User:Walter

Walter Bender
Senior Research Scientist Group:	Electronic Publishing Office:	MIT E15-394 Phone:	(617) 253-7331 Fax:	(617) 258-6264 E-mail:	walter at laptop.org URL:	http://www.media.mit.edu/~walter

Biography

Walter Bender is a senior research scientist and director of the Electronic Publishing group; he also directed the Gray Matters special interest group, which focuses on technology's impact on the aging population. In 1992, Bender founded the News in the Future consortium and has been a member of the Lab's SIMPLICITY, Things That Think, and Digital Life consortia.

Bender joined the Architecture Machine Group at MIT in 1978, after receiving his BA from Harvard University in 1977. He received his MS at MIT in 1980. A founding member of the Media Laboratory, throughout his career Bender has engaged in the study of new information technologies, particularly those that affect people directly. Much of the research addresses the idea of building upon the interactive styles associated with existing media and extending them into domains where a computer is incorporated into the interaction. He has participated in much of the pioneering research in the field of electronic publishing and personalized interactive multimedia.

Walter Bender is currently president and COO of the One Laptop per Child foundation, a not-for-profit association that is developing and deploying technologies that will revolutionize how the world's children engage in learning. Before taking his leave of absence from MIT, Bender was executive director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and holder of the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Chair. Walter can be contacted at his media.mit.edu address.