There’s no such thing as generic “good” writing. Writing quality—and impact—comes from how well it fits its purpose. This course shows how to give all your writing more impact, regardless of its purpose. Writer and journalist Tom Geller helps you find your own reasons for writing, demonstrating how to use those reasons to drive the words you choose and the tone you take. Plus, he shares how to leverage your understanding of grammar and sentence structure to write nearly anything with maximum impact. Upon completing this course, you’ll be equipped with practical tips for making your prose clear, concise, and right for its specific purpose.

White papers were originally produced by governments, but now serve a vital purpose in marketing departments worldwide. A white paper is a deep dive into a concept, initiative, or product, designed to educate and persuade by framing issues in a clear way. In this course, corporate communications pro Tom Geller leads you through the format, purposes, and uses of white papers; helps you define what you want your paper to be; and then helps you make it a reality. You’ll finish this course with information about where white papers fit in the greater business ecosystem—and how to make your paper the best it can be.

Another in a series of “genre writing” courses. Previous ones are Writing Formal Business Letters and Emails and Writing Articles. Available on Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning.

Course description as published:

If you have helped a customer achieve success, you can document it in a case study, which is how you tell the world about it. In this course, learn about typical types of case studies, which fit both online and print formats. Explore strategies for making a compelling case study. Find out how to avoid some common pitfalls.

Topics include:

• Benefits of case studies
• Examples of case studies
• Examining who reads case studies
• Narrowing your audience
• Appealing to different audiences
• Formatting and style
• Inspiring empathy while interviewing the customer
• Gaining buy-in and getting the customer to tell your story
• Extracting and organizing quotes
• Writing a case study
• Incorporating additional media
• Avoiding common pitfalls

A ground-up rewrite of my highly successful 2014 course, Learning Bitcoin. Available on LinkedIn Learning and by subscription through Lynda.com. (Watch it for free.)

The new version includes information about Ethereum, Ripple, IOTA, and ICOs. Description by Lynda.com:

“Bitcoin is a form of money that only exists online. While it’s making headlines around the world, many people don’t really understand how bitcoin works or the underlying concepts of cryptocurrency.

In this course, Tom Geller demystifies bitcoin, revealing the promise and perils of the new crypto economy. Tom begins by explaining what bitcoin is, how it originated, and how it compares with other cryptocurrencies. Next, he explains how to get started by creating a bitcoin wallet, buying and selling bitcoin, and protecting your transactions.

He discusses other top cryptocurrencies—Ripple, Ethereum, and IOTA—and explains how “initial coin offerings” (ICOs) have changed the investment landscape. Finally, he covers bitcoin mining, threats to the bitcoin economy, and how to connect with others in cryptocurrency communities.”

Travel is expensive, so you need to be sure your time “on the road” justifies the investment. In this course, Tom Geller outlines what you need to do before, during, and after your business trip to keep yourself comfortable, meet your client’s or employer’s objectives, and take care of your home while you’re away. Learn the tools you need to stay in touch with the office, and find out how to pack a “go bag” that prepares you for business. Tom also provides guidance on managing transportation and staying safe in your new city, and outlines tips for reporting back what you’ve learned when you return home, so each trip is easier and more productive than the last.

Learn how to write formal business letters and emails that are short, clear, and to the point. This course teaches you how to get results and build better relationships with clients, colleagues, and customers. Writer and journalist Tom Geller helps you clarify your goals, research your topic and intended audience, and structure your correspondence. Plus, get tips about writing for accessibility—making your writing comprehensible, concise, and appropriate for all readers—and following up on communication.

I did additional cinematography for this documentary about an autism self-advocate, and helped outfit him with a GoPro rig to capture video from his point of view. My shots (at the subject’s home in Oberlin, Ohio) open both the film and the trailer. Broadcast premiere on PBS’ “America ReFramed” series.

A followup to my viral hit, “No, THIS is what bitcoin is, really…“, which garnered over 2,600 Likes on LinkedIn within a week. (Like that article, this one was written for myself, not commissioned by LinkedIn.)

A rebuttal to a misleading critique of bitcoin’s economy. Full title is “No, THIS is what bitcoin is, really: Four ways Greg Leffler is wrong, wrong, wrong”. (Personal post; not commissioned by LinkedIn.) It was a viral hit, garnering over 2,600 Likes within a week.

Camerawork and interviewing for this piece was my first gig for Zoomin.tv. I grabbed my equipment after hearing the protests from my apartment, which is around the corner from the Consulate.

Two professors at the University of Bristol discuss how to apply artificial intelligence to improve the peer-review process for journals and conferences.

An interview with Frits Vaandrager of Radboud University (The Netherlands), on a system that probes unknown systems to figure out their inner logic.

