Eric is described by Head First series co-creator Kathy Sierra as âone of those rare individuals fluent in the language, practice, and culture of multiple domains from hipster hacker, corporate VP, engineer, think tank.â
Professionally, Eric recently ended nearly a decade as a media company executiveâhaving held the position of CTO of Disney Online & Disney.com at The Walt Disney Company. Eric is now devoting his time to WickedlySmart, a startup he co-created with Elisabeth.
By training, Eric is a computer scientist, having studied with industry luminary David Gelernter during his Ph.D. work at Yale University. His dissertation is credited as the seminal work in alternatives to the desktop metaphor, and also as the first implementation of activity streams, a concept he and Dr. Gelernter developed.
In his spare time, Eric is deeply involved with music; youâll find Ericâs latest project, a collaboration with ambient music pioneer Steve Roach, available on the iPhone app store under the name Immersion Station.
Eric lives with his wife and young daughter on Bainbridge Island. His daughter is a frequent vistor to Ericâs studio, where she loves to turn the knobs of his synths and audio effects.
Write to Eric at eric@wickedlysmart.com
or visit his site at http://ericfreeman.com
.
Elisabeth is a software engineer, writer, and trainer. She has been passionate about technology since her days as a student at Yale University, where she earned a Masters of Science in Computer Science and designed a concurrent, visual programming language and software architecture.
Elisabethâs been involved with the Internet since the early days; she co-created the award-winning Web site, The Ada Project, one of the first Web sites designed to help women in computer science find career and mentorship information online.
Sheâs currently co-founder of WickedlySmart, an online education experience centered on web technologies, where she creates books, articles, videos and more. Previously, as Director of Special Projects at OâReilly Media, Elisabeth produced in-person workshops and online courses on a variety of technical topics and developed her passion for creating learning experiences to help people understand technology. Prior to her work with OâReilly, Elisabeth spent time spreading fairy dust at The Walt Disney Company, where she led research and development efforts in digital media.
When not in front of her computer, youâll find Elisabeth hiking, cycling or kayaking in the great outdoors, with her camera nearby, or cooking vegetarian meals.
You can send her email at beth@wickedlysmart.com
or visit her blog at http://elisabethrobson.com
.
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