Introduction

This blog is my personal blog for a university class on transmedia story creation.

Who am I? I’m a computer geek. I’m a lifelong learner. I’m a gamer, but not hardcore. I read mostly non-fiction and watch mostly documentaries. I love a great story (the Count of Monte Cristo) and certainly believe in the power of one.

I have an MBA, but find myself using my listening leadership course lessons the most. I have a BS in computer science, but I only occassionaly write code. I’ve been a web developer most of my life. I learned HTML in 1995 when I was a sophmore in high school. In middle school I learned HyperCard and participated in the broadcasting of morning announcements.

I work at the Joint Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Co-Lab — a Department of Defese research lab focused on prototyping technologies and methodologies that allow for learning without the physical presence of an instructor. I’m interested in both instructional design and technology.

I just completed my first course in instructional systems design in April. I plan to spend considerable time learning about instruction and am still developing my ideas about educational psychology.

I’m interested in the Web, simulations, and video games. I’m an evangelist of wikis — Wikimania 2006 was the best conference I’ve ever attended. I love the Web and the simplicity of producing and consuming multimedia it offers. I’m intrigued by the idea of user generated content in SecondLife. I often think about the difficulty of producing simulations and video games. I believe in the engaging consumption simulations and video games offer — the Games, Learning, and Society conference was the second best conference I ever attended.

I spent a couple of years working with distributed simulations before joining the co-lab in 2003. I simulated important airplanes in U.S. Army training exercises when they were too expensive to fly over the desert of California.  I’ve always loved the simplicity of the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) standard.