My name is Luke Segars and I’m currently a Masters student at the University of California, Berkeley.  I am both studying and deeply interested in how humans exchange information with each other, particularly in the context of informal education.  My research currently involves studying user motivations for participation in online knowledge-sharing communities and how we can design these communities to encourage higher levels of participation.

I am also the head Graduate Student Instructor for a new intro-level course at Berkeley called The Beauty and Joy of Computing.  Co-created by Brian Harvey and my advisor Dan Garcia, this course aims to be a “icebreaker” course into computer science that introduces students both to the wonders of programming and the significant social impacts that the digital revolution has (and is still) creating on our society.  The course is still very new but we’re working on it around the clock to make it as good as we know that it can be.

Although summarizing a person on a page is a daunting task, I think that I’ll get as close as I know how to with my favorite quote of all time:

So you see!  There’s no end to the things you might know, depending how far beyond Zebra you go. – Dr. Seuss

This quote comes from Dr. Seuss’ On Beyond Zebra, and the entire book is summarized perfectly by this quote.  Despite what some might say, the limits of knowledge and human potential seem to be far beyond what we’re doing with ourselves today.  I want to help others open their eyes to how empowering this simple realization can be.