Biographies

Bonnie DeVarco (at http://www.mediatertia.com)
explores the leading edge of visualization technologies. She designs, lectures, and writes about emerging technologies in education, virtual worlds, collaborative visualization, next generation geographic information systems (GIS), information visualization and the culture of cyberspace.

From 1989 to 1995 she was chief archivist for the Buckminster Fuller Archives, now housed in the Special Collections at the Green Library, Stanford University. In the past decade Ms. DeVarco has helped to initiate early e-learning programs that form bridges between University and high school communities with University of California's Office of the President and San Diego and Imperial County Boards of Education and founded a non-profit hub for maverick educators using immersive virtual environments in education. She has regularly produced conferences and workshops to research, explore and develop new opportunities for telecollaboration and cross-disciplinary problem-solving using advanced satellite and network technologies, visualization and open source tools. She is currently writing a comprehensive history of Buckminster Fuller's Geoscope concept and co-authoring a book on visual language.

David McConville is a media artist and researcher specializing in the development of dome-based display technologies. He is co-founder of The Elumenati (http://www.elumenati.com), a full service design and engineering firm specializing in the development and deployment of immersive visualization environments and experiences. The Elumenati provides systems integration, real-time software design, immersive content research, custom fabrication, and optical engineering for clientele ranging from art festivals to space agencies. Mr. McConville is based in Asheville, North Carolina, where he is an active Board member of the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (http://www.blackmountaincollege.org) where Buckminster Fuller built his first geodesic dome. David is currently working with the Buckminster Fuller Institute to organize the 2006 Design Science Lab (http://www.designsciencelab.org), which applies Fuller's comprehensive anticipatory design science to developing strategies for addressing the world's biggest challenges.

Stranova Interview Series Vol. 22,
Published July 31, 2006.

"A Modern Geoscope:
Buckminster Fuller's Idea Comes to Life", with guests Bonnie DeVarco, digial visual artist and former archivist for Buckminster Fuller's papers, and David McConville, also visual artist and co-founder of "The Elumenati".

Since 1962 when Buckminster Fuller first went public with the idea of a Geoscope, many have been fascinated with his vision for
a “giant, 200-foot diameter,
miniature earth” that would provide
an “electronic” visual representation
of everything from weather
to the various ways we human beings
impact our “Spaceship Earth
on a daily basis.

Listen to this week’s interview
to learn how,
thanks to a creative re-visioning
of his concept and the application
of the latest digital visualization technologies, Fuller’s Geoscope
will be coming to life soon
in ways far more powerful
than his own original conception.