A talk with RPI Professor Bülent Yener about a method that lets graph theory help identify diseased tissue.

A promotional video about the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, a week-long meeting of 200 advanced young researchers in math and computer science, together with about two dozen “laureates” who have won the world’s top prizes in those topics (Turing Award, Abel Prize, Fields Medal, and Nevanlinna Prize). Commissioned by the Association for Computing Machinery, which sponsors the Turing Award.

An interview-based news report about how automation is coming to large farm machinery (such as tractors) worldwide.

Matei Zaharia talks about his creation Apache Spark, a modular platform for performing calculations on big data.

An online report on the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, which gathers recipients of the world’s most prestigious math and computer science awards (Turing, Fields, Abel, Nevanlinna) with 200 advanced young researchers. Includes two original photos.

Vanderbilt University Dean M. Eric Johnson reviews how medical device security issues, including those in their software, have threatened health in the past, and summarizes the current state of affairs.

On-site report from Las Vegas of the “DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge”, a multi-million dollar, U.S. government-sponsored competition where computers try to hack each other. Covered the action and conducted interviews over three days. Here’s the article I wrote about this event.

An interview with University of Pennsylvania Professor Susan Davidson about the need to change how source information is cited in (for example) academic papers. She and her co-authors propose a framework that allows a greater diversity of sources and more flexibility in citing them.

Coverage of DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge, a competition in Las Vegas where seven teams trained computers to hack each other for over three million dollars in prizes. Here’s the video I produced at this event.

An interview with ACM Fellow and MIT Professor Bonnie Berger about how to improve computer handling of biological data, specifically relating to genomes.

An article about “drones as a service”: companies that offer to fly drones for various purposes on an as-needed basis.

Similar to the videos I produced over the past two years to celebrate 2013 recipient Leslie Lamport, and 2014 recipient Michael Stonebraker, this video describes highlights from the careers of two great cryptographers, creators of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange method.

An article about recent developments in computer programs that mimic human conversation (“chatbots”), particularly the use of modern artificial intelligence techniques to improve their discourse.

An interview with Mason Bretan and Gil Weinberg of Georgia Tech, discussing how they (and others) have imbued musical “feeling” in robotic systems.

An interview with Sarah Meiklejohn, lead author of a paper that describes how she and her colleagues unmasked some bitcoin owners, despite the common belief that bitcoin is anonymous.

Drupal 8 Essentials is designed to help anyone create a simple website using Drupal, the free web design software that powers personal blogs as well as the sites of some of the world’s largest corporations.

This course is the first of the series. No prerequisites are required beyond basic computer skills! These easy-to-follow tutorials show how to install Drupal and other necessary components on a Windows or Mac computer, navigate Drupal’s web-based interface, configure the settings of a new Drupal site, create content, and move the site to a server. Every step includes best practices to ensure your website remains streamlined, secure, and up-to-date.

Topics include:

• Comparing Drupal to other software
• Getting help with Drupal
• Installing Acquia Dev Desktop on Mac and Windows
• Installing the Drupal database, modules, and themes
• Creating basic content
• Establishing your site’s look and feel
• Adjusting security settings
• Adding images and metadata
• Adding a sidebar
• Moving your Drupal website to a server
• Backing up a Drupal site

Your Drupal site is built. Now what? Web design doesn’t stop once the website is launched. Learn how to build out your Drupal site to better fit your visitors’ needs.

In these tutorials, Tom Geller helps new Drupal designers change the layout and design elements of their sites, control visitor interactions (including comments), arrange content in user-friendly “views,” and expand the site’s capabilities beyond what’s available in core Drupal with Drupal modules. In all the steps you’ll learn best practices to ensure your sites remain streamlined, secure, and up to date.

Topics include:

• Grouping content into categories
• Managing comments
• Adding discussion groups
• Customizing fields and image styles
• Adjusting menus and navigation to help users
• Adding new features with Drupal modules

An article about use of digital resources and mobile devices to improve crops worldwide.

I wrote and edited a tribute to Dr. Hennessy, based on raw video ably shot by Stanford University’s media services department.

An article about the special position of the United States in internet privacy law, a topic under special scrutiny after the revelations of Edward Snowden.

Bart Thomee of Yahoo! introduces the Yahoo Flickr Creative Commons 100 Million (YFCC100M), a collection of images and videos released to aid researchers in computer vision and artificial intelligence.

An interview with Shashi Shekhar at the University of Minnesota, as he describes challenges and opportunities from computing relationships in the spaces of our real world.

