Red Burns was born in 1925 in Ottawa, Canada. In 1971, after having already led several full lives, she founded the Alternate Media Center at New York University. The center later became the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) where she served as chair from 1982 until 2010. I met Red in 2001, when she introduced the program to me in what was likely her 20th year of student orientation. I was rather terrified of Red, but it didn’t last. I quickly discovered her warmth, and over the next twelve years I was incredibly lucky to experience her fierce intelligence, five-word e-mails, and unwavering protectiveness of humanity over technology. People were always at the center of her thinking, and the tools (like the one taught in this book) were just a means for expression and communication. The ideas in this book were born from her mentorship and friendship. As the ITP saying goes, “Red Burns Changed My Life.”

http://itp.nyu.edu/redburns/