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What I do and have done.
Current Focus
Folkstreams, an archive, streaming
service and online community for documentary films
about American vernacular culture (folk life), www.folkstreams.net
is both a respectable place to work and a labor of
love. I developed the platform for the film catalog
and community features of the site and am continuing
to add new features. I work with a team of great
people who digitize the films, create the streams,
maintain the streaming server and a million other
things that make the site work. I am a member of the
Folkstreams Advisory Committee. Read more about my Folkstreams activity.
Web Site Assist Develop dynamic
database driven web applications for new websites or
add value to existing websites for Web Site Assist.
My Skill Set
I won't bore you with a long list of every
obsolete application I have experience with. Suffice
to say that I am familiar with the tools necessary
to do web programming and a lot of other things to
one degree or another, image manipulation (I do
digital photography and art) and of course I know
how to use a word processor and spreadsheet. I keep
up with the latest developments in technology for
building dynamic web sites.
I develop web applications in Perl and PHP with a
MySQL back end. For example, I built the Folkstreams
platform on PHP and MySQL and typically build for
Web Site Assist on a Perl and MySQL base. Although I
have been programming in Perl longer than in PHP, I
am a stronger PHP programmer. Perl has a lot of
intricacies and can be obscure when a programer
tries hard, but I am getting better at Perl the more
I do. I work from the Unix shell frequently and
employ cron and other tools in service of web
programming, but I am not a Unix administrator or
expert. I have an advanced knowledge of web style
sheets (I can hand code them) and am familiar with
XML, connecting web applications to webservice
providers. My philosophy is that web pages should
work in Any Browser and adhere to W3C standards
where practical and be accessible within reason. If
a perfect world existed, then I could life the
qualifications, but sorry, it doesn't.
Where and when did I start with computers? I have
been programming computers since 1979 when I started
in BASIC. My first computer was a TRS-80 and then I
moved on to other computers, such as experience with
programming on the original Atari 800 and Sinclair
ZX-80 although I never owned either. Later I had a
C64 and etc. My interest and education in
programming got its start on the TRS-80, doing both
BASIC and machine or assembly language coding. I
wrote several sizable applications and games for my
own use. I lost interest in computers until the
internet became public and the web became a reality.
The online world fascinated me and I began to take
interest in web programming in 1995. I left the BBS
world for the web that year.
Projects / Client History
Lead Developer/Programmer for
Folkstreams.
I have been working for Folkstreams in one capacity
or another for several years between 1999 and today.
I assisted in creating database driven features
integrated into the original static website. I
managed the transition of Folkstreams
(www.folkstreams.net) from static web pages to a
sophisticated database driven dynamic demand driven
web site. I am on the Folkstreams Advisory
Committee. Currently, as lead developer, I created
the platform on which the Folkstreams website
operates. As of 2005, every page on the site is
generated by code I wrote excepting any modules such
as Smarty or PEAR DB. In other words, I created the
application level platform for realizing the goals
and management of the website and its meta data
content. I continue to envision and develop new and
creative features of the site as well as help
fulfill its grant-mandated requirements.
Developer/Programmer for Web Site
Assist.
I develop database backed web applications for and
in partnership with Web Site Assist
(www.websiteassist.com) a local company. I have
developed several online database and ecommerce
solutions for their clients beginning about 1999 to
the present.
Web Programmer/Technical Consultant
for TC2 (tc2.com).
I assisted in the transfer of techexchange.com from
Imagine That! to TC2 and continue to provide web and
database programming and technical consulting to TC2
for their web presence.
Web Programmer/Technical Consultant
for Imagine That! Consulting, Inc.
From 1995 to the present I have worked on projects
for Imagine That! owned by an original web pioneer
who started her website, Tech Exchange -
www.techexchange.com, in 1994, the first of its kind
in the area of textile websites. I have been
continuously involved in development of web
applications and interactive forms and search
features to improve the service and position of this
textile industry site until its sale to TC2 a
non-profit organization. Developed and deployed
strategy for conversion of legacy membership
database to online access using SQL database server
and dynamic web page generation to make data
searchable from anywhere through web page forms. I
now work on Imagine That's other projects.
From 1997 to 2000 I worked in customer service and
technical support for the personal web page division
of a large internet service provider, Worldnet ATT,
which helped me to get back into computer work after
some medical problems. I enjoy helping people solve
technical problems and explaining how web technology
works. I was born in Georgetown, D.C. in 1964 and
have lived in Arlington, VA most of my life.
List Administrator, GenPhoto Mailing List Dealing
with the vagaries and unreliability of SmartList
pushed me to move my genealogy and photography
mailing list to the www.egroups.com list service.
This curtailed any further use of my custom list
management facility. The list was renamed the
GenPhoto to make its purpose clear to genealogists
and avoid potential conflict with the name of a
biotechnology company.
Web Programmer, List Administrator,
PhotoGen Mailing List
City Gallery - www.city-gallery.com
List Administrator of popular genealogy and
photography mailing list since 1996. The web based
interface was originally constructed in Perl 4, but
has since been upgraded to an entirely new PHP based
interface based on dynamic page generation. The
PhotoGen is the original email discussion group
providing services to the genealogist and family
photography historian. List server hosting is
provided as a courtesy of Genealogy Online, a
premier genealogy site. Administering the list
requires a knowledge of SmartList, Unix, working
knowledge of Procmail and anti-spam/anti-flame/list
management and archiving abilities.
