Work Experience
Lead Web Developer, Actual Size Creative, January 2009 to March 2011. Responsible for taking web projects through the full development cycle, from setting requirements and capabilities with customers, recommending technologies, approaches, and solutions, planning database structure, setting development milestones, and coordinating members of the development team, as well as coding, testing, problem solving, and launching projects. I worked mostly in PHP, MySQL, and MVC programming frameworks such as CodeIgniter. I coded Facebook and Twitter apps for user authentication and one-stop posting, and worked with other APIs like PayPal. There was a fair amount of front-end work as well, in Javascript/AJAX, JQuery, Prototype, Photoshop, Flash, and Illustrator. I handled version control with Subversion, Git, and Mercurial. I've also worked with off-the-shelf CMSs such as Drupal and Wordpress. Notable web development projects include Family Resources of Pennsylvania, TrueHockey.com, AskListenLearn.com, and ThisIsActualSize.com.
Freelance Web Developer and Consultant, May 1996 to Present. Responsible for programming, design, and production of WWW sites, including front-ends, commerce functions, Flash animations, and administrative interfaces for content and product management. Clients have included IraqSlogger.com, Infocast Inc., Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, Sequitur, onezeromusic.com, Washington Mutual Home Loans Marketing, Washington Mutual BFS Marketing, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Emerge Communication, Emerge Health, Sozoliving, California Institute for Mental Health, Dickie Walker, Menninger Care Systems, Turner Martin, the Environmental Defense Fund, the University of Arizona International Campus, Hell's Kitchen Systems, Inc., the Smithsonian Institute, Carnegie Mellon Research Institute Photography and Graphic Services (consulted on CMRI Website construction), the Internet Chess Club, and many others. For a list of sites I've developed, click here; for a list of WWW sites I've designed, click here. Currently, I'm developing mostly in PHP and mySQL.
Freelance Writer and Communications Consultant, researching and rewriting internal corporate communications for clients, reworking documents for clarity, more consistent voice, and more consistent organization. My most recent client was Chalk Creek Software, Inc., for whom I wrote a series of marketing materials. Prior to that project, I rewrote Human Resources documents for Washington Mutual's Consumer Bank division, explaining the benefits and compensation structure of all incentive-based positions within Financial Centers.
Freelance Graphic Designer, Software Trainer, and Writer, May 1986 to Present. Responsible for design, writing, proofreading, and production of catalogs, promotional brochures, newsletters and other publications. Clients have included onezeromusic.com, Washington Mutual Consumer Bank, Washington Mutual Home Loans the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Production Systems Technologies, Inc., the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, Black Box Corporation, Westinghouse Science and Technology Center, HealthAmerica, the University of Pittsburgh Press, and many other organizations and individuals.
Director, Creative & Technical Production, GreenMarketplace.com, July 1999 to August 2000. Responsible for design and implementation of two iterations of the GreenMarketplace.com website, an ecommerce site devoted to natural and healthy products. I also designed banners for use by affiliates and in various advertising campaigns, as well as logos for business cards, the business plan, signage, brochures, and other uses. Beginning in September 1999, I devoted more of my time to technical issues and directing technical staff, building an inventory system, a fulfillment system, a membership system, an automatic reordering system, a gift registry, and more. I built the software engine behind Network For Change, an online community-building and content-building tool. These systems were built in WebDNA, an HTML preprocessing template language. I served an additional function as the troubleshooter for advanced graphics, HTML, WebDNA, and MacOS issues. (As of late 2002, these sites are no longer online.)
Creative Director of the EnviroLink Network, January 1996 to November 1998. Responsible for design and construction of WWW sites, graphical elements, and promotional materials, designing and maintaining the look and feel of the site, and managing and training design staff and interns. Most of my work required a thorough knowledge of HTML, Adobe Photoshop (with an emphasis on designing for the Web), UserLand Frontier, Macromedia Fireworks, Equilibrium DeBabelizer, QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator, and other packages. Also responsible for contributing writing and editing to promotional materials, grant proposals, and research publications.
Freelance Staff Trainer for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, August 1995 to Spring 1998, training faculty and staff in current electronic publishing software and basic to advanced computer skills.
Freelance Staff Trainer and Systems Administrator, American Restoration Services, Spring 1994 to Summer 1998, maintaining LAN, troubleshooting, and training employees in use of software packages and file management.
