Yours Truly
Here is a brief inventory of “stuff” I’ve done over the years, and my present projects.
1963 American Field Service exchange student, Wisconsin. High School Diploma!
1964 Norwegian baccalaureat: science
1965 Military service on the Russian border
1967 Studies at the Sorbonne, Paris: Psychology, Linguistics. French Diploma.
1968 Student and street musician in Paris. “Jazz Fanfare”
1969 Continued studies, freelance feature photojournalist
1970 Radio reporter, NRK regional office north western Norway
1971 Private pilot’s licence, Seattle, Washington. Halibut longlining, Kodiak Alaska
1972 Travelling photojournalist, Mexico, USA, Europe
1973 Volonteer youth work, Stockholm. Graphic arts, silkscreen
1976-78 Master of Religious Education, UTS, Barrytown, New York
1979-81 Master’s degree studies, Claremont School of Theology
1981-89 Doctoral studies, Philosophy of Religion, Claremont Graduate University
Coursework finished, Working dissertation topic (unfinished): “Whitehead on the cognitive integrity of non-discursive expression” [academic transcript]
1985-91 Self-employed pilot/photographer, Los Angeles, California. Oblique geo-referenced high resolution imagery. Large format custom photolab, transferred 1992 to Norway [historical presentation].
1992-99 Owner, Aaslid fotografikk, Volda, Norway. System engineer georeferencing, lab automation. Programmed first generation online search/sell engine [demo version] Archive coverage: Western Norway, Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim with surroundings. 6X12 panoramic (160 degree) obliques.
2000 Having lost two high wing strutless aircraft (Cessna Cardinal) operations close.
2000-2005 On The Road Again, mostly Eastern Europe. Lithuanian language study. Prototype Flash course, indexed MP3 recordings, some feature photojournalism.
2005-2009 Vardø, northeastern Norway. Research and development of “Web3D” immersive technologies and strategies with educational emphasis.
- STATUS UPDATE, December, 2009:
The production pipe is at last ready with workflow standardized, integrating two dozen programs and utilities, mostly freeware, software, or low-cost. Open source wherever practical.
XML-based X3D along with legacy VRML using DOM for interactive integration with AJAX, Flash, Javascript. Some in-house developed solutions to traditional “show-stoppers” are, from time to time, presented for testing online. These are technical in nature (technotrash, really!), user-unfriendly, and often require plug-ins to be downloaded and installed. But they DO work, and I have written a brief commentary where appropriate to spell out the interest and value of each one. The Geeks’ Sandbox is located here.
My first release will be a 3D immersive language course where the user can move about from scene to scene using an animated avatar while overcoming challenges that require progressive language skills in order to “win”. Since the total experince will be much like a contemporary 3D interactive multimedia computer/video/online game, replete with entertainment value, one may expect that, say, immigrant youth will find learning Norwegian this way quite attractive and natural, either independently, or in conjunction with a traditional classroom situation.
The setting for this first learning adventure is the exotic island of Vardø in arctic Norway, with its immediate surroundings. Stay tuned!
The projected time remaining is estimated at twelve months.
To protect my intellectual and monetary investments I do not discuss in detail the technologies, nor the procedural specifics beyond isolated examples for testing as needed, in the “Sandbox”.