Keynote Speakers, Papers, and Panels Included:

1. Computers & Games, Home/Arcade Games
computer game algorithms, modeling of players, human interface technologies for game applications, video game computer technologies

2. Virtual Worlds and Interactive Environments
motion capture technologies; real-time computer graphics technologies; interactive movie systems; story generation for games/movies; human factors of video games; social, psychological and physiological aspects of video games

3. Entertainment Robots & Physical Systems
entertainment robot systems; toy robots, pet robots; entertainment robots for man-machine interfacing; physical games and mental games, motion-bases, motion-based filmmaking

4. Music Informatics
MIDI and its extensions; acoustic computation; computer music for home entertainment; novel approaches to musical performance; sound and voice for entertainment

5. Sociology and Psychology of Entertainment
modeling and representation of emotion; artificial intelligence for entertainment purposes; psychological aspects of immersion; future of entertainment; social significance of entertainment.

Ed Covannon

Ed Covannon suffers from a congenital inability inability to distinguish between art and science. He received his Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (where he introduced the first "computers for art" classes in the early 80s.) He has since coped with his handicap in a number of unlikely ways ranging from starting his own multimedia businesses and editing publications, designing SGML/XML publishing systems and his current stint as a wonk in Eastman Kodak's R & D department (which allows him to put "senior research scientist" on his business cards.) In his current role he invents, formulates new businesses for Eastman Kodak and leads a long term trends team (with a personal focus on political trends) with the intent of applying trends both as stimuli and "likelihood of success" criteria. It's been said he's still writing and publishing poetry and doing computer-arts work, but when asked denies everything.

Clark Dodsworth

Clark Dodsworth is a consultant in interactive product development, especially entertainment applications, in San Francisco. His clients include Philips, Evans & Sutherland, Gensler, Fujitsu, SimEx-Iwerks, science and natural history museums, the city of Vienna, and tech startups, including the world's first B2C wireless, location-aware internet company, in 1990. He co-produced the critically acclaimed Digital Bayou venue at the ACM/SIGGRAPH '96 Conference in New Orleans, a showcase of cutting edge interfaces and applications. Educated at the University of Illinois and the Art Institute of Chicago, Dodsworth has worked on both the production and creative sides of TV commercials, networked databases, educational videos, electronic toys, and digital animation. He is the contributing editor of Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology, now in its third printing.

Barry Frank

Barry Frank is one of the premiere sports agents in the US, and is considered the International Management Group’s man of multi-sports. For many years he has negotiated the television rights for the Olympic Games. He created the Nice Triathlon, which in turn jump-started the sport in Europe. Barry Frank, was formerly at the helm of CBS sports, and served as VP of Trans World International, the film/TV arm of IMG. He is currently the agent for Muhammad Ali, John Madden, and myriad other sports personalities.

Chris Klug

Chris Klug originally trained as a theatrical lighting designer, he designed lights on Broadway, regional opera, and regional theaters around the country. Chris designed various 70's rock n' roll bands lights, notably Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Blondie. He is currently creative lead for the live team of EA's MMORPG Earth & Beyond. Chris has been a game designer for 22 years, starting his career with Simulations Publications, Inc., in 1981. While there he designed Universe (a sci-fi role playing game), DragonQuest (a fantasy RPG and winner of a Game of the Year Award), and Damocles Mission (a sci-fi strategy game). When TSR bought SPI in 1982, Chris and the rest of the R&D staff moved on to form Victory Games. There Chris headed up the role playing games group, and designed the James Bond 007 role playing game (winner of a Game of the Year award as well). At Victory Games, Chris designed a dozen more titles and was, for a time, Creative Director there. After leaving Victory Games, Chris became a freelance computer game designer and has worked for SegaSoft, TSR, Hasbro, 3W, THQ, Simon and Schuster Interactive, Target Games, and GT Interactive. Some of his computer game credits include Star Trek DS9: Dominion Wars, Europa Universalis, Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, Diamond Dreams Baseball, and Aidyn Chronicles. A leading proponent of raising the bar for storytelling in games.

Robert 'Bob' Legato

Robert "Rob" Legato is part of the cutting edge of motion pictures, the wizards of computers and graphics and who create all-new worlds or recreate ones that have long since passed into history. He was the man in charge of making the RMS Titanic sail, strike an iceberg and sink all over again. As a team leader in director James Cameron's Digital Domain, Legato broke new ground with complexity and realism in visual effects in his work on Titanic (1997). Not surprisingly, he won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for this blockbuster movie. Legato is a cinematography graduate from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. He began working in live action as a crew member in TV commercials. His work in special effects began in the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone and on the Star Trek series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. He served as a second unit director on a number of Star Trek episodes. He moved into movies with Interview With the Vampire (1994) with Tom Cruise, and Ron Howard's Apollo 13 (1995), for which he received his first visual effects Oscar nomination. Legato also supervised the digital effects on Michael Bay's Armageddon, starring Bruce Willis, and Robert Zemeckis' What Lies Beneath (2000), the ghost story with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. He most recently did special effects for Harry Potter.

Gary Smith

Producer, director and Carnegie Mellon graduate, Gary Smith, was honored last year with Carnegie Mellon University's Distinguished Achievement Award. He and his long-time collaborator, Dwight Hemion, have won 24 Emmys and produced numerous television specials, including Elvis Presley's last and Bette Midler's first. His other specials have included ABC's 24-hour millennium celebration, four Democratic National Conventions, six Tony Award telecasts and a number of previous Emmy Awards and People's Choice Awards Programs.

Robert Summer

Mr. Summer joined World Theatre in June of 1999 as a Director and was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors in February 2000. Prior to joining World Theatre, Mr. Summer served as President and CEO of Dimensional Media Associates (1995-2000), he was President of Sony Music International and Executive Vice President of Sony Music Entertainment (1986-1995) and was President of RCA Records (1978-1986). It was during his tenure as President, RCA Records, that he also served as Chairman, Recording Industry Association of America. World Theatre, Inc., a company that creates technologies to speed the transition between the promotion and purchase of consumer products.

Bud Yorkin

Bud Yorkin was born in Washington, PA, and attended Carnegie Tech after service in the U.S. Navy beginning at age 16, and became a television engineer at NBC in 1949. He was already an established producer/director on television, specializing in variety shows featuring Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello, and George Gobel. He formed a partnership with producer Norman Lear in 1959, which yielded several Yorkin-directed films including Come Blow Your Horn (1965), Divorce American Style (1967), Inspector Clouseau (1968 starring Alan Arkin), and Start the Revolution Without Me (1970). In the early '70s, Yorkin and Lear created All in the Family, a groundbreaking topical situation comedy that completely redefined television comedy with its relatively realistic scripts and subject matter, for which Yorkin was executive producer. He has served as Producer of such movies as Blade Runner, Intersection, Love Hurts, Twice in a Lifetime, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, and Deal of the Century. He also served as producer for the hit television series Sanford and Son and All in the Family.