Mark Stephen Meadows (aka Pighed) is an artist and writer with over 15 years experience in interactive media. Founder of HeadCase Humanufacturing he has also spent time at Xerox-PARC, Stanford Research Institute, Construct, and The Waag. The author of Pause & Effect, The Art of Interactive Narrative, he helped build the third commercial web server (1992), the first open-protocol 3D multi-user environment (1997), and has won awards such as the Ars Electronica Golden Nica and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's highest honors. Currently writing a book on avatars titled "I, Avatar" he is based in Los Angeles where he lives on his boat, paints, writes, and occasionally plays accordion.