Telling stories is a fundamental part of what makes us human, arising from the desire to transform the fragmented chaos of our everyday lives into a patterned, coherent and shareable narrative. As we strive to move fluidly between our direct experiences, our cognitive and emotional reflections, and our storied representations, we answer our most fundamental questions about who we are, where we come from and what we are trying to do. It is this essential narrative process of cultural formation and exchange that forms the foundation of my research approach.

Trained in ethnographic methods and documentary filmmaking, I believe in the power of direct observation, judicious capture and mindful editing to reveal complex insights about the human condition. In the mid 90’s as I transitioned from communications theorist to multimedia arts practitioner, the tools, techniques and media I used to formulate cultural commentary similarly changed and evolved. While traditional video cameras, non-linear editing applications and digital film festivals continued to prove valuable to my process, cellphones, distributed networks, wearable cameras and social computation were being added to my arsenal of cultural interrogation techniques. Most significantly, the means of production were also moving rapidly into the hands of the ordinary consumer with the locus of cultural production and interpretation becoming the home and the online network. The entire process of capturing, composing, sharing and critiquing mediated experiential stories therefore demanded new tools and methods that spoke to these highly networked and computationally rich frameworks for everyday cultural exchange. Simple, unobtrusive documenting technologies were required for capturing everyday experiences; organizational strategies were needed for managing media collections; compositional environments were desired for creative reflection; distribution networks were wanted for engaging in mindful communication. I therefore concluded that the next stage of my investigative journey would have to be as a toolmaker; designing and developing applications and platforms for new forms of responsive cultural sensemaking.

Over the last decade, I have created desktop, mobile and online software systems and installations to facilitate experiential reflection through the creation, sharing and interpretation of personal media compositions. Working in partnership with industry (e.g. Nokia, SEED-Schlumberger, Telecom Eireann), cultural institutions (e.g. DeCordova Museum, ProjectSAVE), federal agencies (e.g. NSF CreativeIT and IGERT), foundations (e.g. MacArthur Foundation) and local communities (e.g. Scottsdale Schools District), I have developed my research interests in service of the needs and desires of highly varied populations. In order to successfully address the complexity of the research problems presented by these new forms of mediated production and distribution, I have collaborated with students and faculty from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. Together with all of these partners, and in particular with the students I mentor and advise, I have sought to investigate, imagine and define the next generation of compelling storymaking tools.