Multimedia

For my day job, I'm an instructional designer and writer. I've delivered eLearning scripts for organizations including the United Nations Development Programme, Royal Philips Electronics and Verizon Wireless.

The project I'm proudest of is The Civil War Experience, a 1999 CD-ROM produced by SouthPeak Interactive, The History Channel and The Civil War Trust. I wrote a large amount of historical material (more than 43,000 words), and won an IABC Silver Quill Award of Merit for my work, as well as a Bronze Quill Award of Excellence.

My guide to Writing for Multimedia predates Wired Style, and it's free. It includes a section on writing for the Web. Two articles from the site, “Writing for Multimedia 101”, and a sidebar, “Great Moments in Multimedia History”, were featured in the March 1998 Special Issue of Communication World, the official publication of the International Association of Business Communicators, or IABC.

Books

Here is my current book project, an annotated edition of A Confederate Soldier in Egypt, by William W. Loring. The recently completed manuscript contains more than 300 footnotes, as well as related articles and interviews.

I was a contributor to The Encyclopedia of Fictional People, published by Boulevard Books in 1996. I wrote about 50 entries, including the Simpson Family, The Compson Family, and Olive Oyl. By the way, the Simpsons entry is reproduced online in Part 9 of the The Complete Simpsons Bibliography. Not that I'm commenting on the book's editing (far be it from me), but “Hmmm...donuts” should be “Mmmm...donuts,” and “constantly hungry” isn't as funny as “congenitally hungry.”

Short-Short Stories

Occasionally I write short-short stories (1,000 words or less).

• “The Missiles of September” (a counterfactual history)
• “Smells Like Pooh” (1st Place Winner, Inscriptions Dorothy Parker Writer's Block Contest)
• “The Game”

Humor

Navigate the new millennium with “Future Schlock,” a humor column from the November, 1996 issue of Internet Qu@rterly, an ambitious and defunct Canadian computer magazine.

Was Demosthenes this funny? “Apt. 101,” Atlanta Singles, March/April '92.

New Media

• Review of Critical Mass, BookPage New Media, Summer '96. I picked up an IABC Bronze Quill Award of Merit for this review.
• Review of Planet Earth, BookPage New Media, Summer '96
• Review of Doonesbury Flashbacks, BookPage New Media, Spring '96
• Review of The 1996 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, BookPage New Media, Spring '96
• Review of Family Tree Maker, BookPage New Media, Holiday '96
• Review of Mount Everest: Quest for the Summit of Dreams, BookPage New Media, Fall '95
• A reprint of my review of Mount Everest: Quest for the Summit of Dreams also appeared in the November/December 1995 edition of EcoTraveler.

Web Sites

My sites have been recognized by organizations such as The History Channel, USA Today and Encyclopedia Britannica. The Loring page was recently named as a site worth a visit by The Civil War on the Web, a book featuring the top Civil War-related sites.

This site has been recognized with several awards.

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