Founder, MaMaMedia and World Wide Workshop; former Scientist and Lecturer, MIT MediaLab;

Interest areas: learning theory; child power; creative expression in digital spaces; learning with Internet tools; social software and community-building tools for children's learning and play (in and out of school); multi-dimensional interface design; leadership for entrepreneurship.

I was born in Israel (1958), grew up in Tel Aviv and Ramat HaSharon. I arrived to Cambridge in 1982 for graduate school, and stayed ... read more about Idit.

What is MaMaMedia? Established in 1995, MaMaMedia is a kids' brand  - born on the Internet. At MaMaMedia.com, kids discover by doing and create while clicking. Our engaging activities help them gain technological fluency and expand their minds through playful learning; they can design and animate characters, make their own digital cards, invent games, and more. Our free membership lets kids save, publish, and e-mail their creations to friends. At MaMaMedia.com, almost anything you can dream, you can do... read more about MaMaMedia.

What happened to MaMaMedia after the crash of 2000? We worked hard to downsize and restructure and save the company... read more about our efforts to survive.

These days, the MaMaMedia company is still active, but small -- so I have some extra time; and I recetly started a new company, called - The World Wide Workshop - to explore further some powerful ideas and create new dreams in children's media technology and learning.  In particular, I am interested in media-making tools, blogs, community-building online environments, and social software for facilitating and enabling creativity, self expression, and the well-being of children and their families.

One of our recent projects is about teaching science to students in developing countries. We are developing online simulations and activities to explain physics concepts, within a content-rich environment and community of experts to answer students questions... here is one example (Viscosity Explorer) from the SEED Foundation's website, and another example (Doppler Buzzer)...

Another recent project was developed for the OCD Foundation in Boulder Colorado. The JJ's Place Prototype Website. We are developing a dynamic data-base-driven environment which includes tools for individuals who have a disorder or learning/health difficulty (for example, OCD), with tools for these individuals to share/communicate with their friends and siblings, parents, teachers and therapists; as well as rings of communities for children, for parents, for educators and for therapists -- where the child with the disorder is at the center.

I am on the advisory board of an innovative program about learning, technology & society at the University of Colorado called ATLAS. 

Finally, it is important to engage children from around the world in thinking about PEACE, creatively and constructively, within a global online community. In 2002 we received the Computerworld Honors Award in Media Arts and Entertainment for this Website.

BUT - ALL OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS NOT REALLY IMPORTANT... I AM SIMPLY HAVING FUN USING "EditMe" ... adding links, articles, websites, and photos...

... and thinking how much FUN (and learning) kids could have with it!

AND  - I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO THE KINNERNET CAMP FUNSTUFF AND the HAFSAKOT (BREAKS), AND TO LEARNING FROM ALL THE ATTENDEES! 

- See you soon, Idit.