meet team #digcitsummit
Marialice B.F.X. Curran | Cofounder
Ph.D.|Connected Educator|Scholar|Speaker
Dr. Curran's teaching, scholarship and service focus on digital citizenship and social media in K-12 teacher education. She was named one of the Top 10 Digital Citizenship bloggers to follow in 2014 by Common Sense Media. Curran co-founded (2011) and moderates the #digcit chat on Twitter. She curently serves on the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Digital Citizenship PLN leadership team.
Curran has presented her digital citizenship scholarship on the iCitizen Project at ISTE, the International Bullying Prevention Association (IBPA), National Bullying Conference, the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS), Northeast Regional Conference on the Social Studies, Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS) and Connecticut Educators Computer Association (CECA). She recently presented at TedxYouthBurlington 2016; her school-age son, Curran, also spoke.
Curran is a former associate professor, middle school teacher and principal who continues to educate and advocate and is passionate about kids to help kids to become digital and global citizens. As a SoE faculty member, she's taught edtech courses including digital citizenship, digital literacy and First Year Seminars: "Pleased to Tweet You: Are You a Socially Responsible Digital Citizen?" (2011) and "#YouMatter: Embracing a Culture of Empathy and Kindness” (2015).
David Ryan Polgar | Cofounder
Attorney | Speaker | Consultant| Chief Trust & Safety for Friendbase
Polgar is a frequent speaker (three-time TEDx) and tech commentator on television and in print.His ideas and thoughts concerning digital citizenship, creativity, cyber ethics, tech balance and humanizing our online experience have been featured in The Boston Globe, BBC, Financial Times, Sydney Morning Herald, US News & World Report, Forbes, SiriusXM, HuffPost Live, AP News, The Guardian, CNN.com, and more. Polgar’s goal is to improve the way that people and businesses utilizing tech. This covers areas such as creativity, critical thinking, and ethical use of technology.
With a background as an attorney and college professor, he digs below the surface to examine our tech use from an ethical, legal, and emotional perspective. He takes a particular focus in humanizing our online experience. His keynote, Humanizing Your Brand (in partnership with digital ad agency IMRE), has been given to top ad execs. Often referred to as a Tech Ethicist, Polgar is a respected and unique voice in the digital ciitizenship community. He is a contributing writer with the Family Online Safety Institute, iKeepSafe, and The Good Men Project. He has interviewed big thinkers, such as Malcolm Gladwell, Maria Konnikova, William Powers, and Douglas Rushkoff about their methods of embracing technology while also having adequate mental space to think creatively and critically. Polgar led a webinar for Smith College's Executive Education program on creating mental space for your Aha! moment and has been featured in a series on creativity in Inc.com. He is currently working on a book about being human in the digital age. His recent TEDx talk is Being Human Online. Polgar partners with Cyber Psychologist Dr. David Greenfield, whose work popularized the dopamine connection with tech use. Together they developed a Digital Distraction Test. Polgar is the originator of the Mental Food Plate, a holistic way to understand information consumption.
Denise Brodey |Brand Strategist
Author|Blogger|Digital Content Strategist| Mental Health Advocate
Brodey is the founder of Crazysmart Life, a Hartford, CT-based advocacy group that is developing and marketing new ways to make a difference in the lives of people who are fundamentally, neurologically, fabulously different.
Her second passion is education, in particular, using the power of social media and tech to influence behaviors, raise awareness, solve problems and foster uncommon connections. She is raising two digital citizens, ages 17 and 19 and defines motherhood today as 85 percent the 'art of digital peoplemaking'.
By training, Brodey is a print and digital content editor and marketing strategist who learned to write with brutal honesty and humor during her 20 years as a top magazine editor at Glamour, Self, O: The Oprah Magazine, Fitness, Shape, Child and American Health. Her book, The Elephant in the Playroom (Penguin), sold more than 10,000 copies. It was named a Library Journal Best Book upon publication.
Brodey blogs on Medium.com and huffingtonpost.com. She has appeared on national television to discuss mental health and fitness issues. Learn more about Denise, here.
