My ongoing research interests are numerous, and tend to fall within the broader realms of computing, visual communication, new media production, educational technology, and archaeology. While technology and archaeology may seem overtly diverse, I would suggest that they possess startling similarities – particularly when you view the study of technology as the study of culture. Nonetheless, as my career has matured and I find myself more strapped for time, my focus has necessarily narrowed; currently my archaeological work is limited.
I am interested in understanding how computers influence our ability to understand concepts. This includes explorations of visual communication, software development, interface design, and educational theory. Increasingly, my interests and professional activities in new media and web development have become paramount to my academic work; and I have spent the past several years studying visual communication theory and producing multimedia and web-based learning materials.
Theoretically, I'm about experience and what it brings to our ability to learn things. My considerations of educational technology focus on cognitive constructivism, in an effort to determine the impact of this epistemology on the development of educational technology materials and pedagogical approaches. My dissertation research examined a specific educational multimedia application and attempted to determine its impact upon the cognitive construction of knowledge by students. My current projects build upon this research base.
Currently, I am focusing my time on two larger writing projects. Foremost is an edited volume regarding critical theory and Problem-based Learning, which is an effort to draw together several fields into one concise volume. My other writing project is an accessible and direct web development text. My development research is currently focused on mobile application production.
Although my primary fields of expertise involve computing and technology, I possess a multidisciplinary background with academic preparation in history and archaeology as well. More recently, I've become intensely interested in some of the research questions regarding the ancestral puebloans of the southwest U.S. These topics include the current argumentation regarding the defensive nature of puebloan structures, and the questions regarding the massive migration from most of the Colorado Plateau during the later half of the 1200's.
Beyond my own research interests in archaeology however, resides my own deep commitment to making the field accessibly to non-professionals. This motivation drives much of my technology production and development work.
One of the challenges of having diverse interests is keeping them focused. I try to address this by developing technology products using archaeological content. I am currently working on collections of photography that combine my expertise in digital photography with my background in archaeology and knowledge of ancient lifestyles. While my original idea was to develop this into a traditional text, I now plan on using the activity to drive my artistic development, and the content to drive my mobile app development work.