Barry Joseph, Director of the Online Leadership Program, holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.A. in American Studies from New York University. Barry came to Global Kids in 2000 through the New Voices Fellowship of the Academy for Educational Development, funded by the Ford Foundation. He has developed innovative programs for youth-led online dialogues, videogames as a form of youth media, and the educational potential of virtual worlds like Second Life, combining youth development practices with the development of high-profile digital media projects.

Barry serves on the steering committee of the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning initiative and his writing will appear in the Foundation’s Ecology of Games volume (2007). His invited presentations include the GLS conference, MIT’s Educational Arcade, the Games For Change conference, the United Nations, and Microsoft’s Wide World Summit; also, his work has appeared in the New York Times, CNN, Marie Claire, BusinessWeek, The Voice of America, and through press in Russia and Japan. While at Global Kids, Barry has successfully launched two non-profit companies, Games For Change and a second working for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.