Industry Faculty
Cory Ondrejka
Former CTO of Linden Lab, developer of Second Life
Cory Ondrejka is former chief technology officer at Linden Lab, and is an expert in the economic and technological impact of online communities. Ondrejka wrote much of the original code for the three-dimensional interactive environment Second Life, and has established himself as one of the foremost thinkers in the field. Larry Gross, director of the Annenberg School, described Ondrejka as, “a pioneer in the development of virtual reality environments, most importantly Second Life, and he will bring to the Annenberg School a wealth of knowledge and experience in this important new dimension of contemporary life.”
Michael Overing
Michael Overing is principal at Michael S. Overing. He developed and teaches the Internet Law class in the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California. Michael received his J.D. from Loyola Law School, his M.A. from the University of Southern California, and his B.A. from the University of Nebraska. He frequently speaks and lectures on intellectual property issues affecting online publishers and writers.
Andrew Schrock
Andrew Schrock brings a wealth of experience developing online products for both academia and industry to his teaching at APOC. He received his B.A. in computer science from Brandeis University and his M.A. in communication from the University of Central Florida, where he wrote an award-winning thesis on MySpace dependency. He has consulted for a number of LA entertainment companies, and has written on new media for publications such as MIT’s Technology Review. In the spring of 2008 he taught the APOC course in Technologies for Online Communities (CMGT-599), and in summer of 2008 he co-taught Uses of Communication Research (COMM-540) with Mathew Curtis. Andrew has also taught multimedia development in the School of Digital Media, and Advanced Image Editing in the journalism department at CSU Long Beach. He is also currently consulting for WeFirst, a social networking website that will unite individuals around causes, and is president of ReRelease.net, the first all-digital, revenue-sharing, music label devoted to reissued music.
Cody Simms
Director of Product Management, Yahoo! Open Platforms
Cody has been focusing on the daily needs of online developers and publishers at Yahoo! since August 2005. He is currently leading product management for Yahoo!'s recently announced efforts to deliver open, industry-leading platforms to publishers and developers. Prior to his current role, Cody was Senior Product Manager for the Yahoo! Publisher Network, which allows publishers to earn revenue from Yahoo!'s advertising network. Before Yahoo!, Cody held product management positions at a number of online and new media entities, including The New York Times on the web, Sprint PCS, NBC Internet, and Snap.com. He is a true media junkie at heart, with an unbounded enthusiasm for technology and social media, as well as an MA in transnational communications and global media from Goldsmiths College, University of London. He also holds a BA in Chinese and history from the University of Kansas and has lived in China on two occasions. Outside of Yahoo!, Cody devotes time as a lecturer for the Annenberg Program on Online Communities at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, where he recently led a group of masters students through the end-to-end creation of three online community websites.
