Roger Ridey - Moderator

Roger Ridey was the editor of The Independent's "Network" section for six years where he covered the world of new media. Also The Independent's first online editor, he was a senior editor with Independent Digital, the new media division of the newspaper. Before coming to Britain, Roger edited the comment pages for The Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

Bill Edwards

Bill Edwards was appointed Director of e-Communications in the Office of the e-Envoy (OeE) on 1 October 2001 after 6 months acting director.

With a varied career in multimedia and marketing communications, Bill joined OeE in March 2000 from the National Assembly for Wales where he was Head of Marketing and Internal Communications, and, before then, Head of Publicity for the Welsh office. This followed a range of marketing and communications posts in both public and private sectors, including heading the Enterprise Initiative advertising campaign at DTI and the national Crime Prevention campaign at the home office.

Bill has been actively involved in digital media since government began using it for marketing communications activity and was a founder member of the government Internet Forum in May 1995.

Claire Jones

Director of Strategy & Operational Planning for Service Industries, Oracle Corporation UK Ltd

Claire Jones joined Oracle in December 2000 and is the UK director of strategy and operational planning for service industries. Claire’s responsibility involves understanding the issues and drivers within the various market places and developing value propositions around eBusiness in response.

Prior to joining Oracle, Claire was the Head of Consulting for Sema's Transportation Division that involved developing propositions to take to market and managing a team of sector specialist consultants. She has also worked for Touche Ross and Logica.

James Cronin

James Cronin has worked for many of the UK's top ISPs, New Media companies and e-commerce start-ups. James was among the first to be hired by boo.com where he was Vice President of Technology and Operations. He pressed the button to launch the website and pressed the button to shut it down. James currently works for BBC New Media and BBC News Online as a consultant technical architect.

Outside of work, James has been active in award-winning e-democracy campaigns, such as the anti-RIP bill site: www.stand.org.uk. He also co-founded the volunteer-run service: www.FaxYourMP.com. He believes strongly in the Internet as an enabling technology for change and spends a lot of time helping Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth with their online campaigns.

Rosie Boycott

Rosie Boycott became the first female editor of a national daily broadsheet when she took up the position of editor at The Independent in 1996. She then became editor of The Daily Express in 1998, changing direction in 2001.

Rosie was founding editor of Spare Rib and Virago Publishing in the 1970s before going to work on magazines abroad. She has also worked on The Independent on Sunday, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Telegraph and Harpers & Queen.

An author of several books, including her autobiography A Nice Girl Like Me, Rosie makes appearances on television and radio programmes. A regular on Start the Week on Radio 4 and Question Time on BBC 1, Rosie is also a media advisor for the Council of Europe.

Rosie has just launched her first major television series Life Etc. on BBC2. In her programme, she meets and talks with people that have faced life-changing situations and difficult moral dilemmas.

Spencer Neal

Spencer Neal, publisher of the New Statesman has managed Britain's premier current-affairs weekly since May 1997. He has been responsible for for many of the publication's partnerships and is especially interested in opportunities that challenge social exclusion. Spencer lives in Hackney, north London with his partner and their two young children.