Most of my work history has been in and around the non-profit field as a technology generalist. I am deeply interested in the power of use information and communication technologies (ICTs), well deployed, to backstop organizations and empower individuals. Since serving in the Peace Corps, my passion has been finding ways to leverage ICTs to foster innovative and sustainable changes. Leading up to my Peace Corps service, I was primarily focused on the social impacts of technology, particularly the Internet. My undergraduate degree is from the University of Texas' cross-disciplinary Plan II Honors Program (http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/), with minors in Philosophy, Spanish, and Science, Technology and Society (STS).
After graduation, I joined a dotcom called eCertain, which specialized in secure and legal online document transactions. We lasted longer than many, but lost funding in the end. I learned a great deal about business processes, way too much about security, and a lot about myself.
After the dotcom bust, I left that world. I moved to Mérida, Venezuela to teach English and provide some technical and web assistance to local businesses while my Peace Corps application was in process. From there, I went (with a two-week stateside break) straight to Jamaica to serve with the Ministry of Education as a technology adviser.
In Jamaica I worked with Ministry on their website and teacher training and collaborated across Ministry silos with other projects on other technology projects, from computers as educational tools to bundled software and training CDs to customized, bootable Linux distributions to provide local copies of a fully functional version of the Ministry's website for schools without Internet connectivity. I also spent 20% of my time working with NGOs and CBOs island-wide, helping them take full advantage of their computer systems and web presence.
I returned to the States in 2006 and worked in Austin for The University of Texas' Office of Technology Commercialization while visiting and applying to graduate schools. I decided on GWU's Center for International Science and Technology Policy at the Elliott School, where I focused on the applications of information technology in international development and the role of policy in helping and hindering that role.
After getting my Master's degree in 2007, I worked with Youth Service America on their overall technology strategy and implementation, from back-office servers to spinning up new websites to running their social media and SMS campaigns. I am particularly proud of my work expanding and re-creating the online presence of Global Youth Service Day (http://gysd.org and http://twitter.com/gysd ). I'm also an active writer/editor at http://OLPCNews.com, which tracks (with a critical but hopeful eye) the One Laptop per Child project. I also run http://ICTDev.org , which aggregates news about the role of ICT in development, and some general development theory, from bloggers, writers, and organizations.
