When I was a child, I used to play text based computer games where you knew you needed to pick up certain items, but it wasn't until later that you finally understood that the reason you picked up that bra was so you could use the underwire to pick a lock. ^{1 2} In the life that is my game, I have visited many places and tried my hand at an innumerable number of locks, each with it's own particular and necessary contribution to the place I find myself. In the course of the last 4 years, my lock picking has been among the doorways through civic media. With Between the Bars, I have explored how computation can enable the invisible to participate in dialogue through blogging. I’ve designed spaces for (un)serendipity ³ by building CivicLab, a space for DIY Democracy. I've contributed research in civic science to the Public Lab community as the Chicago organizer, as well as the process of teaching argumentation with spacial data to youth in the Media for Youth Participatory Learning and Civic Engagement (MY PLACE) project.

My future work will be informed by inquiries into the nature of community as a complex system understood through social data. To me, the capturing of social data is a bit like a particle accelerator; communities collide leaving traces like particle trails in the form of data. In this sense, humans become both the sensor and the sensed. I intend to understand this relationships through the following inquiries: What does quantitative data reveal about the subjective nature of a community, and what can qualitative data tell us about objective qualities? How can data reveal hidden bonds and change existing bonds between members of a community? What are the relationships between large scale communal systems and the smaller systems embedded with them? How do patterns of online communal behavior express themselves offline? In addition to the 'what', another object of inquiry for me will be the 'how'. I will be seeking to develop an arts based research practice and learn how to exist in the space of academic artistry. I not only want to paint by numbers ⁴ , I want to understand the numbers better through the act of painting. I want to work with the edges of practicality and engage with the struggle of how to yield meaningful insights.

My work has been informed by the teachings of others, less so any concrete artifact. ^{5 6}. John Maeda taught me that computers paint in numbers ⁴ and that this painting of the quantified can evoke the unquantifiable. Leah Buechally's ⁷ class, "Design for Empowerment", showed me the trappings of computation, and the power of end-user design aided by toolkits. Seymour Papert and Mitch Resnick opened my eyes by situating education as a design problem and posing construction activities as a solution. ⁸ The Center for Civic Media showed me how mediated community experiences can act as builders and breakers of community bonds. ⁹ But perhaps the greatest ¹⁰ influence in my life has come from outside the domain of civic media through the teachings of Ram Dass. I was profoundly changed when he challenged me to decide whether I wanted to be right or to be free, and showed me that within suffering lied the grace to bring me closer to that state of freedom.

During my visit to the program in Digital Media at Georgia Tech, I was blown away by the uniqueness of scholarship taking place and the accessibility of the scholars. I'd be grateful to have my future works be under their influence. Carl DiSilvo, whose experience in arts based research and speculative civics will be invaluable in navigating the boundaries of play and utility. Chris LeDantec's wealth of knowledge in the production and collection of participatory civic data will be critical, especially in the context of vulnerable populations (homelessness in particular). Nasim Jafirnami's deep insights into the political implications of participatory media as viewed through the analysis of interaction patterns will provide me with new tools to analyze social systems. And while I did not have the opportunity to meet with Yanni Loukissas, computational art as a form of critical data analysis is at the core of my interests. Being the most foreign aspect, I'd be very fortunate to be guided by his mastery.

I believe that graduate study at Georgia Tech will provide an ideal venue for my next stage of development. Thus far, I've relied heavily on unstructured learning by design; I can't help but rebel against structured learning environments. However, I've arrived at the edge of where that vehicle can take me and I now need to learn how to translate my intuition to push back on structures into the formal structure itself. Being in an academic institution where arts based research will be both practiced and interrogated will allow me to refine my approach and find the right balance. Growing my co-design skills in places where I do not have an existing community has, unsurprisingly, proven challenging. It will be enormously valuable to have the strong community relationships that have already been cultivated with the Atlanta community as a training ground. As a social learner, my technical development relies heavily upon both the culture of the learning space and the community of practice within it. I thrive best in a home that encourages anti-disciplinary ¹¹ explorations and understands the value that art, play, and experimentation can bring to practical applications. Great learning communities are ecosystems that balance consumption with replenishment, where we depend upon one another to see new paths and break through impasses.