Computer Instructor for the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, Summer 1992 to Summer 1999, teaching word processing, file management, and general computing skills to students from grade school through high school age as part of the Project's Young Writers Institute.
Writing Instructor, English Department, University of Pittsburgh, September 1988 to August 1991. Responsible for a full professor's class load: developing curriculum, planning the syllabus, conducting class, and assigning work and final grades for daytime and evening sections of General Writing, an introductory composition course, and for Introduction to Creative Writing classes.
Electronic Publishing Startup Consultant, September 1986 to present. Responsible for complete development and startup of electronic publishing systems and training employees in using the new system. Clients have included the Graphical Arts Technical Foundation's Technical Economic Forecasting division, the Pittsburgh Golden Times, Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review, 5am, and Skyscraper Engineer Magazine.
Research Assistant, May to August 1989, conducting information searches and data management for two faculty projects in the English Department of the University of Pittsburgh.
Production Manager of the Pennsylvania Review, April 1987 to October 1991, typesetting and designing each semiannual issue of the magazine and advertisements.
Field Supervisor, Media Services, University of Pittsburgh, July 1986 to August 1988. Responsible for supervising video and film presentations, operating video cameras and recording and editing equipment, and training employees in setup, operation, and troubleshooting of audio, video, and film equipment.
Awards and Honors
Installation of two audio works (Tell Ya One Thing and its remix "Tell Ya Another") in the Cabaret Xcen*trick show at the South Bend Regional Museum of Art in South Bend, Indiana, October 12 to November 10.Reinstallation of "Surrounded by Memory," at the Three Rivers Arts Festival gallery, September 15, 1998 to October 12, 1998.
Awarded project grant from the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts for the creation of "Surrounded by Memory," an audio environment of music and recorded speech installed at the 1998 Aliquippa Embraces Arts festival.
Awarded project grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Interdisciplinary program, for the creation of Use, a dynamic web-based art project during 1997-1998.
Paper on Global Information Sharing Using the Internet presented at the National Academy of Sciences 1997 Industrial Ecology Workshop, and published in the conference anthology.
Aliquippa Embraces Arts: Music/sound/speech audio environment installed at the 1997 festival.
Interactive digital performance piece included in the Winter 1997 issue of the electronic book review at http://www.electronicbookreview.com/ (see ebr6).
International Merit Award from the Atlanta Review in the Poetry 1996 International Poetry Competition.
Designer as Author: Voices and Visions, Northern Kentucky University, February 8 to March 8, 1996. Interactive text/graphics project displayed in curated exhibition.
Three Rivers Arts Festival, 1990 to 1993. Photographs accepted and displayed.
Graduate Teaching Scholarship, English Department, University of Pittsburgh, September 1988 to August 1991.
Graduate Record Exam, December 1990. Scored in top 1% in Verbal and top 8% in Quantitative portions of the exam.
Chancellor's Undergraduate Merit Scholarship, 1984. Awarded a four-year, full-tuition and room and board academic merit scholarship, the highest-level undergraduate scholarship offered by the University of Pittsburgh.
National Merit Scholarship, 1984.
Education
Master of Fine Arts in English, University of Pittsburgh, September 1988 to April 1993. Specialization in Writing with a cumulative 3.71/4.0 GPA. Graduated in April 1993.Bachelor of Arts in English, University of Pittsburgh, September 1984 to April 1988. Specialization in Writing with Music, Economics, and Psychology minors, and Engineering background. Graduated cum laude with a 3.82 GPA.
Filmmaking Internship, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, 1982-1984. Education in film criticism and production techniques, producing three films and several video projects, individually and in collaboration. Duties included camerawork, editing, sound recording, scriptwriting and acting.
Software Expertise
PHP, mySQL, WebDNA, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe ImageReady, Javascript, Grep, BBEdit, UserLand Frontier, HTML (CSS, DHTML, Navigator and Explorer extensions, also integration of CGIs, Perl scripts, and SSIs), Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress (including scripting and advanced use of Xpress Tags), Adobe Illustrator, Applescript, Macromedia Freehand, Digidesign ProTools and many other software packages.Multimedia
Proficiency with a variety of 35mm, medium format, 4"x5" and digital photographic equipment and processing techniques, as well as several different filmmaking and video formats.I also play a variety of musical instruments as a solo performer and with an ensemble, and am proficient with many common audio recording and soundtracking techniques and technologies.