Internet technologist focused primarily on protocol design and standards development. Dedicated to creating value for end users, application developers, and service operators, not technology for its own sake. Extremely productive, creative, adaptable, and easy to work with. Outstanding communication skills.
Since joining Cisco via acquisition on in October 2008, I have continued my work on Internet standardization with the support of Cisco's Collaboration Software Group (CSG), best known for the Webex product. Although I am still primarily focused on the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) within the XMPP Standards Foundation, I have also become heavily involved in non-XMPP work at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as co-director of the Applications Area and a member of the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).
From early 2002 until its acquisition by Cisco in late 2008, Jabber Inc. enabled me me to work full-time on my many roles in the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) and the broader Jabber/XMPP developer community. These roles have included XSF Executive Director, XEP Editor, Chair of the XMPP Council Chair, protocol author, documentation lead, chief evangelist, website manager, and mailing list admin.
In the standards area, I have edited the XMPP specifications and shepherded them to RFC status within the IETF; written dozens of specifications in the XSF's XEP series; worked with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) on a profile of XHTML for instant messaging and a binding of SOAP to XMPP; authored the technical specification for presence within Liberty Alliance; collaborated with Lawrence Lessig and Molly van Houweling on an IPR policy for the XSF; launched an intermediate certification authority for Jabber server administrators; and managed both the XSF's standards process and its protocol registries.
From October 2000 to early 2002, I worked as a Systems Analyst and Product Manager at Jabber, Inc., where I applied my experience in the Jabber community to help drive the design and development of products that extend the reach of Jabber's XML-based platform for real-time messaging (e.g., multi-user conferencing, a web client, and database integration components). Because my work at Jabber, Inc. involved heavy use of UML and a slimmed-down combination of the Rational Unified Process with Extreme Programming, I became deeply familiar with use-case driven design, domain object models, sequence diagrams, and the effective facilitation of software design sessions. I also functioned as a technical liaison to customers and to open-source developers, helping to maintain Jabber Inc.'s balance as a commercial company in an open-source community.
Applied XML, XSL, and Java to several successful product releases at Webb Interactive Services, a local commerce internet infrastructure company, before moving to Webb's Jabber, Inc. subsidiary.
As a content designer/writer, business systems analyst, and web developer at LDS, I delivered the analysis, design, and ongoing development of an award-winning human resources self-service intranet application for Lucent Technologies.
Since discovering the Internet in 1993 I have become increasingly involved with Internet technologies, originally as a user of listservs and starting in 1996 as a publisher. As far as I know, I was the first person to post a dictionary of philosophy online, which is still hosted at ismbook.com. I also published an early webzine entitled the Monadnock Review (archived at review.monadnock.net) and I host a repository of public-domain texts at www.monadnock.net. I have published a weblog since November 2000 and make it a point to experiment with new tools as they emerge, such as microblogging systems.
Prior to my Internet work, I had significant experience as a writer, editor, and instructional designer, creating and editing diverse client deliverables and company marketing materials. During that time I worked with firms in computers, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, health care, management training, publishing, and financial services. My previous positions were:
B.A., Philosophy and Ancient Greek, Columbia University
Self study, on-the-job learning, and formal training courses on software development and project management
XMPP: The Definitive Guide. O'Reilly: Sebastopol, CA. 2009.
"XMPP: Ten Years of XML Messaging", IEEE Communications. April 2009.
"Jingle: Jabber Does Multimedia", IEEE Multimedia 14:1 (January-March 2007), 90-94.
"Streaming XML with Jabber/XMPP", IEEE Internet Computing 9:5 (September-October 2005), 82-89.