An interview with Carl Doersch about his paper, which shows how Google Street View images can be deconstructed to extract a city’s characteristic features. Shot at at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Interviews with Carlos Guestrin and Eric Horvitz, who join Dafna Shahaf in a project to map and connect information much as a metro map visualizes a city subway. Shot in Seattle and Redmond, Washington.

Interview with Thomas Dietterich about fears — both real and imagined — as artificial intelligence gains capabilities. Shot in the forests of Eastern Oregon.

An article about apps that attempt to discern when their users exhibit signs of depression, mania, and other mental issues.

Interview with Benoît Valiron about programming quantum computers, in particular about his new language, “Quipper”. Shot at the University of Waterloo (Canada) during a conference on the subject.

An article reviewing whether search engines et al. isolate us from unusual ideas and beliefs through a “filter bubble”.

An interview with ACM Fellow Daniel Reed about the division between exaflop supercomputing and exabyte data management — and how each field can inform the other. With lots of B-roll, thanks to staff and faculty throughout the University of Iowa.

Similar to the video I produced last year to celebrate 2013 recipient Leslie Lamport, this one describes highlights from the career of this venerable name in relational database science.

An interview with two French roboticists, with a demonstration of how a humanoid robot actualizes their research.

A researcher and a military expert at Adapx discuss how they speed up battlefield planning with “multi-modal input” that marries speech, sketch, and writing.

Article about vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, touching on vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) efforts, government involvement, and models that feature V2V technologies.

Adobe researcher Sylvain Paris explains how a new method of combining Gaussian and Laplacian pyramids results in image filters that can enhance details without distorting edges.

Videojournalism about a new method for comparing the processes called “finite-state machines” that underlie much of computer science.

Article about using power gathered from radio waves, heat, and motion to power small devices such as sensors and cell phones.

Videojournalism introducing a paper that outlines how both computers and members of natural communities (such as ants, birds, and cells) cooperate.

Videojournalism about how researchers are teaching computers to understand the processes that create human emotion, possibly leading to better decisions and human-computer interfaces.

Ph.D.s: Want a month of all-expenses-paid training, with a six-figure job waiting for you when you’re done? That’s what a new crop of “data-science boot camps” offer — for those who qualify. (Online-only article.)

Videojournalism about algorithms that help computers recognize objects within an image, and undestand the scene itself.

A blog post to support my course, “Freelancing Fundamentals“.

The “smart” electric grid has held great promise for 15 years, but it’s not always been clear how deeply it’s penetrated our infrastructure — or what benefits it’s delivered. This article summarizes the current state of smart-grid technology, who’s implemented it, and where improvements are likely to appear. Online only.

Videojournalism about a system at http://newsstand.umiacs.umd.edu/ that interprets newsfeeds, placing items on a map (among other things).

Videojournalism about turning photo collections into movie-like “Face Movies”, via a system that’s been incorporated into Google’s Picasa photo program. (Many thanks to guest interviewer Teresa Meek.)

I was afraid to work on this article about the gender gap in computing because it’s a topic surrounded by dogma, strong feelings, and poorly conceived statistics. As a result, most coverage on it is timid and shallow. But I think the hours of interviewing and research paid off. I’m happy with how it turned out. Online-only.

It’s gotten lots of coverage:

• Interview subject Meta Brown’s mention in her series, “Meta’s Binder Fulla Women”
• Slashdot article with a misleading attribution in the headline. (My comment on it.)
• Andrew Leonard’s thoughtful musings, again with a misleading attribution. (My comment on it.)
• The Spiceworks community forum for IT/tech professionals is hosting a heated discussion in response to the article.

A blog post to support my course, “Up and Running with Bitcoin“.

Videojournalism about the applications of, and solutions to, the “maximum-flow/minimum-cut” problem, which affects surprisingly diverse fields. As before, I did most of this, with the help of two shooters.

I talk off the cuff about the popular cryptocurrency with fellow lynda.com authors Morten Rand-Hendriksen and Ray Villalobos on their Google Hangout show, “Authored Content”.

Videojournalism about a program at Caltech that collects seismic data through the cell phones of volunteers throughout the Los Angeles area. I did pretty much everything — shooting, editing, titles, narration, audio, intro music — with the help of an experienced primary cameraperson.

Description by lynda.com: “Understand the basics of bitcoin, the popular virtual currency, and then learn the nuances of bitcoin transactions and security issues that can be difficult to navigate on your own. Tom Geller addresses both the big and small issues swirling around bitcoin right now, and prepares you to use or accept bitcoin as a currency for your transactions. Discover how bitcoin compares to US dollars and other forms of money; how to send, receive, and “mine” it; and how to protect and track your bitcoin transactions. Tom will even show you how to connect with the Bitcoin development community, in case you’re interested in contributing to the spread of this modern cryptocurrency.”

