Although the 7th annual Dust or Magic conference on children’s media has sold out, I’ll be there to tape, blog and web-cast many of the keynote presentations (except those that disclose proprietary information). I’m excited and you can join me by adding my RSS feed to your reader. Allowing for a few days delay to get everything posted next week (the confrence runs November 4–6), you’ll be able to hear what some really smart people have to show-and-tell about the past year and forecast for years to come in children’s technology:
- Chris Byrne, The Toy Guy
- Claire Green, President, Parents’ Choice Foundation
- Jim Gray, Ed.D., Leapfrog Enteprises
- Peter Grunwald, Researcher and President, Grunwald Associates
- Lisa Guernsey, Education Journalist/Author of Into the Minds of Babes
- Lyle Hall, Vice President of Product Development, THQ and General Manager of Heavy Iron Studios
- Lane Merrifield, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Club Penguin division at the Disney Internet Group
- Scot Osterweil, MIT Education Arcade
- Robin Raskin, Author, Blogger at Yahoo Tech
- Mitchel Resnick, Ph.D., Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten Research Group at the MIT
- Marc Prensky, Author and CEO, Games2Train
- Scott Traylor, President, 360KID
Not familiar with Dust or Magic? Now in it’s seventh year, it’s
…an annual show-and-tell review of the past year in children’s technology. The demonstration-intensive three day institute is designed for individuals who need to understand the latest children’s interactive media products, in the context of known theories of child development and play patterns. Because participants stay at the same Inn and come from a variety of perspectives, the event has a retreat feel to it. Time is put into the agenda so that there are opportunities to try out the latest products in both formal and informal settings. The agenda is planned around the products, and videos of child testers using key products help ground the discussion. Throughout the session, there are presentations by developers, reviewers and researchers on current topics.
The conference is organized each year by Warren Buckleitner and his incredible staff from Children’s Technology Review, which Warren has published since 1985. With more than 8,000 reviews under their belt (and online for subscribers) and more each month along with their regular feature articles, it’s a must-read if you need to stay on top of the children’s interactive media space. To find out more go here to download a sample copy or subscribe.
