In 1966, during his junior year at LaSalle College, Michael Milone quite by accident found himself a resident adviser at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. The experience was so compelling that he pursued a career in general and special education, surprising everyone who knew him by eventually earning a master's degree from Gallaudet University and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. During these years as an education gypsy, he was drawn to the then arcane field of computer technology, concluding that his interpersonal skills were more suitable to machines than humans.

After two years affiliated with research projects at the University of Arizona and Gallaudet College, Michael joined the Highlights for Children organization as a research and technology specialist. The fine people at Highlights tolerated him for five years, after which he decided they had put up with him long enough. He started a small company that provides a variety of services to publishers, including SRA/McGraw-Hill, LeapFrog, and Scott-Foresman. He supplements his meager income by writing for Technology & Learning magazine, a sideline that has occupied him since 1984.

Michael has served as a member and chair of the IRA Technology, Communication, and Literacy committee and the corresponding committee of the National Council of Teachers of English. He has contributed to a number of publications involving technology and education, including a special issues report for the American Association of School Administrators. He has coordinated the Technology & Learning Teacher of the Year program since its inception and has been involved several other technology award programs. In his spare time, of which he seems to have more than most people, Michael engages in endurance sports that any sensible person should avoid.

Michael Milone can be reached by e-mail at mmilone@aol.com.