A column for Volume 4, Issue 1 of “Drupal Watchdog”, the print magazine distributed at the semi-annual DrupalCon. It discusses the importance of an “easy entry” to technology, and the struggles Drupal has experienced in that regard.

A celebration of the life work of Leslie Lamport, recipient of the 2013 ACM A.M. Turing Award. I did production, direction, editing, voiceover, and most of the shooting. Promoted in the article at http://cacm.acm.org/news/175166-general-agreement/fulltext , and presented at the awards banquet.

An article in the May 2014 issue of CACM about data storage for very long times, e.g. a million years.

One-hour appearance talking about… stuff. With Peter Comings.

A short elegy to rust-belt towns, as told through the decay of buildings and bodies.

With little guidance, created a distinctive rhythm and visual style for the professional organization’s flagship publication (“Communications of the ACM”), then produced nearly three years of monthly episodes. Elements included format, titling, and narrative styles that remain features of the ongoing series.

An article in the January 2014 issue of CACM about “affective computing”, which enables your computing device to perceive react to your emotions and moods.

A video to accompany this article in CACM. Wrote, produced, and presented.

My first article for Belt Magazine, “an online magazine devoted to long-form journalism, essay, and commentary with a distinctly Rust Belt sensibility”. It examines why locals seemed to warn me away by asking, “Why would anyone move here?” Four of my photographs were also featured.

A done-in-one short video, with minor cutaways. Me giving advice to Oberlin College students on how to get started as a freelancer. Requested by the Oberlin College and Conservatory’s Career Center, and promoted at http://oberlin.edu/career/students/advice_from_alumni.html.

“Crowdfunding for technology gains traction” — an online-only article covering technology funding venues including Fundable, Gittip, Bountysource, and others, with commentary from various players including Eric S. Raymond and the National Crowdfunding Association.

An article for CACM about competing technologies to repurpose the Internet’s host-centric architecture so it’s more appropriate for small, often-mobile devices.

A video to accompany this article of the same name. My first solo video production!

A column for Volume 3, Issue 2 of “Drupal Watchdog”, the print magazine distributed at the semi-annual DrupalCon. This one describes how to get Drupal to do what you want, despite having no knowledge of Drupal’s main languages, PHP and JavaScript.

An article for CACM online about lifelogging, touching on the related subjects of veillance and “the quantified self”.

My guesses for the future of this popular cryptocurrency.

An article about legal challenges to the decentralized virtual currency Bitcoin, specifically on how the question of its definition affects its place in law.

In this course, author Tom Geller explores the process of writing articles and publications for businesses large and small. The course begins with a look at the preparation you’ll need to do, best ways to find assignments, and smart strategies for determining your article approach. Next, the course dives into techniques you can use to brainstorm angles, research, interview experts, finish a piece, and build your portfolio.

A column for Issue #5 of “Drupal Watchdog”, a print magazine distributed at DrupalCon Portland.

In this course, author and seasoned freelancer Tom Geller shows you how to prepare for a transition to freelancing. Begin by taking a look at your career goals, the systems that will support you, and proper ways to plan for success. Find out how to marshal your resources, refine your portfolio for presentation to clients, and estimate your costs to avoid any surprises on the financial front. Plus, discover how to create invoices, manage your books and taxes, expand your client base with marketing, and grow your business.

A very short report on the popularity of exascale computing at the International Supercomputing Conference 2012.

A review of the book by Kevin Savetz. (I liked it.)

A feature article about Disney’s Touché sensor project, which explores new ways of controlling electronics with touch.

A very brief article about whether survey respondents believe that technology companies in the democratic West will increasingly help repressive governments.

A feature article about a $50,000 challenge issued by DARPA and its solutions, including quotes from the First and Second Place winners.

A column for Issue #4 of “Drupal Watchdog”, a print magazine distributed at DrupalCon Munich.

This course teaches web site designers how to take their sites to the next level with a few advanced techniques and the free and open-source Drupal software. Author Tom Geller shows how to configure the most popular add-on modules; use *nix commands and an FTP program to manage a Drupal site on a web server; change its visual appearance using the latest graphical tools; automate and speed through common tasks with Drush; integrate with social media sites; and see how “supermodules” like Panels, Context, Rules, and Features open up new worlds of code-free development.

Drupal 7 Advanced Training was designed as a follow-up to Drupal 7 Essential Training and it also dovetails nicely with our other Drupal courses, such as Drupal 7 Reporting and Visualizing Data and Create Your First Online Store with Drupal Commerce.

