consult for CTA and other technology clients. Her newest endeavor, the Virtual Events Group, focuses on the newly empowered virtual events industry and how we’ll meet now and in the future. She writes a weekly column about the intersection of technology and the economy for Techonomy.

Raskin plays an active role in high-tech policy issues. She has served on the National Academy of Sciences committee to explore Internet Safety, is a Trustee of the CTA Foundation, and is a director of the Global Industry Council founded under UNESCO. She won a lifetime achievement award from the CTA in 2020.

David Kleeman

When David Kleeman got into children’s media, there were four channels of television, telephones were attached to walls and had rotary dials, a tablet was something you took for a headache, Apple was neither a computer nor a celebrity’s daughter, and virtual reality was “the next big thing” for the first of 16 times.

David set out to become a preschool teacher, odd both for a man in the 1970s and for a Harvard undergraduate. Fortunately for generations of young children, he heard a lecture by Sesame Street‘s first advisory board chair Gerry Lesser, and decided to devote himself to teaching via media.

He has somehow forged a career out of going partway down many roads – academia, education, production, broadcasting and more – but always returning to the traffic roundabout. From there, he synthesizes expertise and information from all those roads. As a result, he’s a strategist, analyst, writer, speaker, connector, and frequent flyer-mile tycoon.

David is SVP of Global Trends for Dubit, a research and strategy consultancy and digital studio, focused on kid. He’s advisory board chair for the PRIX JEUNESSE international children’s TV festival, and on boards for the Children’s Media Association and the National Association for Media Literacy Education.

David is a Dust or Magic long-timer, more or less since the Big Bang “dust” coalesced to form the universe.

Mark Schlichting

Mark Schlichting is a passionate promoter for play. He is also a pioneer of the multimedia industry, an expert in children’s interactive design, and is probably best known as the creator of Brøderbund’s Living Books CD-ROM series. In 2000 Mark founded NoodleWorks Interactive, a creative consulting and production company specializing in innovative design for children. In November 2011, NoodleWorks released its’ first iPad app, a word toy called Noodle Words. His own multilingual storybook, Harry and The Haunted House, was re-released as a Wanderful interactive storybook app in October of 2012, and his textbook on design, Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design: How to Create Games Children Love, released in October 2016.

Most recently, Mark is a co-founder of Kinoo Inc. and serves as the Chief Creative Officer. Kinoo is a totally new way for families to connect. Kinoo combines video chat, an innovative Kinoo Controller Wand that adds engaging physical movement, along with fun, interactive, and creative activities that turn remote family time into magical experiences.

Scott Traylor

Entrepreneurial leader, team builder, and experienced maker of forward-thinking interactive media products for children, Scott Traylor is on a mission to help organizations create digital product successes in the consumer and classroom marketplace. Out in front technology trend seeker, driving excellence in new product innovation. Business advocate who shares insights and advice with seasoned companies as well as startups to help “all boats rise.” Accomplished speaker, writer, brand builder, and team leader.

Career Highlights

Online & interactive television development partner for Sesame Workshop. Relationship garnered one Daytime Emmy win & three Daytime Emmy nominations
Key partner in creating flagship mobile apps for Rosetta Stone’s new early learning division Rosetta Stone Kids, resulting in 900K app downloads
Cultivated a successful multi-year content development relationship with Pokémon resulting in the creation of 640+ linear minutes of animated content, earning 14 educational awards
Established, managed, and grew a multi-year relationship with Sesame Workshop that resulted in the creation of more than 50 interactive learning products
Grew a successful business relationship with LeapFrog that resulted in developing more than 18 cartridge-based handheld learning games, including multiple Disney/Pixar and Nickelodeon licensed products
One patent awarded for sight-enabled technology products filed with Disney Consumer Products. Patent used for the Smart Toy Bear by Fisher-Price and Imagicard by LeapFrog
Developed proprietary data analytics tools to measure social media trends from large volumes of tweets and social media posts
Advisor, Trustee, & Board member to a number of startup and seasoned companies. Accomplished presenter & keynote speaker at more than 100 industry events

Blog: http://www.360kid.com/blog/
YouTube: http://youtube.360kid.com/ (13 million views, 3.5K followers)
Twitter: @360KID (4.3K followers)

Dana Winters

[by Zoom]

Dana Winters, Ph.D., is the Rita McGinley Executive Director of the Fred Rogers Institute at Saint Vincent College. Her extensive field research from interviewing prisoners to shadowing crossing guards, from observing Head Start teachers and developing coaches in early childhood systems has informed the co-development of the Simple Interactions approach to support children, families, and their helpers. Dana describes and affirms the essential and relational practices of professionals across early education and intervention, out of school time learning, healthcare, family engagement, and more. She is an experienced applied researcher who has served as co-principal investigator and program evaluator for consecutive NSF-funded early childhood research and intervention projects in the areas of early literacy, social emotional development, and early mathematical learning. She leads numerous foundation and government project grants to improve early childhood systems and family engagement practices. Dana serves as a UNESCO Faculty Fellow in Children and Youth Studies and enjoys collaborating with faculty around the world in the advancement of empathy development and adult-child relationships across developmental settings. She received her Ph.D. in administrative and policy studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Dana always has a book with her and spends her time outside of the Fred Rogers Institute with her husband, their two daughters, and their labradoodle.

Jim Marggraff

Jim Marggraff is an entrepreneur who invented the LeapPad Learning System, the Livescribe Smartpen and other innovative technologies. Marggraff is also a parent of entrepreneurs and the author of “How to Raise a Founder With Heart.”

Barbara Chase

Barbara Chase is Mark’s partner in magic, both in life, work, and play. She is a passionate advocate for children’s play through child-centered, empowering, and collaborative learning. She specializes in the user experience, and throughout her career has helped create innovative solutions with a unique understanding of both the technical process and the user’s needs. For over 10 years she has worked with Mark at NoodleWorks Interactive, specializing in children’s play patterns. She helped Mark publish his book, Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design: How to Create Games Children Love. And most recently, she is a co-founder at Kinoo and serves as the Chief Experience Officer. Kinoo combines video chat, an innovative Kinoo Controller Wand that adds engaging physical movement, along with fun, interactive, and creative activities that turn remote family time into magical experiences.

Margy Whitmer

[by Zoom]

Margy Whitmer served as producer of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for a number of years until production ended in 2001. She also produced the live-action interstitials for Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and is now a scripting consultant for the series. Over the years, Margy was the company’s liaison with PBS’s Ready To Learn Initiative; co-creator, writer, and producer for video-based professional development workshop materials; and project director for two series of picture books, “First Experiences” and “Let’s Talk About It.” Her previous experience includes production and administrative positions at WQED-TV for both local and national programs, including Once Upon a Classic and the National Geographic Specials. A Chatham College graduate and holder of a teaching certificate, Margy is also an active volunteer in community organizations.