It is no secret that groups with better cohesion yield more interesting creations, be it artifact, thought, or experience. From my childhood summers at a day camp dedicated to developing skills in group dynamics to dozens of theatrical productions, years of performances studies, and now my involvement in peer production communities, I have developed a keen awareness of how individuals relate within a group. As a community member, I am a congealing force. In the end, the only thing we can really offer one another is ourselves. I can tell you that I reflect deeply on my studies and on myself. I ask the difficult questions that come from outside the context of the original inquiry. My eclectic background enables me to see analogies vertically and to connect seemingly disparate ideas. I take action with integrity, and live without separation between what I do and the way in which I go about it. If there is a door, I will put a sign on it that reads, "If you can read this sign, you are standing on the wrong side of this door." And on the other side, I'm going to bring the far out.

1. ^ That this mirrored life was brought to my attention by Professor Spencer Golub, Dept. of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, Brown University.
2. ^ Incinerator and underwire puzzle from Return to Zork apologies for the spoiler. Admittedly not an all text game, but the first game to not use only text in the series, and therefore, remained somewhat faithful to the challenge of finding out the right combination of words.
3. ^ André, P., J. Teevan, S.T. Dumais, and others. 2009. “Discovery Is Never by Chance: Designing for (un) Serendipity.” “Discovery Is Never by Chance: Designing for (un) Serendipity.” In Proceeding of the Seventh ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition, 305–14.
4. ^a b I am unable to find a direct quote, but I must credit him for stating something to this effect and setting it out into the world which can be seen here, for example: Review of “The Laws of Simpicity,” last modified October 22, 2006, http://sesquipedalist.wordpress.com/2006/10/22/the-laws-of-simplicity/
5. ^ There are, actually, a few artifacts I could point to which made clear the teachings I mentioned. without which I would absolutely not be where I am today: the first, John Maeda's Darfur and Life Countdown; and second, Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar's We Feel Fine.
6. ^ In the domain of civic media, Charlie DeTar's Intertwinkles and Perry Hewitt and Nathan Matias' Going to Africa.
7. ^ I was not enrolled in the actual class. Upon discovery that my friend, Kawandeep Virdee, was sitting in on the class, Leah Buechally open sourced the class as an alternative. We were giving the readings, and joined the actual class for the guest lectures. I did not complete any of the homework asignments which included reflections and a final project. Unfortunately, the website is no longer active after it was hacked last year. I will certainly contact Leah to see if it can be archived as the syllabus was tremendous.
8. ^ A teaching not in person, but through books and articles. From Seymour Papert's book Mindstorms as well as "Some Poetic and Social Criteria for Education Design". As well as Mitch Resnick's article "Pianos Not Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits"
9. ^ I was not officially hired by the Center for Civic Media (although I did turn down payment for my work) but I spent nearly ever day there since joining Between the Bars. I cannot think of any time I was not able to access the Center's activities (e.g. lab meetings), and I learned an enormous ammount in the 6 months I was there. The definition as I grew to understand it is articulated in the following "one pager" about the center: Csikszentmihályi, Chris, et al. 2007. Developing the Emerging “Fifth Estate” of Participatory News, Media, and Civic Change" PDF File. Cambridge, MA: Accessed Jan 7, 2015
10. ^ It is unfortunate that I do not have the space to talk about the enormous impact Professor Spencer Golub had on me. It is highly unlikely I would have been prepared for the impact that Ram Dass had on me were it not for Spencer's classes, Advanced Performance", and "Mise en Scene" as well as his book Infinity (Stage) , of which pages 6 through 9 point in the direction of the way in which through illogic, he lifted the veil towards something even more logical and true.
11. ^ Ito, Joi, "Antidisciplinary," Joi Ito (blog), January 7, 2015. http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2014/10/02/antidisciplinar.html