I am particularly interested in the dynamics of how systems are designed with specific functions in mind, especially systems designed for emergency and disaster situations. An emergency or disaster situation is a security breach of a social system and infrastructure. While a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, terrorist attacks, or tsunamis are clearly not the same as getting hacked the end result exposes vulnerabilities. Therefore design principles for both are related and are not mutually exclusive. I would like the opportunity to garner a wider understanding of issues of  pervasive computing as these become more ubiquitous components of system design.   

 

My academic motivation is the examination of the human experience vis a vie war or peace, conqueror or conquered - there is interaction, communication, exposure to new ideas and knowledge. Understanding interaction of these various mechanisms that facilitate interaction whether it is transportation, printed matter, philosophical beliefs, ICTs or etc. engrosses me. My undergraduate degree, from the University of North Carolina, at Charlotte, in political science, with minors in world history and the methods of social sciences, was based on a broadening of a comprehension of the mechanics of human interaction. My undergraduate studies provided a rich overview, of notion of individual legitimacy, and as well how disparate cultures through both peace and war, defined and limited legitimacy and efficacy.

 

My interest in the larger questions of the human experience and understanding mechanisms of interaction, legitimacy and its communication led me inevitably led me to art and to New York City’s arts community.  My time spent as a fine artist was a study in the use temporal organic art as a tool of interaction with the viewer and how the role of legitimacy, had become so intertwined with commerce of art.  My post undergraduate artistic experience developed both my design and a cognizance of my intuitive aesthetic vocabulary. My immersion in fine art, both art in the galleries where I worked and the classical art in the institutions that I visited, was thoroughly enriched by my

prior undergraduate studiesin world history.  Where were the artists in the sweep of history and how did this effect the art produced, in particular the legitimacy of the artistic forms; furthermore a understanding of various types of communication mechanisms at play during various artistic periods of expression provided a necessary vernacular component for a deeper appreciation and inspiration.

 

 My interest in ICTs was through  the medium of email.  I immediately became fascinated with the immediacy of the medium and its innate disregard for time, distance, and the social cues that physically communicate legitimacy.  However, this remained an interest that I did not immediately connect to larger studies of how politics, art, transportation, printed matter, philosophical beliefs, or ICTs, are all nuances of human interaction whether tangible or intangible. While reading an article about a free operating system in the late nineties, I came to realize the inherently political nature of ICTs. Not only the political nature of conveying information that potentially changes the way people live, but also the politics involved in the construction of the ICTs themselves, i.e. embedded values. I moved to the Bay area, to participate in what I perceived as the epicenter of this ICT revolution.  Since the latter part of the decade I have educated myself in forms of social information and communication technologies through internships here in the Bay area, as well as, my Unix System Administration certification from UC Berkeley.

 My artistic experience in New York City and my undergraduate studies have provided me with the intellectual and aesthetic acumen to fully appreciate the power and breadth of social ICTs as mechanisms of human interaction, as well as tools of social evolution and progress.  This is the foundation I would like to build upon at IUSI.

 

I came across a particularly inspiring quote by Grace Hopper, the inventor of the compiler, who said, in the early 60's:

 

“To me programming is more than an important practical art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge.”^[1]