See my Member Profile
There has been a theme running through my life: I have been working through how people understand and manage change, especially complex change. This has led me to where I am now: shaping tools of technology that enable people to construct pictures, or mental models, of complex systems marked by non-linear dynamics and thereby help them gain greater control over changes in those systems. I have had an abiding belief -- now more rigorously formulated as a working hypothesis -- that a common conceptual framework can be used for describing change processes across all domains of human experience and activity, regardless of whether those domains are situated in physical, biological, or human systems. I am currently working on a platform for delivering online professional development for adult learners aimed at helping them attain conceptual understanding of, and mastery over, complex systems (especially with respect to educational systems). My hope is to one day develop innovative hybrid digital-analog systems for modeling and shaping change in complex systems across multiple domains (engineering, health care, public policy, etc.) So if anyone wants to give me a couple of million dollars in venture capital to do that -- you know where to reach me! ;)
In the meantime, I am using my blog to vent my political frustrations (which takes on the status of an avocation, though I am passionate in my beliefs -- as anyone who reads my blog will surmise!)
- Location:
-
United States
- Primary occupation:
-
Director, Instructional Design
- Dream occupation:
-
Founder and CEO of my own computer firm
- Hometown:
-
Cleveland Heights, OH
- Schools attended:
-
Ohio State University (B.S. in Psychology and Sociology), Illinois Institute of Technology (MPA in Public Policy Analysis)
- I like:
-
reading, writing, playing my violin, listening to music, engaging in all sorts of physical activity (biking, hiking, weight training, etc.), and having intense conversations with great friends
- Favorite writers:
-
Cortazar, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, Borges, Marquez -- to name just a few
- Favorite books:
-
this would be a long, long list, but of the most recent: Fabric of the Cosmos, Wider than the Sky (Edelman on consciousness), Democracy Realized (Unger), Runaway (Munro)
- Favorite newspapers:
-
New York Times, Wall Street Journal
- Favorite magazines:
-
Science, Nature, Technology Review, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly
- Favorite music:
-
contemporary "serious orchestral" music, such as Glass, Reich, John Zorn, John Adams, etc. and avant-garde, experimental music, such as Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno
- Favorite movies:
-
big fan of the films from these directors: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Kurosawa, Greenaway, Herzog, and Wim Wenders
- Favorite TV shows:
-
Six Feet Under, Carnivale, Law and Order (though I haven't owned a TV for about 5 years now -- I view these shows on DVDs)
- Favorite teams:
-
New York Jets, Yankees
- Favorite quote:
-
"Without a vision, the people perish." - The prophet Isaiah
- Gender:
-
male
- Religion:
-
Conservative Judaism