Career Milestones

Sending a presence off into the internetwork to meet and converse with others has long been a dream, and thanks to Java and VRML I have been able to help make this a reality. VNet demonstrated that multiuser 3-D cyberspaces can be deployed and operated with totally portable code, and that ordinary consumer-grade software can be used to access powerful social experiences on the Internet.

Recognizing the power of HTML in early 1994, I created one of the first 2500 Web sites in the world: the InfoPark at New College of California. In 1995 I built one of the world's first half-dozen VRML sites: the vrmLab. Since the beginning of 1997 I have been building platform-independent Java programs which use the Web to access resources. Since mid 1999 I have worked on several major XML-based projects.

Working with telecommunications since serving in the Army in the late 1960s, with computers since returning to college in the early 1970s, and with local and wide-area networks since the early 1980s, I have been responsible for creating and maintaining networks ranging in size from 15-seat LANs to a WAN with hundreds of seats; I have provided network administration and programming expertise to internal corporate networks (such as the California Medical Association) and to public-access networks and sites (such as New College of California, the Digital Demos, and the Arcadium Gamer's Site).

Relevant Experience

Member of international standards-setting Working Group charged with developing "Best Practices" for the design & implemementation of websites serving mobile device users.

Primary responsibility for administrative and leadership activities managing and strengthening the Information Technology Department's Master of Science - Information Technology faculty, students, and degree.

Teaching graduate and undergraduate courses. Tenured as of September, 2006.

Primary responsibility for providing technical support to all U.S. operations of this Munich DE -based organization.

Primary responsibility for developing collaborative applications in Java, using CORBA and Java 3D.

Primary responsibility for developing database administration applications in Java, using JDBC and platform-independent GUI elements to provide a true compile–once–run–everywhere set of tools. The databases include both mSQL and Oracle, and serve as back-ends to a dynamic and servlet-based front-end technology providing personalized HTML.

Provide primary leadership in the redesign and rebuilding of the California State Medical Association corporate WAN, with the twin goals of better linking the Association statewide offices and establishing a CMA Web presence while retaining a secure internal WAN.

Planned, built, and managed Library Computer Lab; established and supported domain-wide internetworking services including a mixed-protocol WAN (using TCP/IP and IPX), dialup services, and distributed Internet information services; provided domain management services, email, news, and mailing list servers; domain-wide contact person for ISP, telco, and NIC; established one of the first 2,500 Web sites in the world in 1994; designed and constructed the vrmLab, a networked place for experiments in the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML); conducted groundbreaking work with three-dimensional network interfaces at the vrmLab, cited by leading authorities and in textbooks in the field.

Provided computer hardware, software, and systems support to the Information Resources Center.

Provided information management consulting to area small businesses.

Provided Unix systems administration services and ported software in a multi-machine environment at a software house providing one of the first integrated suites of office automation products.

Provided office automation planning and conversion services to small- and medium-sized local businesses.

Converted the District Courts from paper- to computer-based system as a Federal- and State-funded demonstration project; reduced archival storage requirements by 70% and enabled shifting of staff resources to direct public services; provided assistance to Circuit Courts during implementation of Federally-funded demonstration of Model State Judicial Information System.

Provided administrative support services to various Social Services Division programs including budget-writing and -monitoring, recording and reporting systems design and implementation, and acting as Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act Officer.

Provided consulting services in experimental design and analysis using University computer resources.

Education

Publications & Workshops

Digital Encoding in an Analog World: A Cautionary Tale
Invited presentation to Trent University (Canada) English Literature (Public Texts) graduate program [2007]

Taking Your Website Mobile: Unifying Services to Full-Screen & Handheld Devices
Invited presentation to University of Oxford (UK) Future Technologies Conference [2007]

Evolution of IMA as a Tool for Accommodated Learning [with Catherine Beaton and Daniel Bogaard]
Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Distributed Multimedia Systems [2006]

XML-based 3D: Content Creators, the Web, and xVRML Are Ready for Each Other
Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning [2005]

The xVRML Project: Building Web-based 3D virtual environments in XML
Proceedings of The Second Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice [2005]

Schema editor as central design tool: the xVRML experience
Presented at GCCIS Conference on Computing and Information Sciences [2005]

Untangling Regulatory Text: Multidimensional Separation of Concerns and Task-Oriented Linking [with Jeffrey Lasky]
Presented at ACM HyperText [2003]

Workshop Creator & Leader
Java for Industry Programmers
2002 Intensive workshop for local high-tech firm

Co-Facilitator
JXTA BOF Session
2001 JavaOne Conference

Session Co-Leader
The Death of Narrative
2000 Society for Literature and Science (SLS) Conference

Workshop Creator & Leader
Java for Industry Programmers
2000 Intensive workshop for local high-tech firm

Chapter 20 ("What Is VRML About?")
in Using VRML by Stephen N. Matsuba and Bernie Roehl (Que Corporation, 1996)

Various Articles
in VRMLSite Magazine, 1996

• Lights and VRML 2
• VRML Goes Dynamic
• Practical Applications for VRML 2.0

Various articles
in CADD++/VRML Newsletter, 1996

Last updated: 6 September 2007
Comments to: jeffs at it dot rit dot edu