Recent Writings

            Top rated poet & poem on Poetry Critical - poetry.tetto.org

            http://poetry.tetto.org/~gnormal

Other Experiences

Open Society Institute, George Soros Foundation, New York, NY

Consultant to the Burma Project   July 1995–present

 

After winning grants in two consecutive years I was brought on staff for a year to build a self-proposed web "community server", educate the activists in the field in encryption and secure messaging technology, identify & initiate emerging technology communication projects and advise staff and grantmakers in technology grantmaking.

·          Proposed, designed & created one of the Internet's first comprehensive community servers integrating individually administered websites, listservs, pop3 accounts, autoresponders, real-time chat and nntp threaded discussion with Usenet feed. Assembled Linux box for clandestine smtp server and secure telnet sessions.

·          Developed standardized communication methods and enhanced security in message exchange between stations inside Burma, the Thai-Burma border areas, and the fully wired activist and press community in the first world. Deployed equipment & trained grantees in remote & primitive conditions, and/or politically hostile environments (Manipur state, India, northwest Thailand).

·          Wrote and delivered lectures, as required, on computers, the Internet and encryption, to diverse audiences (a group of scholarship students, the International Burma Donors Forum, a U.S. D.E.A. Agent).

·          Specified a secure network for the Office of the Prime Minister of Burma (in exile in Washington D.C.). Instructed the Prime Minister and staff in Internet security, philosophy of encryption and PGP. Catalyzed widespread use of PGP encryption by the Burmese democracy movement.

·          Assembled and hand-coded the first human rights activist website in 1994 at http://ibiblio.org/freeburma. Built to educate and activate concerned westerners, the content includes personally collected photos, songs, sounds, stories & interviews with victims and the local people. The "interactivist" section, an original concept, provided ready-to-launch templates & targets, and an email-to-fax gateway for letters of concern fed directly out of the fax machines of elected officials.

Virtual Vegas, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

Chief Technology Officer  March 1993 –January 1997

My experience was vital in growing the five-person CD-ROM and online multimedia game production startup to 60 employees in four years. Virtual Vegas, Inc. (VirtualVegas.com) was sold to Vivendi in 2000.  Gained frontline experience in a technology startup, including tradeshow hopping, demo production, network expansion, technology forecasting, budgeting, repositioning for the Internet, strategic partners, investment bankers.  Getting people.  Keeping people.

·          Managed Programming and R&D Departments, interviewed and hired all technical personnel.

·          Produced dozens of cd-rom titles and websites

·          Prepared the company for the eventuality of online consumers by converting legacy product line for interactive delivery via tv/Broadband or narrowband Internet.

·          Designed and managed production of a suite of Java casino game clients that bank player's "chips" into a central database for later redemption of sponsored prizes in 1996.

·          Managed design and production of rollout interactive entertainment for the interactive gaming channel of the Time Warner Full Service Network interactive tv test bed in Orlando, FL.

·          Partnered with other emerging industry leaders in high-profile technology rollouts, including Sun's Java, SGI's VRML, CyberCash/Coin and RealAudio.

 

CyberJava, Hollywood, CA

CyberJava, Venice, CA

Co-founder, Partner, Technology Director  May 1995–present

·          Opened the first Internet café in southern California in July 1995. This pioneering Internet and networking services company provided Internet access and education, high-speed connectivity, web development and IT solutions for small businesses. Expanded to a high-profile location on the Walk of Fame, Hollywood, California 1998.

·          This highly publicized startup-turned-incubator (profiled in BusinessWeek, Time, USA Today, CNN and LA Times) educated, fed, partnered, partied and developed strategic partnerships with numerous companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, 3COM and Quarterdeck, leveraging the company's unique ability to reach new market segments by integrating technology into the retail space.

·          Hands-on experience with a "brick & mortar" startup, including product/service design (menu, merchandise, Internet products), securing suppliers, customer service, brand creation, advertising and marketing. Art directed all logos, merchandise (T-shirts, mugs, caps, etc.), print materials (menus, flyers, postcards, business cards) and advertisements. Produced the space, managing design and production of interior and exterior signage.

Volunteer Teacher, Thailand  August 1991–March 1993

·          Traveled independently for two years around China, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

·          Lived in the jungle near the Thai-Burma border for an eight-month period, in the primitive conditions of a Kaliang/Karen refugee hill tribe village teaching english, science and world affairs to ethnic insurgents in their bamboo schoolhouse.

Education

2002                    Avid Filmcamp, intensive six-week training in film/video editing, Digital Media Education Center, Portland, OR

1997                          NT Server 4.0 Administration, Quickstart Technologies, Los Angeles, CA. MCSE course

1991                          IBM AS/400 System Operator intensive workshop, IBM Corp., New York, NY

        1984–1988        Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.

                Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, Minor in Fine Art

        1986–1987        University of Sussex, Sussex, England.

                Completed Senior Computer Engineering curriculum during junior year

 

Skills

project management and team building hiring & interviewing, dependency driven project scheduling and task assignments. Database design, creation, translation, support, statistics evaluation, Oracle, PL/SQL, dBase, Advanced Revelation, Java e-commerce, ColdFusion Studio, UNIX, Linux, NT, Mac, ColdFusion, ASP.NET

content production Offline video editing, AVID XpressDV. Produced scaleable interactive multimedia content for wideband or narrowband Internet delivery and CD-ROM distribution.  Programmed or managed projects in: Coldfusion, C++, Visual Basic, CGI, Java, JavaScript, Flash.   Produced digital video & audio from bluescreen to MPEG using Premier, RealAudio/ RealMedia, subtitles, palette control, PhotoShop, Illustrator, MIDI, MP3.   Thorough understanding of 3D modeling, animation, rendering.  I sure enjoy writing copy, technical writing, nonfiction, graphic design, photography and found objects.  Basic spoken Japanese.

References are available on request.