Notebook of Sand

• Recent Publications
• Recent Projects
• Conferences & Speaking
"Comparing Spatial Hypertext Collections"
  ACM Hypertext '09
"Archiving and Sharing Your Tinderbox"
  Tinderbox Weekend London '09
"The Electronic Nature of Future Literatures"
  Literary Studies Now, Apr '09
"The World University Project"
  St. John's Col. Cambridge, Feb '09
"Ethical Explanations,"
  The New Knowledge Forge, Jun '08
Lecture, Cambridge University
  Tragedy in E-Lit, Nov '07
Hypertext '07: Tragedy in E-Lit
Host for Tinderbox Cambridge '07
Keynote: Dickinson State Uni Conf
Upper Midwest NCHC'07: Speaker
eNarrative 6: Creative Nonfiction
HT'05: "Philadelphia Fullerine"
  Nelson award winning paper
NCHC '05:
 Nurturing Independent Scholarship
Riddick Practicum:
  Building Meeting Good Will
NCHC '04:
  Philadelphia Fullerine
  Lecture on American Studies
WWW@10: Nonfiction on the Web
NCHC '03: Parliamentary Procedure
ELL '03 -- Gawain Superstar
• (a)Musing (ad)Dictions:

Ideas. Tools. Art. Build --not buy. What works, what doesn't. Enjoy new media and software aesthetics at Tekka.

Theodore Gray (The Magic Black Box)

Faith, Life, Art, Academics. Sermons from my family away from home: Eden Chapel!

My other home: The Cambridge Union Society (in 2007, I designed our [Fresher's Guide])

The Economist daily news analysis

Global Higher Ed blog

• Hypertext/Writing

Writing the Living Web

Chief Scientist of Eastgate Systems, hypertext expert Mark Bernstein. (Electronic) Literature, cooking, art, etc.

Fabulous game reviews at playthisthing.

• Stats

Chapter I: Born. Lived. Died.

There is a Chapter II.

Locale: Lancaster County Pa, USA

Lineage: Guatemala

Religion: My faith is the primary focus of my life, influencing each part of me. I have been forgiven, cleansed, and empowered by Jesus Christ. Without him, I am a very thoughtful, competent idiot. With him, I am all I need to be, all I could ever hope for. I oppose institutional religious stagnation, but getting together with others is a good idea. God is real. Jesus Christ is his Son, and the Bible is true. Faith is not human effort. It's human choice. I try to be the most listening, understanding, and generous person I can.

Interests: Anything I can learn. Training and experience in new media, computer science, anglophone literature, education, parliamentary debate, democratic procedure, sculpture, and trumpet performance. Next: applied & computational linguistics, probably.

Education: Private school K-3. Home educated 4-12. Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Elizabethtown College in Jan 2006. As the 2006 Davies-Jackson Scholar, I studied English at St. John's College, Cambridge University from 2006 - 2008.

Memberships: Eden Baptist, Cambridge Union Society, ACM, AIP, GPA.

Alum of the Elizabethtown College Honors Program, sponsored by the Hershey Company.

Automattic, Inc. Sponsors the University Lives Collection
Friday, 18 Sep 2009 :-:

University Lives Collection Goes Ahead
Great news! Those of you who have been following the World University Project will be delighted to hear that Automattic, the creators of WordPress and the team behind Wordpress.com, will be providing hosting and technology for the University Lives Collection!

The University Lives Collection is taking a video snapshot of student life in our time. During the 2009-10 academic year, students will be invited to submit short films about student experience, the role of education in their society, and other key education issues in their region. In the summer of 2010, prizes will be awarded to the best submissions, and the films will be published together as an interactive documentary on global student experience.

This is the beginning of a new road for us as a charity. Ever since filming in Libya, we have been establishing the organisation and building support. Now it's time for action.

We have a lot to do. There are plans, policies, and designs to be made and finalized. Publicity is going to be a huge task. Happily, technology *won't* be a headache, due to the generosity of the people at Automattic.

** * **

We owe a lot of thanks to those who have been involved.

  • The Trustees: Joao Pereira, Braphus Kaalund, and William Redfern, have provided helpful perspective and carried out the key decisions throughout this past year.
  • Tom Isherwood has provided critical assistance, leadership, and support
  • Gloria Dawson managed the project initially, in-between a triple life as a poet, an intern/consultant on humanitarian policy & advocacy at Oxfam International, and a research assistant in the House of Lords.
  • Joshua Blanchard Lewis is the current project manager for the University Lives Collection. His hard work, sound advice, and keen ethical sensibility have been fabulous.
  • Karen Collis has been a great encourager and supporter of the project, and has been a star of the cold calling and email campaigns.