Youtube, Flickr, Tribe.net, myspace, bondage.com, Second Life, go to any of these sites and look for BDSM and you will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of people, images, ideas and activity taking place in our corner of the world.

BDSM has embraced social networking, virtual worlds, video logging, live cams, podcasts, not to mention old standbys like discussion lists, and groups. In the quest to bring people together and share their kink, people have adopted the mainstream technologies as fast as possible and in some cases blazing the trail.

This open discussion will cover trends and tools where BDSM activity hits the Web. From simple experiences such as e-mail lists to discussion forums, social networking sites, and virtual worlds, BDSM has a presence at all layers of the electronic spectrum.

We’ll discuss current activities, futures in trends and offerings, complexities from the law and censorship, and how we as leaders and activists can engage our communities, to grow, educate and entertain the next generation of BDSM players.

This is a panel discussion, we’ll spend some time fielding directed questions to our panelists and then invite the audience to ask questions.

About the presenters:

Moderator Steve Bower – a longtime scene member in the Bay Area, Steve has held several officer positions in the Society of Janus including Program Director, Coordinator, and Webmaster where he started and continues to run the Janus Community Events Calendar. He has also been webmaster for the NCSF and was responsible for bringing Kink Aware Professionals to NCSF. He moderates the SF Citadel and Janus discussion groups on Tribe.net and has had several appearances on Kink.com and other adult web sites.

Richard Hunter – Already an established legendary player in the world leather scene, Richard provided new leadership and vision that re-invented the Mr. S Leather Company when he acquired it in 1991. By marketing Mr. S Leather to a younger and broader public he increased its presence and set itself apart from the ‘70’s Leather Clone’ image. By setting the benchmark standard for creating products that would not only look impressive but also be fully functioning products he has set the bar very high for the entire fetish industry. The Mr S Leather forums continue to be an active discussion area under the mrsdungeon.com website, their foray into an adult web site.

Kyle Machulis – is also known as a tinkerer/hacker/pioneer/visionary in the realm of sex technology (or at least, a ton of bloggers seem to think so). Through his Slashdong webpage, he uses the topic of teledildonics (remotely actuated sexual experience) to teach the basic concepts of electrical and mechanical engineering. He also tracks the convergence of sex and technological advances in toys and interaction. An (accidental) expert in the field of sex in Video Games, he is on the leadership council of the IGDA Sex In Games Special Interest Group, a gathering of game developers, academics, and players interested in discussing the role of sex in interactive entertainment. His MMOrgy Project keeps the community updated on the intimate happenings of the Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming world, where emergent sex (intimate encounters not originally planned as part of the game/world by developers) has become a hot topic and oft-seen event.

Thomas Roche – Currently a Marketing Manager at Kink.com Thomas has been writing professionally since age 19. Since then, Roche has sold hundreds of erotica stories, and three dozen or so erotic novels under various pseudonyms including, most famously, N.T. Morley. Under that name, he has written 16 novels of erotic dominance and submission and edited two anthologies

Roche’s nonfiction work has appeared in a wide variety of web and print publications, giving him more than 400 professionally published articles, essays, reviews, and interviews to his credit. He was a product reviews editor and staff writer atwww.gettingit.com, the nonfiction editor atwww.gothic.net, a staff writer at www.libida.com, the editor of Good Vibes Magazine at Good Vibrations, and the Books Editor at Universal Studios‘ now-defunct www.13thstreet.com. He was the Managing Editor of Eros Zine, an online magazine specializing in erotica, fetish, and dark sexuality.

In addition to his editing and writing work, Roche served as Marketing Manager of San Francisco’s women-owned erotic boutique, Good Vibrations, from 2001-2004. Prior to that, he worked in the field of medical advertising and medical education for six years. Roche has also worked in the field of sexuality education for more than 10 years as a staff instructor at San Francisco Sex Information, a nonprofit educational service.

Lew Rubens – Experienced bondager and suspension artist, Lew Rubens, of Boundndetermined.com and Kink.com has a love of bondage that shows in his work. Known mostly for his wild suspensions, Lew only joined the public side of BDSM play in 2001 and started his website 6 months later. In that time he has taken the bondage world by storm. With 40 years bondage experience, Lew has presented his workshops and demos of his unique style at many BDSM and bondage industry events in the US, Canada, Jamaica and Germany. He now works with Kink.com and runs their WaterBondage.com web site.