Jane Bailey has been a feminist for as long as she can remember and is trying her best to raise two more to add to the collective.  As an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa, she conducts research and teaches about the intersections of law, technology and equality.  Among her proudest professional achievements are the creation and teaching of a first-year law course called Cyberfeminism and, in her former life as a litigator, having assisted as counsel in the battle against online hate speech before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.  She continues (rather unfashionably in some circles) to prefer legal code over computer code and believes that propagation of hateful stereotypes confines identity and exposes vulnerable groups to heightened surveillance.  For more on her creed, click here (PDF document).

Valerie Steeves has worked with kids for over 30 years and has raised five of her own, four of whom are girls.  As an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, she conducts research on the intersection of technology and human rights.  Although she’s enjoyed working with a number of policy groups, including the International Council on Human Rights Policy (Geneva, Switzerland), the House of Lords Constitution Committee on The Impact of Surveillance and Data Collection upon the Privacy of Citizens and their Relationship with the State (United Kingdom), and the Children’s Online Privacy Working Group of the Canadian Privacy and Information Commissioners and Youth Advocates (Canada), one of her proudest achievements is the fact that the Girls Guides of Canada uses her privacy game Who Stole My Email? as part of their You Go Girl in Technology badge.  She’s also had a heck of a lot of fun writing online media games with Jane Tallim, another member of The eGirl Project.

Jacquelyn Burkell grew up B.I. (Before the Internet), and can remember the challenges of ‘being a girl’ when photos were in albums and chatting was on the phone. She knows that her son’s social world will be a very different place, and she is committed to helping him negotiate the online social environment with grace, kindness, and a great deal of respect. As an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario, she conducts research on the social implications of technology, examining how new technologies change our everyday lives. Jacquelyn is committed to empirical research that reflects the ‘insider’ view, arguing that we can’t create effective policy that supports the best interests of users of technology until and unless we understand their experiences and motivations. This perspective is reflected in her recent project funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, which explores the privacy expectations of participants in social networks.

Priscilla Regan is a Professor of Politics and Government and Chair of the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University. Since the mid-1970s, her primary research interests have focused on both the analysis of the social, policy, and legal implications of organizational use of new information and communications technologies, and also on the emergence and implementation of electronic government initiatives by federal agencies.  She has published over forty articles or book chapters, as well as Legislating Privacy: Technology, Social Values, and Public Policy (University of North Carolina Press, 1995). As a recognized researcher in this area, she has testified before Congress and participated in meetings held by the Department of Commerce, Federal Trade Commission, Social Security Administration, and Census Bureau.

Madelaine Saginur is a digital immigrant who still doesn’t own a Smartphone.  As Executive Director of University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law, Technology and Society, she is involved in a number of academic and public education projects that, while varied in terms of subject matter, share a commitment to social justice and a value for muldisciplinarity.  Also passionate about research ethics, she is currently a member of the Research Ethics Board at Canadian Blood Services.

Jane Tallim has spent the last 20 years immersed in youth media culture as a parent, teacher and long-time member of the MediaSmarts team, where she developed many of its educational resources (and got to join forces with eGirls Project colleague Val Steeves). Topics that are particularly close to Jane’s heart include media representation of gender and diversity and digital literacy. Jane has also been involved in MediaSmarts’ ongoing research project Young Canadians in a Wired World (of which Val Steeves is lead researcher) since its inception in 2000. Passionate about child and youth mental health, Jane has been an adult ally for a number of youth-led initiatives to give youth voice within the child and youth mental health sector, and chairs the Board of an Ottawa-based eating disorder support centre.