About
Dana Spiegel serves as the Executive Director and a member of the Board of Directors of NYCwireless, a New York City non-profit organization that advocates and enables the growth of free, public wireless networks, and writes the Wireless Community Blog. Founded in 2001, NYCwireless an all-volunteer organization with many active members in the New York metropolitan area, across the United States of America, and around the world. In partnership with parks organizations, business improvement districts, conservancies, and other local organizations, NYCwireless has built free, public wireless hotspots at Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Stuyvesant Cove Park, Union Square Park, City Hall Park, Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the United Nations, Bowling Green Park, Wall Street Park, the South Street Seaport, the World Financial Center Winter Garden, 60 Wall Street Atrium, Stone Street, Vietnam Veterans Plaza, and Tompkins Square Park.
As Executive Director, Dana created and produced Spectropolis: Mobile Media, Art and the City, a three-day event in the Fall of 2003 and 2004 that highlights the diverse ways artists, technical innovators and activists are using communication technologies to generate new urban experience and public voice. Spectropolis was co-produced by the Lower Manahattan Cultural Council and sponsored by the Alliance for Downtown New York. In addition, NYCwireless has worked with Community Access to build free wireless networks in three affordable housing residences. NYCwireless also serves as a member of the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee.
Dana Spiegel is also an independent software consultant and founder of sociableDESIGN, social software and wireless technology consulting firm. He has worked with industry leading companies and small start-ups including Yahoo!, Nike, Primedia, IBM, ComputerRepair.com, and Bloostone to develop products and programs that utilize innovative social software and integrate new wireless technologies. He has also appeared as a speaker at Wireless and Media Industry conferences, and has guest lectured at NYU, SUNY Purchase, Parsons School of Design, and The New School University.
At IBM, Dana developed a system to analyze and visualize the communication relationships between people based on their online interactions. At the MIT Media Laboratory, he helped design and build one of the first community-based unified messaging systems, developed next-generation chat systems, and created applications that could discover and visualize conversations within online text chat. Prior to MIT, Dana was heavily involved in the New Media industry producing enhanced CDs and multimedia CD-ROMs for such clients as Atlantic Records and N2K. He also helped create the first multimedia CD-ROM magazine, Blender.
Dana holds a Bachelors Degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT and a Masters Degree in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory, Sociable Media Group.