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Lisa Kimball
the online community The Meta Network, and founder of ‘Group Jazz’

She helped develop The Meta Network, an online community of change agents which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2003. In 1984, she designed and moderated the first online symposium on strategies and techniques for facilitating electronic groups. She co-founded the Electronic Networking Association in 1985 and received the ENA Award for "Outstanding Contribution to Networking" in 1990. She was a member of the planning team of the first national conference on electronic networking in Japan in 1988, and later led the international delegation to Japan's first global conference on networking. Lisa was instrumental in the development of one of the first civic networking projects in the U.S., the Public Electronic Network in Santa Monica. Lisa Kimball is the founder and Executive Producer of Group Jazz, an organization that works as a production company to support the work of purposeful groups - teams, communities, task forces, organizations - whether they meet face-to-face or online or both. Group Jazz brings together the best tools, technologies, media, consultants, cast members and practitioners to create great group experiences that support action. Lisa is a specialist in applications of electronic networking and the design of virtual spaces for organizations, teams, and online communities. Her clients include a wide range of corporate, civic, and educational organizations including Pfizer, IBM, Fannie Mae Foundation, Public Broadcasting Service, City University of New York, the Benton Foundation, and the US Department of Agriculture. A more complete biography can be found at http://www.groupjazz.com/html/gj-lisa-bio.html

Rich Cowan

Rich Cowan has bachelors and masters degrees in computer science from M.I.T and ten years of experience working in political campaigns or social change organizations. Organizers' Collaborative provides technology tools and networking resources to activists all across the U.S., including DemocracyGroups.org, a social change email list directory, and Organizers Database, a software program designed for community organizers and small nonprofits without in-house technology skills. Prior to founding Organizers' Collaborative, Rich worked as academic computer support specialist, a database consultant, an adjunct faculty member, a newspaper editor, and as a nonprofit founder. He also Rich started the Center for Campus Organizing from 1991-7, making extensive use of the Internet to network progressive students and faculty. Rich was also one of the main organizers of the 1985 Scientists' Pledge in which 7000 scientsts in the U.S. refused to participate in the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") program. Rich has written articles for Responsive Philanthropy, Techsoup.org, and he has spoken at several conferences on Technology for Community Organizing, including the InfoTAP/Waitt conference in San Diego in December 2002.

Jitsuyoshi Takeshi
Executive Director of Kobe Citizens’ Activities Center

After working as a banker, then as a freelance part-time worker, he is now the current director of the Kobe Empowerment Center. He started his volunteer activities when he went to Kobe as a volunteer after the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Now through the work of the Kobe Empowerment Center he is involved in about thirty business projects including consultation with civil activities groups, coordination of collaborative projects, and surveying, as well as providing research and guidance.

Hamada Tadahisa
The Chair of JCAFE

After helping create information networks among NGOs during the Gulf War in 1991, he started to establish an organization which would work as a base for NGOs’ computer networking. He founded Japan Computer Access For Empowerment (JCAFE) which helps facilitate the use of the Internet among NPOs and NGOs. He has also made suggestions relating to the information society from the citizen’s point of view. His target is to create an information society in which people can live in comfort.