Web Programmer, City Gallery PhotoHst
Web Site
City Gallery - www.city-gallery.com
Provide and maintain a web based interface to a
popular history of photography mailing list since
1996. The web based interface was originally
constructed in Perl 4, but has since been upgraded
to an entirely new PHP based interface based on
dynamic page generation. The PhotoHst is the premier
email discussion group providing services to the
history of photography and museum community. The
PhotoHst web site is maintained as a courtesy by
City Gallery.
I founded and had complete responsibility for the
ownership and daily operation of an educational web
site serving the genealogy, family photo historian
and history of photography communities since August
1995.
Cascading Style Sheets
In 1996 and 1997 I participated in the www-style
discussion group hosted by the W3C. I do not claim
to have made any great contributions to the
development of style sheets, but I did put my two
cents in and was an early evangelist of style
sheets. A screenshot from City Gallery appeared in
Cascading Style Sheets by Lie and Bos
published by Addison Wesley in 1997. Our site was
one of the first on the web to widely deploy and
advocate this significant new technology when it
appeared in mid-1996 (and I can prove it because
within a couple of months of release of the first
commercial style sheet enabled browser IE3beta I to
my chagrin made my entire website nearly impossible
to read for most browsers of the day! I was forced
to back down until style sheet technology matured
and gained wider acceptance.)
Online Praxis CD
City Gallery was featured in Online
Praxis in January 1997, a magazine
dealing with online topics published in Germany by
Data Becker. Sample pages from our site were made
available in their companion CD-Rom. Online Praxis:
http://www.onlinepraxis.de/
City Gallery Receives Magellan 3-Star Award
McKinley's Magellan in 1996 gave City Gallery a
three-star rating in their review, mentioning the
contrast of old photographs displayed in the then
new technology of frames and taking note of the easy
navigation provided nested frames. Unfortunately,
framed pages proved difficult to bookmark so were
discontinued. City Gallery was among the first sites
to adopt frames and one of the first to discard
them.
Internet World's Fair
City Gallery and the PhotArchipelago (a site create
with William Allen) participated as virtual
pavilions in the 1996 Internet World Exposition. We
were awarded a small prize also of some books and
software for our participation.
1997: Cyber.life
The PhotArchipelago, a web site created by William
Allen, co-edited, developed and hosted by City
Gallery appeared in the
Cyber.life section of the Daily Press, a Hampton
Roads, Virginia newspaper, where they said:
With a conceptually-amusing name and
categorization, PhotArchipelago, part of the City
Gallery Web site, provides a number of links to
related photography locales on the WWW. This
sharply-designed and extensive page has links to
museums, search engines, individual home pages,
and archives related to the photographic arts.
PhotoGen Mailing List
In 1996 I created the first and only email mailing
list covering the topic of genealogy and
photography. Since that time I have held the
position of list Administrator, list Owner and list
Moderator of the PhotoGen Mailing List. Modeled on
the PhotoHst (History of Photography) mailing list,
the goal was to bring together experts in history of
photography and archival matters with genealogists,
collectors, genealogists and family photography
historians. The list averages 300 subscribers at any
one time with peaks going higher.Setting up the list
required knowledge of Linux (a freeware,
open-platform version of the Unix operating system),
the freeware list server SmartList, and the ability
to customize SmartList to fit the needs of the list
(creation of a Digest, attaching a standard footer
message for unsubscribe instructions, and other
changes to numerous to mention here). The list also
received a web interface treatment, with visitors to
the PhotoGen section of the City Gallery web site
able subscribe and unsubscribe automatically through
an HTML forms interface. Building the back-end for
this interface required knowledge of CGI (Common
Gateway Interface), the Perl programming language
and HTML forms. I have gained extensive experience
administering the list, consisting of detailed email
header analysis, anti-SPAM techniques, anti-flame
techniques, improved communication and interpersonal
skills, regular testing and weeding out of bad email
addresses. Created extensive web help pages
explaining what a mailing list is, how it operates
and setting up rules of conduct. Done in cooperation
with Genealogy Online, the home of the National
Genealogical Society web site. Created a program to
convert list archives to HTML pages using the Perl
programming language.
City Gallery
In August 1995 my web hosting account on the
world's first commercial web hosting provider
(webcom) was activated after losing my check for
three months. My idea was to create a web site
devoted to combining history of photography and
family history. The site was and still is entirely
built, designed, programmed and operated by me. One
early visitor found it remarkable there would so
much interest in genealogy and photography. Even in
the late 1990s (up until the large genealogy sites
began to offer photo hosting) I still me resistance
to the idea family photos were worthy of interest to
the genealogist. The reason given was that
"surnames were the lifeblood of
genealogy." City Gallery is still in operation
at www.city-gallery.com City Gallery was my first
web site, started with the intention helping people
rediscover and preserve their family photographs.
Boring stuff I thought I could hide from you.
Programming Languages
Perl 4 / Perl 5
PHP 3 / PHP 4 / PHP 5
Cold Fusion (working knowledge)
C++ (working knowledge)
Javascript
Web Building
HTML 2.0 - 4.0
XHTML
CSS 1.0 - 2.0 +
"DHTML"
Site Analysis
analog
(custom database site analysis and user tracking)
Application Experience
Homesite 2.0 - Allaire Homesite 4.x +
Netscape Navigator 1.0 - 4.x / FireFox +
Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 - 5.x +
Picture Publisher 6.0 - 7.x
Photoshop Elements 3.0
Paint Shop 1.0 - Pro 5.0
Cute FTP 1.8 - 3.x / Cute FTP Pro +
WS FTP 2.0 - 4.x
Microsoft Access 95 - Access 97 +
Microsoft Word 95 - 97 +
Microsoft Excel 95 - 97 +
Microsoft Office 95 - 2000 +
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