Topics include:

• Moving a site from the development environment to production
• Hosting a Drupal site
• Moving databases with phpMyAdmin and Unix commands
• Making site administration more efficient with Drush
• Backing up site data
• Moderating comments
• Migrating from previous versions of Drupal
• Working with themes
• Creating variable layouts
• Enabling social features
• Creating an online store with Drupal Commerce

This online-commerce software company hired me to help re-tool their product line’s branding and marketing during a one-week onsite summit at their Paris offices. This involved group brainstorming, production of new content, and iteration, leading to a highly successful launch. They later hired me to return for other on-site projects, in both their Paris and Ann Arbor offices, and I provided ongoing services remotely.

A feature article about modern applications of speech recognition, in particular how they’ve combined with complementary technologies to produce such consumer products as Siri.

A column for Issue #3 of “Drupal Watchdog”, a print magazine distributed at DrupalCon Denver.

A very brief article about a U.S. Government report on whether high-performance computing is cost-effective using cloud-computing techniques.

A short online-only article about how supercomputer developers are teaming up with application specialists to make the hardware’s power more useful.

A news report on the Privacy Identity Innovation conference in Menlo Park, November 2011, which focused largely on how social media are changing the landscape for consumers.

This course demonstrates how to use the Views module and other add-ons in Drupal to present dynamic, data-rich content. The course examines several real-world examples of effective data visualization and describes the Drupal data-storage model. The course also shows how to create, format, and style views; control access to data; improve data administration with Views Bulk Operations; and display content as custom maps and slide shows. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:

• Planning the data structure of a site
• Creating record templates with custom field types
• Connecting fields using references
• Sorting and filtering data
• Varying how a view appears in different displays
• Formatting views with grid, list, table, and jump
• Creating multi-part views using attachments
• Importing and exporting views
• Extending views with relationships
• Understanding and using location data
• Exporting data

Create Your First Online Store with Drupal Commerce shows how to build an online store using Drupal Commerce, a set of modules that extend Drupal. The course demonstrates the basics of configuring a store, processing a payment, and charging for shipping and taxes, as well as creating, displaying, and categorizing products. The course also explains how to integrate a store into a Drupal site, customize a store’s appearance, and increase site traffic using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:

• Surveying the store-building process
• Installing Drupal Commerce using Commerce Kickstart
• Accepting PayPal payments
• Processing orders
• Understanding rules and line items
• Listing and importing products
• Managing inventory, orders, and customer profiles
• Streamlining the checkout process
• Launching a store
• Offering product discounts
• Analyzing site traffic with Google Analytics

Keynote presentation from the inaugural two-day event, “DrupalCamp Western NY” in Buffalo, 14 October 2011. The event’s theme was “Hello, Universe”, so I riffed on how the Drupal community is growing (beyond the more common “Hello, World”), and how its culture will inevitably change as a result. Video by Stephen Rosenthal, http://caramaxstudio.com. Appearance sponsored by Acquia; at the time I was that company’s Content and Communications Director.

An article about vision systems that recognize actions, rather than just objects.

A 13-1/2 minute interview by Kent Bye of Lullabot for their “Drupal Voices” series. This interview took place at DrupalCon Chicago in March 2011.

A column for Issue #2 of “Drupal Watchdog”, a print magazine distributed at DrupalCon London and later made available online.

A review of Asia’s recent ascendency in the Top500 list of the world’s leading supercomputers, and the supercomputing field generally.

One-hour, live presentation to The New Media Consortium (NMC), which helps educational organizations learn about new media and new technologies.

Article about advances in electronic displays that can bend, be made in irregular shapes, and be produced through a print-like process.

A column for Issue #1 of “Drupal Watchdog”, a print magazine distributed at DrupalCon Chicago. (Content not available online.)

This article compares the three CMSes in terms of user base, code maturity, richness of plug-ins, and business acceptance. Commissioned by Peachpit Press to support my recently published book, Drupal 7: Visual QuickStart Guide.

Abstract: “A presidential report asserts the value of U.S. government investments in the cross-agency Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program and specifies areas needing greater focus.”

Over seven hours of video training that shows how to get the most out of Drupal, the content management system (CMS) that powers over a quarter million web sites. The course demonstrates how to download and install Drupal, add content and graphics to a site, change layout and design elements, control visitor interactions, and expand the site’s capabilities beyond what’s available in Drupal core. Discussion of established best practices in each step to ensure that a site remains streamlined, secure, and up-to-date. Exercise files are included with the course.

Topics include:

• Comparing Drupal with other content management systems
• Understanding nodes
• Creating basic content
• Adding blogs, discussions groups, and polls
• Subscribing to RSS feeds
• Creating new content types
• Managing users, roles, and permissions
• Creating and modifying block regions
• Adding menus
• Extending site capabilities with modules

(Publisher’s description.)

