Educational Engagements and Public Speaking Activities by Stephen Medaris Bull
By: Elowen Gray
Stephen Medaris Bull is an American inventor, entrepreneur, mixed-media technologist, and media producer. His career spans interactive media, healthcare technology, experimental prototyping, and documentary production. Bull has also contributed to higher education and public dialogue on pervasive gaming and digital storytelling.
Bull began his career in media production as the First Assistant Director on numerous television commercials and documentaries. He worked with directors like Sam Peckinpah, Stephen Frears, Eric Red, and Lindsay Anderson.
Bull has contributed to education through teaching and public lectures. He served as an adjunct professor at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), where he designed and taught a course based on Neighborhood Narratives. His work combines theory with practice in interactive storytelling.
He has spoken at major conferences on interactive media. At the Digital Storytelling Conference in San Francisco, he presented “Storytelling in Pervasive Game Space.” At the Mobilized! At the conference at Brooklyn Tech, he lectured on the technical aspects of Cellphonia’s Asterisk code.
At the Institute for the Future (IFTF) seminar in Palo Alto, he discussed the “Future of Pervasive Gaming.” Throughout these events, Bull covered topics like pervasive gaming, mobile storytelling, and technology infrastructure, influencing both students and practitioners.
In film, Bull co-directed the experimental bio-documentary Margaret Sanger: A Public Nuisance with Terese Svoboda. The project, screened at the J. Paul Getty Museum, was recognized as one of the most important examples of experimental biography produced in its decade.
He also served as Second Unit Director and Production Manager for WHAM! in China, the documentary covering the British pop band’s historic tour in the People’s Republic of China. Bull’s projects have attracted coverage in arts and technology publications.
NYArts Magazine profiled his mobile art projects in Molly Kleiman’s article “A Phone is a Phone is a…”. His TouchToneTours initiative was reviewed in the Montreal Mirror under the title “Our World and Others.”
The New York Times featured his cellphone-guided tour of Greenport, New York, written by Stacy Albin. Jori Finkel, writing about the ISEA ZeroOne Festival in San Jose, reviewed Cellphonia as an example of mobile art.
These articles reflect the intersection of technology, art, and public engagement in his work. Bull later transitioned into technology entrepreneurship, launching several ventures across healthcare and mobile applications.
At Breathe-Global Devices Ltd., he leads the design and manufacture of the Venti device, a maskless breathing support ventilator. He also founded Preminder Inc., which develops communication platforms to enhance patient–provider care plan monitoring and improve treatment adherence.
Alongside his companies, Bull has created several independent projects blending technology and interactivity. His AI in the Cockpit project developed a simulation for pilot emergency preparedness and decision-making.
He designed AzZa, a mobile application capable of generating algorithmic art, which was distributed through the O2 Network in the UK and Handango for Sony Ericsson devices. His augmented reality initiative, AR War of 1812, funded by the New York Council for the Humanities, created an educational AR experience.
Bull has used experimental prototyping as a research method for interactive design. At Interval Research, Paul Allen worked on projects exploring storytelling, gaming, and interaction. His Story Island IoT Prototype combined Internet of Things technologies into interactive storybooks, providing responsive narratives for children.
He also developed You-In-A-Movie, a prototype booth that embedded participants into film scenes, creating a personalized cinematic experience. His Venus game engine merged human behavior research with interactive reward systems, examining the connection between psychology and gameplay.
Bull has published academic and creative work addressing locative media, digital storytelling, and speculative technology. He co-authored Neighborhood Narratives with Hana Iverson, included in a volume edited by Drew Hemment, which analyzed how locative media can foster community-based storytelling.
His publications, indexed on Google Scholar, include Click History: Wherever, Whenever, Low Earth Orbit Space Farm, and the in-progress Cellphonia: In the News. Together, these writings encompass a range of subjects, from communication systems to space agriculture, showcasing the breadth of his research interests.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It highlights the media recognition and public impact of Stephen Medaris Bull’s work based on publicly available information.
