Helen Varley Jamieson has a background in theatre as a writer, director and producer, and has worked in digital media and the internet since 1996. Although she encountered chat rooms and MOOs early on, it wasn't until she met up with Desktop Theater (www.desktoptheater.org) in 2000 that she became excited by the potential of the internet as a venue for performance. She coined the term "cyberformance" to describe live performance using internet technologies such as chat applications.
In 2001, her cyberformance presentation at Odin Teatret, Denmark, caused such a commotion that she was inspired to embark on a Hunt for the Body and Emotion in Cyberformance. This search began with a research project, the[abc]experiment, continued in her work with Avatar Body Collision, and climaxed in 2008 with her Masters thesis. She continues has continued this exploration with projects including make-shift (2010-12), We Have a Situation (2013-ongoing) and UpStage.
Karla Ptacek's work spans two decades in New York City as performer, writer and director in multimedia ensembles. She holds an MA in Directing from Goldsmiths College, London, and a practice as research MPhil in Distributed Performance Practices, supported by a scholarship from the Arts & Humanities Research Board, UK.
http://www.artificialstage.com/
Abstract of Karla's article in Digital Creativity: Avatar Body Collision: enactments in distributed performance practices
Leena Saarinen (Ma in New Media) is practitioner and researcher of digital media with a special focus on interactive storytelling, cross-media.
Leena is one of the creators of Accidental Lovers (Sydän kierroksella), a participatory black comedy for television and mobile phones. She has participated in several collaborative media art productions including numerous community and collaboration concepts on the Internet.
Having education both in information technology and new media arts, she is a digital caldron of engineering, poetry, interactions, interfaces, media arts, software and drama.
Home page: http://mlab.uiah.fi/~lsaarine/
Vicki Smith is a visual artist who has been producing commissioned work and exhibitions for over two decades. She works in a design capacity for both print and web, and has taught second chance education in IT and the web. She has worked collaboratively on mural projects and in the Digital Story Telling medium as a participant and facilitator.
Being part of Avatar Body Collision gave her the opportunity to explore the dramamtic process and further her interests in theatre, film and stage design. As well as producing graphics and avatars, Vicki has contributed to developing characters and devising story.
Presently involved in an ICT professional development project for schools in Tai Poutini, Vicki also has an installation project 'Trip the Light Fantastic' in the pipeline.