Over five hours of video training that demonstrates how to create and publish a complete web site with the powerful tools in Acquia’s hosted service, Drupal Gardens. The course covers how to leverage its pre-built page layouts and add custom styling, without having to learn CSS, using the Theme Builder tool, how to integrate rich site features, such as forms, surveys, and media galleries, and how to push content to Twitter and Facebook. The course also shows how to transition a Drupal Gardens site to a self-hosted Drupal site. Exercise files are included with the course.

Topics include:

• Creating and managing content and content types
• Embedding videos and other media
• Publishing and subscribing to RSS feeds
• Setting up blocks, banners, menus, and forms
• Managing comments and spam
• Tracking site usage
• Duplicating and deleting sites
• Adding custom domains

(Publisher’s description.)

A how-to book for Drupal beginners.

I started writing it in 2009, then shelved it, then revised extensively in late 2010 as the pre-release software changed substantially. It was officially published about three weeks before Drupal 7’s release.

• Agent: Neil Salkind
• Acquisitions Editor: Wendy Sharp
• Production Editor: Nancy Peterson
• Development Editor: Robyn Thomas
• Technical Editors: Emma Jane Hogbin, Greg Knaddison
• Copy Editors: Darren Meiss, Scout Festa

A “Stanford University Tech Briefing” about Drupal, given mostly to people who were already using it for departmental websites. Sponsored by lynda.com. Published description: “lynda.com and Drupal — Tom Geller, lynda.com. Do you have lingering questions about your Drupal web site? In this session, lynda.com trainer Tom Geller answers some of the most often-asked questions about entering and managing content in Drupal. He’ll show you the fastest ways to get images on the page, how to attach files, and how to enable hidden features of Stanford’s Drupal installation that let you extend content beyond Pages and Stories. He’ll also take your questions; give you a peek at what’s coming in Drupal 7, due for release in the next few months. Finally, Tom Geller and lynda.com representatives will help you get the most out of training videos on lynda.com, with a particular focus on Drupal and Drupal-related courses.”

Adaptation of a previous manual, with all-new screenshots and some new writing.

Over two and a half hours of video that demonstrates changes to the Drupal 7 administrative interface and other enhancements that have come out of its three-year development period. This course covers its simplified installation process, new themes that will help kick-start design projects, the customizable shortcut bar that puts often-used commands in easy reach, update procedures that leverage its browser-based interface, and a new way of defining fields to create complex content types without additional modules.

Topics include:

• Configuring the new Dashboard
• Using contextual link controls
• Exploring new themes
• Reviewing the new modules
• Understanding the expanded block system
• Using images in content
• Allowing users to delete accounts
• Testing modules with the Testing module
• Building themes using Drupal Gardens

(Publisher’s description.)

News story about the Association for Computing Machinery’s expansion into China. (Published in Communications of the ACM.)

Adaptation of a previous manual, with all-new screenshots and some new writing.

White paper to help clients define strategies and tactics for moving their web site to the content-management system Drupal.

Adaptation of a manual for a Paris-based computer security company, with all-new screenshots and some new writing.

Feature story about sensors to monitor energy consumption and other environmental data in residences. (Published in Communications of the ACM.)

White paper that explores Drupal as an online publishing system for newspapers and magazines.

Took user manuals in Microsoft Word format and adapted them for online reading, which included new screen shots and some reorganization of material. The four manuals were ContentBarrier, Personal Antispam, Personal Backup, and FileGuard.

A bottom-up rewrite of the previous version’s manual.

Article about “e-heritage”, digitization of large-scale historical sites such as the Bayon Temple in Cambodia.

Article written for the publisher of my book, Drupal 7: Visual QuickStart Guide. I wrote it at a time when Drupal 7 seemed primed for imminent release, but it ended up taking a year more. The article is still fairly accurate, though.

Adaptation of a user manual to act as a guide to potential software reviewers.

Article about “claytronics” — ensembles of tiny robots that self-assemble into larger functional units.

Reporting on a three-day conference about technology policy. This was my biggest case of preparation overkill: 12,000 words of notes went into a 575-word article.

Short, online-only news article about brain-machine interfaces — or, as I call it, “MONKEYS CONTROLLING ROBOTS WITH THEIR BRAINS!!!”

Drupal’s built-in data presentation tools offer several ways for web designers to clearly and attractively package their data. In over six hours of video training, Tom Geller explains how Drupal handles data so users can set up intelligent structures and implement them with Drupal’s Content Construction Kit. Tom also shows how a data-driven web site can improve its interactivity by using geographic data to connect real-world addresses to maps. Exercise files accompany the course.

Topics include:

• Importing and manipulating data in Drupal
• Presenting date-formatted information in calendars
• Understanding Drupal’s data-query interface, “Views”
• Improving view appearances with grid, list, and table formatting
• Importing, exporting, and cloning views
• Extending views with arguments and relationships

(Publisher’s description.)

