ISBN 0-9711125-9-2 OPEN SOURCE WEB [RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION, ART] Dr. Gregory O'Toole, Ph.D.
Penn State News: O'Toole Discusses Sustainable Web Ecosystems
By Stephanie Koons, June 6, 2013 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Greg O’Toole, a lecturer and senior Web UI engineer at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), plays a dual role in the college as a Web media technologist and educator. His new book, “Sustainable Web Ecosystem Design” (Springer, 2013), is intended to serve as both a resource for Web professionals and a learning guide for his IST students. Sustainable Web Ecosystem Design (Springer, 2013)
TECHNOLOGIES / METHODS ROLE PURCHASE THE BOOK PROJECT DESCRIPTION Sustainable Web Ecosystem Design is a methodology, a development model, and a theory of creating digital and electronic interactive screen media interfaces. The model emphasizes an attempt at a unified theory of front-end Web-human interface engineering. The model considers not only all of the requirements of building a successful digital media application, but it also considers the human user interface, and ideals of sustainability in all stages of the product's development.The development model exists out of necessity due to the current, media-rich environment where Web sites are becoming increasingly complex and in many cases are more than a collection of relative html documents of text and images on a static desktop computer monitor. The contemporary Web designer and Web developer need to consider an nearly unlimited combination of screen sizes and resolutions, devices, platforms, browsers, locations, versions, users, and exabytes of data with which their applications and users can interact.On this side of the access digital divide, this informational-mediated atmosphere surrounds us nearly all of the time, and in nearly every place. It is an ecosystem that is part human, part hardware, and part software. This model is about a process of creating Web-based systems (i.e. Web sites, content, etc.) that consider each of the parts, the modules, the organisms – binary or organic – that make up a balanced, sustainable Web ecosystem.
Open Source Poems and Otherwise (Civic Media Press, 2013)
TECHNOLOGIES / METHODS ROLE PROJECT DESCRIPTION Open Source Poems and Otherwise is a collection of poems that was written from 2003 - 2013 which have not been published in other books or other venues. In conjunction with all of the open source Web development work I have been doing for several years now, this book of original creative writing is the worlds first collection of poetry to be offered as open source. The book will be available from Civic Media Press in several formats: traditional print bound and contemporary platform and device agnostic eformats/ebooks from Amazon CreateSpace. As a contribution to the open source community, the book will also be available from Github. GET THE BOOK
... Media, Meaning, & the Legitimation Problem (forthcoming, 2014)
Keywords: Web, Meaning, Mediated, Messages. The late Jean-Francois Lyotard wrote that metanarratives, that is, the big stories we live by, legitimate our lives both as individuals and collectively, living within societal groups. Lyotard also explained that the metanarrative has been eradicated from Western culture and that efficiency (i.e. a fast-track to profit) is the only model left which leaves the current state of legitimation in a curious position of asking the question “What legitimates?” The fact that this question needs to be asked is enough to know that there is a legitimation problem, but that is not the whole problem. In order to understand the process leading to legitimation, this analysis works to establish the necessary workflow toward the metanarrative: the flow of the message from knowledge, to establishing meaning, to legitimation. To compound the legitimation problem, in our current information technology condition, there is a growing imbalance within this process. In the mass media (i.e. networked, connected, Internet) world, it is arguably true that most of what a population knows, discusses, and concerns itself with on a daily basis is narrative knowledge. At the very least, there is much more narrative knowledge to sift through with the advent of the active audience among other factors. Examples of this can be seen in the current state of American commercialism, foreign and corporate policy, news, and the political economy of the mass media. This analysis goes further to explore the possibility of whether there is a link from legitimation to accountability. The conclusion is that, perhaps, the remaining entities for legitimation are created, synthetic options and that contemporary media consumer must consider the author’s concept of a “post-legitimation” model as a plan for the individual to participate as a critical and informed member of society. BOOK ORDER & PUBLICATION INFO:
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CMI OpenWeb is helping to bring good health to the local population through a new natural donation program. The organic vegetable, fruit, herb, and flower gardens at CMI OpenWeb have been productive so far this year. We are very proud to have initiated an informal partnership with the Centre County Youth Service Bureau in order to donate freshly harvested products to many of their social programs helping to feed families in Centre County, PA. So far, CMI OpenWeb has delivered almost 50 pounds of produce, with a plan to continue to make regular donations throughout the productive growing season. The Youth Service Bureau ensures that children, youth, and families will have opportunities to realize and fulfill their potential for growth and development through their participation in a continuum of community-based, family-based, and residential programs. (www.ccysb.com) Organic zucchini, cucumber, carrots, peas and yellow squash from a recent harvest. Photo: Greg O'Toole, CMI OpenWeb |
