Fred Johnson is a documentary maker, media educator, media artist, and writer, and communication policy analyst. He has been designing and implementing media education and training programs for over twenty years in a wide range of settings, from community media centers to national education initiatives and colleges. As education instructor for Media Working Group's Open Studio project, a joint initiative of the Benton Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, he designed workshops on the strategic use of the Internet and its applications. He is an active documentary maker and a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship for the Television and Film Arts. A former telecommunications policy associate for the Telecommunications Consumer Coalition, Fred also consults in telecommunications and community development with government, non-profits, educational and community groups. Recently he coordinated the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture's Digital Directions project, a national planning process funded by the Ford Foundation. In 1987 he co-founded Media Working Group, a media arts production, education and research organization.

Tim Kraus is a media producer and educator. Since 1993 he has designed, coordinated and presented media arts residencies and professional development for teachers in over five Ohio school districts, community centers, and the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council. Kraus graduated from Manchester College with a Bachelor’s degree in History, Religion and Philosophy and has a Masters degree in Secondary Education from The University of Cincinnati with an emphasis on curriculum. He has produced a variety of video works for nonprofit, community and labor organizations. His production, "The Arts Make Sense," about SPECTRA+ at Fairfield West, outlines the importance of arts integration in the elementary school setting. He is currently a Social Studies and Technology teacher for Cincinnati Public Schools in the Hughes Center High School for Teaching and Technology. Kraus is a founding member of Media Working Group and a member of the Commission on Media for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Dirk Koning has been Executive Director of the Community Media Center (dba Grand Rapids Cable Access Center, GRTV, WYCE, GrandNet, Pulse 98) since 1981. In no small amount the success of the Community Media Center can be attributed to the dedication and hard work put forth by Mr. Koning. With his guidance, the organization has grown from a US $50,000 a year public access cable television station, to a US $2 million per year operation including two television stations, a radio station, a computer center, civic network, media archive center and research institute. Mr. Koning recently guided the Community Media Center in a 3 million dollar relocation project to a rehabilitated building in the heart of the WestSide, the oldest neighborhood in Grand Rapids. Mr. Koning serves as adjunct faculty member and curriculum advisor for the Communication Department of Grand Valley University. Mr. Koning lectures extensively on community media issues, serves on several national boards and edits Community Media Review magazine.

Cathy Nostrand is a media educator and producer. She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon with an emphasis in math, science, and technology. She has extensive experience in media education and is actively developing ways to integrate media into classroom curriculum. Her work has involved community media curriculum development, strategic communications assessment for non-profit organizations, and hands-on media workshops and seminars. She was previously the Education and Training Manager for the Community Media Center of Santa Rosa, California, where she designed and implemented a media literacy and production curriculum. Ms Nostrand has produced scores of documentaries and media art works in a variety of settings.

George Stoney is professor in film at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He is a documentary maker, community activist, video pioneer and a founding leader of the public access movement. He has produced and directed more than fifty films, television series and videotapes, most of them exploring social problems and solutions. Considered one of the most skilled media educators in North America, Mr. Stoney’s course, “The Documentary Workshop,” has been offered every year for the past 30 years at New York University. A member of the New York University faculty since 1971, he has played a major agenda setting role in all North American debates about documentary, its forms, its ethics, and its social function. From 1968 to 1970 he was executive director of the Canadian Film Board’s Challenge for Change Program; in the 70s he co-founded with Red Burns the Alternative Media Center, which trained many of the early activists who fought for cable access in the US. Mr. Stoney made the transition to digital some time ago, one transition in many that began with 16mm film and ran through 35mm film, _ inch reel to reel black and white video, Betacam, VHS, SVHS, and now DVCam and Mini DV.

Shawn Walker is a consultant and Apple Campus Rep at Northern Kentucky University. Currently a candidate for a degree in Computer Science at NKU, Shawn has been working with people at all levels of experience in Internet, computer networking, digital communication, web site design and implementation for over 11 years. As a trainer he worked for the past 4 years with Media Working Group to design and implement their on-going Open Studio training initiative for arts and cultural groups, media artists and writers. At Northern Kentucky University, as Apple Rep, Shawn is now engaged in planning and conducting training programs for faculty and students in addition to his studies and network consulting.