Project members

Peter Barkman [bio]
Regine Buschauer [bio] [mail]
Renee Chin [bio] [mail]
Bill Cockayne
Rod Falcon [bio] [mail]
Marina Gorbis [bio] [mail]
Mizuko Ito [bio] [mail]
Lyn Jeffery [mail]
Jokko Korhonen [bio] [mail]
Maria Koskijoki [bio] [mail]
Pia Mero [mail]
Daisuke Okabe [bio]
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang [bio] [mail]
Andrea Saveri [bio] [mail]
Maria Savolainen [bio]

Peter Barkman is the head of international operations for Satama Interactive, a Finnish Internet consultancy specializing in mobility and user understanding. Peter holds a MSc in Business Administration from the Helsinki Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration and has also completed various business related courses at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Regine Buschauer is a project leader, specialized in HCI and social aspects of communication and information technology, at Swisscom Innovations, the research unit of the Swiss national telecom in Berne, Switzerland. Regine is also pursuing her PhD at the Institute of Media Sciences, at the University of Basle. For the project she is conducting research at different places in Switzerland.

Renee J. Chin is an organizational and research consultant. I received an interdisciplinary social science Ph.D from the Maxwell Graduate School at Syracuse University. Formerly with the Institute for Research on Learning, my research interests are and absolutely not limited to organizational change, narrative analysis, technology, and social capital. I have an MPA in public administration with an emphasis in organizational theory and public policy and a BA in psychology.

Rod Falcon is a director at the Institute for the Future. He works across the Institute for the Future's research program areas, conducting research in emerging technologies, technology adoption and diffusion, the connected home, social networks and consumer segmentation. Much of this work has been comparative and global, looking closely at consumers and the technology infrastructure in Nordic Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the Silicon Valley. Rod holds an M.A. in Public Policy from UC Berkeley.

Marina Gorbis leads the Technology Horizons Program at IFTF, focusing on innovation at the intersection of new technologies and social organization, and leads the "Reinvention of Place and Space" project. She is conducting observations and interviews in cafes, schools, and other public spaces in Silicon Valley. Marina's academic background is in Public Policy and regional economic development. Her previous research on international development, and her current Institute research on technology adoption and usage patterns, have taken her to Russia, Eastern Europe, India, China, Japan, and Nordic Europe.

Mizuko Ito is a cultural anthropologist of technology use, focusing on children and youth culture's changing relationships to media and communications. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. She received her Ph.D. in Education and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University and has worked at Tokyo University, Stanford University, The Institute for Research on Learning, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Apple Computer, the National Institute for Educational Policy Research of Japan, and Keio University. She is working with Daisuke Okabe in studying mobile phone and Wi-Fi use in the Tokyo area.

Maria Koskijoki is a researcher and course leader at the Media Lab of the University of Art and Design, Helsinki. She also conducts research in Finland on behalf of Sitra, the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development. She has a MA in cultural anthropology from the University of Helsinki and is completing a Ph.D. dissertation on personal possessions in modern society.

Daisuke Okabe is a cognitive psychologist specializing in situated learning theory, with an emphasis on interactional studies of learning and education in relation to new media technologies. His fieldwork has taken him into classrooms, television production studios, workplaces, and most recently, to the street to observe mobile phone use. He received a Ph.D. in Education from Yokohama National University, and is currently is an assistant professor at Yokohama National University, and a visiting scholar at Keio University in Japan. He is conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Tokyo on mobile phone and Wi-Fi use with Mizuko Ito.

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is a research director at the Institute for the Future. He holds a Ph.D. in history of science from the University of Pennsylvania, and is the author of Empire and the Sun: Victorian Solar Eclipse Expeditions and numerous articles. At the Institute he conducts research in emerging technologies and their social and cultural impacts. He is also an avid blogger.

Andrea Saveri is a director at the Institute for the Future. Andrea's research focuses on technology diffusion and adoption in the home and workplace, and the social innovations that result from the integration of new technologies into people's lives. She is currently working on a study of household life in the sensor-based / wireless / P2P world, and the emergence of a new nomadic lifestyle and culture.

Maria Savolainen is a usability consultant at Satama Interactive. Maria holds an MSc in Marketing from Manchester School of Management (UMIST) and has a background in qualitative market research. In this project Maria is conducting observations and interviews in Helsinki.