A guide to help a Drupal consultancy’s potential clients understand the process of building an enterprise-level Web site with Drupal.

A loooong how-to/white paper about creating a Drupal-based website, with specific instructions for using front-end designs from the client.

A review of the productivity and life-tracking app, OmniFocus.

As the registered company Geller Guides, I found, oversaw, coached, and edited subcontracted writers for a couple of technical articles that appeared on the Apple Developer Connection section of Apple’s website. (I’ll provide copies of the articles on request.)

In almost seven hours of video instruction, Drupal 6 Essential Training (originally titled “Drupal Essential Training”) covers all the important aspects of installing, configuring, customizing, and maintaining a Drupal-powered website. Instructor Tom Geller explores blogs, discussion forums, member profiles, and other features while demonstrating the steps required to make Drupal perform. He also teaches fundamental concepts and skills along the way, including installation, backups, and updates; security and permissions; flexible page layouts and CSS; menu navigation; and performance monitoring and disaster recovery. He also discusses how to select and install the community-supported modules that further expand Drupal’s capabilities, and gives experienced PHP programmers tips on customizing page templates. Example files accompany the course.

Topics include:

• Understanding the inner workings of Drupal
• Creating stories, pages, blogs, forums, and polls
• Managing users and comments
• Setting and customizing themes
• Exchanging content via RSS
• Stopping comment spam with a CAPTCHA
• Launching a site and joining the Drupal community

(Publisher’s description.)

A feature article about the perceptual gap between images of real human faces near-human representations.

Abstract: “What makes some near-human characters scary while others are merely laughable? More important, why do some human and humanlike characters fail to arouse our sympathy? Visual artists and roboticists face these questions as they seek to alternately frighten and endear. Recent attempts to create accurate human replicas have brought these questions to the fore with increased urgency.”

Rediscovered this forgotten interview with me by an unnamed reporter. Fun!

Review of the productivity and personal-tracking application, OmniFocus (known at the time as “The Omni Group Omnifocus”).

Commissioned book, completed in 30 days and published without revisions (beyond minor copyediting).

Updated and edited manual from Version 4 of this backup program.

The third part in a series of three articles about the death (and rebirth) of cities, particularly in the U.S. Rust Belt. (Note: As of August 2013, these articles are incorrectly attributed to another author in the byline, but are correct in the footer.)

The second part in a series of three articles about the death (and rebirth) of cities, particularly in the U.S. Rust Belt. (Note: As of August 2013, these articles are incorrectly attributed to another author in the byline, but are correct in the footer.)

The first part in a series of three articles about the death (and rebirth) of cities, particularly in the U.S. Rust Belt. (Note: As of August 2013, these articles are incorrectly attributed to another author in the byline, but are correct in the footer.)

User manual for a computer cleaning product. Written to match an existing format and style.

Updated and edited manual from Version 4 of this security program.

An article for the Apple Developer Center (ADC) about how someone created a popular developer’s tool using Apple technologies. (Article is no longer on ADC; available by request.)

A feature article about how Aluminum went from being a precious metal (in its elemental form) to being cheap enough to use as a construction material, focusing on the 1880’s work of two chemists who discovered, almost simultaneously, the process to extract it.

Introduction: “In the mid-1800s aluminum was more valuable than gold. Napoléon III’s most important guests were given aluminum cutlery, while those less worthy dined with mere silver; fashionable and wealthy women wore jewelry crafted of aluminum. Today aluminum is a critical component of modern life, found in airplanes, automobiles, soft drink cans, construction materials, cooking equipment, guardrails, and countless other products. The difference between scarcity and abundance (and between obscurity and ubiquity) of this metal depended solely on scientists’ ability to find the way to release it—the third most common element in the earth’s crust by weight—from its ore.”

A feature detailing how the website Weather Underground manages data, produces weather graphics, and collects crowdsourced information to put together its content.

A feature article about real-estate tours in the “virtual world” of Second Life.

A news story about an astronomical discovery.

Intro: “Astronomers have found an unexpected treat on a star first described more than 400 years ago – the streak of a 13-light-year-long tail. The tail, the first seen of its kind, could provide clues about how celestial bodies are formed from the material spat out by such aging stars.”

The third part in a series of three articles about how old properties are being used for new purposes. (Note: As of August 2013, these articles are incorrectly attributed to another author in the byline, but are correct in the footer.)

The second part in a series of three articles about how old properties are being used for new purposes. (Note: As of August 2013, these articles are incorrectly attributed to another author in the byline, but are correct in the footer.)

