“Roger Wagner didn’t just read the first book on programming the Apple computer - he wrote it.”
- Steve Wozniak
"Most Important Educational Technology Gurus of the Past Two Decades": Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Seymour Papert, Roger Wagner”
- Technology & Learning Magazine
"If you do anything with technology in your classroom, your approach most assuredly has his influence all over it."
Technologist, business advisor, software designer, presenter, former Board Member: CUE Inc., private pilot, book collector, writer, author, former middle- and high school teacher, amateur scientist, inventor. Interests in aviation, music, mathematics, science, history, space exploration, photography and gardening. (and a little more here...)
Technology and Business Advisor, NBD Nanotechnologies
Advisor to Rufus Labs
Rufus wearable barcode scanners replace handheld legacy and mobile devices with the most powerful, lightning-fast, hands-free warehouse tech.
Software, Hardware & Instructional Design - HyperStudio, HyperDuino, MakerBit , MakerPort
Inspired by HyperCard (1986, a black-and-white database-centered hypertext system for the Macintosh), I designed HyperStudio in 1988 as a media-centric (color, hypermedia, chroma-key video, laserdisc, MIDI and robotics support) environment that respects and honors students as creative artists in their own right.
HyperStudio was the first software title in the world to have "studio" as part of the name, and it's a significant point in how HyperStudio differed from any other software of the time was in its emphasis on the power of frictionless creativity for students of any age and its service to the first artists to explore the newly arrive digital frontiers of media.
By the mid-90s, HyperStudio was the most-used software worldwide in K-12 education, and included significant use in higher education, commercial settings, and professional artists.
The Invention Kit Project explores the way that the United States became the nation that it is today. It tells this story through the lens of inventions that changed the world – such as the electric motor, the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light, the electrical power grid, and radio. Each of these innovations were developed by American inventors throughout the 19th and early 20th century.
Consultant & Designer to the Smithsonian Invention Kit Project
in collaboration with the Smithsonian and the University of Virginia
Former Board Member, CUE Inc. (2012-2018)
CUE (Computer Using Educators) is the non-profit organization for educators and administrators who use technology to enhance learning and provides a community for innovative learners of all ages.
Testifying before the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee of the California in 2017 for support of Assembly Joint Resolution 7, asking US Congress and the POTUS to support continuation of Net Neutrality, and the E-Rate and Lifeline programs for Internet access to schools and underserved homes. AJR 7 was passed and has prompted the recent introduction new legislation for California to establish its own Net Neutrality rules. AJR7 was initiated by CUE and authored by Assembly Speaker pro Tem, Kevin Mullin. Shown are Kevin Mullin, Roger Wagner, and John Cradler providing testimony at the State Capitol.
"Wagner's HyperStudio was a paradigm challenge of a serious nature.”
- Ted Nelson, original visionary of the world wide web, and
originator of the words hypertext & hypermedia
"L'outil de création le plus fantastique qui m’ait été donné depuis que j’ai appris à écrire”
“The most fantastic creation tool that I have been given since I learned to write”
- Chris Marker, film-maker, author, digital artist
NBD Nano solutions offer unique protection options for a variety of product surfaces. Available as coatings, additives, or adhesion promoters, these solutions transform ordinary products to become highly repellent to water, oil, microbials, dirt, and stains.
MicroBlocks Ambassador
MicroBlocks is a free, Scratch-like block programming language for learning physical computing with educational microcontroller boards, including the BBC micro:bit and MakerPort.
Appeared as an NPC in Nox Archaist, 2021.
Science Education Committee Member, Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe.
Later work shifted to the intersection of microcontrollers and the physical world in what has been called mechatronics, animatronics, and physical computing. My work included the invention and patenting of the first connection of videos and other digital media to physical models using the Arduino, URLs, and the Chrome browser (U.S. patents 11,023,252 & 11,586,449).
The HyperDuino, MakerBit and MakerPort, each solve key obstacles for those both just entering the maker movement, and experienced makers, by eliminating the need for breadboards, soldering, and and complicated wiring. In the classroom, physical classroom projects can now be made into interactive maker projects, by creating a two-way link between digital student-made and existing content and physical student-created models.
The MakerBit augments the BBC micro:bit with a computer science curriculum based on students creating working models of common digital devices, including a digital piano, music player and an electronic board game.
(There's something of a secret portal here to pages created many years ago about the things that HyperStudio from 2007 to 2020 could do. The videos generally no longer play but you can still get a pretty good idea of its capabilities)
The MakerPort
The MakerPort is a universal "hub" for school, art and craft projects that combines the best features of the most popular "maker" controllers such as the BBC micro:bit, Makey Makey, Hummingbird:bit, Arduino and many others.
With its own on-board microprocessor, built-in mp3 player, true capacitive touch sensing, remote control receiver, flash card memory and a hefty built-in speaker, it is the most capable yet friction-free device in existence for students, artists and anyone who wishes to add sound, lights and motion to their projects.
NSF Panelist Reviewer, 2024