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Johnny Bilotta, Creative Director

Dioscuri: Relationships between Designers and Developers at IndyHall Labs

Like Castor and Pollux, designers and developers complement each other in mythical ways. Getting some of the talent from both in the same room can make wonderful debate and produce incredibly engaging projects. Indy Hall Labs provides the perfect incubator for these relationships to blossom into killer products.

This discussion is intended to become a Rosetta Stone for both camps. Focus will be on how this relationship is cultivated. Designers will gain insight on interface and branding, communication, and limits of the medium. Developers will get a glimpse into the mind of a visual artist and how, with a bit of art direction, their app can look like a streamlined butterfly!

Biography
As one of the most active designers at IndyHall Labs, Johnny works with some of the top developers in Philadelphia. His experience has brought creative direction and graphics, most recently, to RipIt and Multiplex; two consumer apps for Mac. As a designer his services have been enlisted by Seesmic, Nike, Swordfi.sh, and LTLprints.com

When not designing beautiful interfaces and software apps, Johnny can be found alongside Dave Martorana filming the entertaining podcast Two Guys on Beer or teaching classes on Web Design, Photoshop and Illustrator at the University of The Arts.

http://johnnynines.com
http://multiplexapp.com
http://twoguysonbeer.com
http://labs.indyhall.org

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Howard Blumenthal, CEO, MiND TV

New Ideas for an Old Medium

Public television has a big problem -- each generation finds it less relevant than the one that came before it. In this presentation, Howard Blumenthal will discuss the recent transformation of WYBE, an 18-year-old independent public television station in Philadelphia, into MiND TV, a multi-platform learning channel featuring community-generated content. MiND strives to reduce the public television generation gap by encouraging and empowering anyone to produce digital video programs that will air regularly to a diverse audience on regional broadcast and cable television, as well as online at mindtv.org and other media-sharing sites. Blumenthal will also discuss the the impact of new technologies on the television industry, and the unique role small innovators often play to lead the way for positive change in any industry.

Biography
In 2006, Howard Blumenthal became the CEO of Independence Media, the non-profit organization which owns and operates the independent public television station WYBE (now MiND TV). Previously, he was the Senior VP of Marketing & Media at CDNow. Prior to CDNow, Blumenthal was the President and co-founder of Glow in the Dark Productions, a program supplier to cable networks. His television credits include the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, which he created and produced for PBS, and MTV's Remote Control. At Warner Communications, he initiated the development effort that became MTV, and headed interactive development for QUBE. He is also the author of more than 20 books about business, marketing, creativity, history, music, and media. For 15 years, he wrote a syndicated column for more than 100 newspapers about consumer technology. He has been a faculty member at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and New School University.

http://mindtv.org