The first part in a series of three articles about how old properties are being used for new purposes. (Note: As of August 2013, these articles are incorrectly attributed to another author in the byline, but are correct in the footer.)

A news story about checkers being “solved” — that is, proven that it’s possible to draw against even a perfectly played game.

Written for the the premiere issue of a newsletter by software publisher Quark, this article discusses their flagship product’s globalization-friendly features.

Six blog posts of about 300 words each, published in the summer of 2007:

• Mac mini: It’s Alive! (For Now, At Least)
• Prevent Hard-Drive Crashes
• Plan Bikeable Bike Routes
• A Love Letter to Adobe Acrobat
• What’s On Your iPhone?
• iDentify Your iPods

A feature article about tax auctions in the Bay Area, for the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle’s real-estate section.

A review of the text editor/organizational program for writers.

A review of the popular illustration program.

A feature article about the chemical history of cannabinoids — the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana — touching on medical and legal issues. No longer available on the Chemical Heritage site.

A news article about wireless power transmission.

Intro: “Annoyed by the tangle of power cords under your desk? A sheet of plastic invented by researchers in Japan could one day make for tables and walls that power devices placed on them — without any need for wires or plugs. Computers could be powered through the desks on which they sit, for example, or flat-screen televisions through the walls where they hang.”

A short review of an illustration program. Part of a package of three: EazyDraw, Intaglio, and Lineform.

A short review of an illustration program. Part of a package of three: EazyDraw, Intaglio, and Lineform.

A short review of an illustration program. Part of a package of three: EazyDraw, Intaglio, and Lineform.

An article for the Apple Developer Connection that shows how Apple technologies facilitated the creation and production of a graphic-design tool. Copy available on request.

Intro: “Will Thimbleby didn’t set out to write an illustration program. He needed to create drawings for a project, but he found he couldn’t afford the market-leading application and was unable to find a lower-cost option that suited him. So the 25-year-old doctoral student opened Apple’s Xcode tools and built his own.The result is Lineform, a vector drawing program that challenges the features of pricey competitors while sporting a far more accessible interface. His homegrown “scratch-an-itch” project won the 2006 Apple Design Award for Best Mac OS X Student Product, and soon after was picked up by software publisher Freeverse, Inc.”

A feature article for Computer Graphics and Applications, a publication of IEEE.

Abstract: “Consumer sites such as MapQuest, Yahoo! Maps, and Google Maps compete to improve their interfaces and data relevance to better appeal to the browsing public. But innovation in online mapping isn’t limited to these household names. Sites for the public good, such as those the US government manages, provide graphical access to data buried in such sources as the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the decennial census. Meanwhile, community mapping sites let the public provide local details, find nearby colleagues, and organize information in ways unknown 10 years ago.”

An article for the Apple Developer Connection that shows how Apple technologies facilitated the creation and production of a game. Copy available on request.

Intro: “The 11-person team at Freeverse, Inc. might be small, but the company has scored big with the action arcade game Wingnuts 2: Raina’s Revenge , which won the 2006 Eddy Award for Best Game and was named runner-up for the 2006 Apple Design Awards for Best Mac Game. Freeverse created a fun and addictive game, and according to the development team, the road to outstanding creative development was paved with Apple technologies such as Xcode, QuickTime, Core Image, the platform’s OpenGL implementation, and Mac OS X as a whole.”

My first feature article for the “Applications” section of Computer Graphics and Applications, a publication of IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

Abstract: “Just as online shopping is a bellwether of advanced online technologies, so are museum and gallery showcases for the best in computer display and interface technology. In the first case, commerce demands that speed and reliability get priority, in the latter, technological invisibility is foremost. The museum experience is an unusually tactile, sensual one, and the standard keyboard-mouse-and-screen setup might seem out of place. This trend toward sensual involvement is particularly noticeable in tabletop displays, as they appeal to two aspects of familiar daily life: the horizontal surface as a workspace, and hand gestures (or common objects) as tools for manipulating information.”

A list of my published writing from 1994-2005, totaling maybe 200,000 words, is at http://old.tgeller.com/writing/past-writing/. I hope to eventually incorporate those works into the rest of my portfolio.

A collection of 24 one-page articles to be given to clients and potential clients when I was a real-estate agent. I often put out a few of these at open houses I hosted and got several bites as a result.

After four years in technology journalism, I “jumped the fence” to become a Senior Account Executive at GCI Group (now part of Grey Global Group). I specialized in high-tech clients, including Sun, Qualcomm, Globalstar, and Penguin Computing. Later founded Silicon Valley P.R. (sold in 2002).

I edited this while in college. The collection comprises three parts: Personal writings, academic writings, and an annotated “sourcebook” of support and social groups.