You can read all about them here.

Stay tuned for a speaker callout, details of our expo space, and other stuff that we think is kind of cool (including our international keynote!)

Our Advisory Board will be responsible for connecting with possible speakers and our audience, and helping to guide the Freeplay program for 2009.

We’re looking to get this finalised as soon as possible, so if you’re interested, send an email to info@freeplay.net.au before May 25th telling us:

• Who you are and what you do
• Why you want to be involved
• What you think you can bring to Freeplay

George Dunford is a freelance writer/web producer who has written for Lonely Planet, The Age, Wanderlust and various other publications. He’s worked on projects and content strategy for ABC Online, Lonely Planet, Seek and the Brotherhood of St Laurence. He’s chair of Express Media, a not-for-profit organisation that offers opportunities to young writers. And he also teaches online, magazine and travel writing at CAE, RMIT and Victorian Writers Centre. In between all these things he blogs at hackpacker.blogspot.com

Shaun Heath

Shaun is a game designer and writer who has been involved in the gaming culture for most of his life. He’s had experience as a reviewer, been an artist at a prominent Melbourne studio and is currently working on an unannounced independent title. You can also read his musings on games and geek culture at his blog logicfree.wordpress.com

Larissa Hjorth

Larissa Hjorth is an artist, digital ethnographer and senior lecturer in the Games Programs at RMIT University. Hjorth has a PhD in Cultural Studies (Uni of Melb), Masters by Research in Cultural Studies (Uni of Melb) and MFA (RMIT University). Since 2000, Hjorth has been researching and publishing on gendered customising of mobile communication, gaming and virtual communities in the Asia–Pacific — these studies are outlined in her book, Mobile Media in the Asia-Pacific (London, Routledge, 2009). Hjorth has published widely on the topic in national and International journals in journals such as Games and Culture journal, Convergence journal, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Continuum, ACCESS, Fibreculture and Southern Review and recently co-edited two Routledge anthologies, Games of Locality: Gaming cultures in the Asia-Pacific (with Dean Chan, 2009) and Mobile technologies: from Telecommunication to Media (with Gerard Goggin, 2009). In 2008, Hjorth and Ingrid Richardson founded the GLAMM (Games, Location, Art & Mobile Media) network as part of ARC Cultural Research Network (http://www.uq.edu.au/crn/projects/tech-glamm.html). In 2007, Hjorth co-convened the International Mobile media conference with Gerard Goggin (www.mobilemedia2007.net) and the Interactive Entertainment (IE) conference with Esther Milne (www.ie.rmit.edu.au).

In 2009, Hjorth began her Australian Research Council discovery fellowship with Michael Arnold exploring the role of the local and online with communities in the region. This three year cross-cultural case study will include locations such as Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Manila, and Melbourne.

www.larissahjorth.net

Moran Paldi

Moran has been playing games since first getting her hands on a BBC Micro. After graduating with an art degree, the games industry has been good enough to employ her, variously as an animator, designer and producer. She has made a ton of games for web, mobile and consoles.

She currently works as a producer in Melbourne.

Harry Ravenswood

Harry is an Australian born game designer who has worked for studios in Australia and overseas for the last eight years. The majority of his career has been in the UK where he has been Lead Designer for both Kuju London (Headstrong Games) and, more recently, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (London Studio). Harry has just returned to his hometown of Melbourne and is currently Lead Designer at Krome Studios Melbourne.

Matt Tierney

Matt Tierney is an artist exploring a range of mediums to create ambient, immersive, audio-visual abstractions. Through the aesthetic combination of sound and vision he investigates a cinematic practice by focusing on live audio-visual performance, media installation, and recordings. Tierney operates under the pseudonym Sinuso Dial, and online avatars Matt Leaf & M. Leaf-Tierney. He has a secret passion for indie games.

Currently based in Melbourne, Australia

Website: http://mattleaf.com