Professional History

Dr. Erich W. Schienke, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ethics of Climate Change, Rock Ethics Institute
Lecturer in Science, Technology, and Society
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
The Pennsylvania State University
State College, PA 16801


Objectives:

I am working to identify where technological and scientific production can be improved by better understanding their social and political consequences. In my graduate studies I focus on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Environmental Modeling (EM) in the social and political decision-making process on issues of environment and health interactions.



Skills:

Computation/Information:

  • Operating Systems: Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, Linux, UNIX, Palm OS, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP

  • Web: HTML, ACS 4, CSS, Cold Fusion, BBEdit, Go Live, DNS, BIND, CGI

  • Technical: MapInfo, ArcView, SQL, GRASS GIS (Open Source)

  • Media and Layout: Illustrator, Photoshop, Streamline, Final Cut Pro, DVD Pro, DeBabelizer, Painter, Quark

  • Business: Word, Excel, Access, Filemaker Pro, Outlook, Quickbooks

Communication/Production:

  • Teaching undergraduate education on the topics of science and technology

  • Research skills across multiple disciplines

  • Foreign language training: German (3 yr), Mandarin Chinese (2 yr), Spanish (1 yr)
  • Proficient in technical writing and editing

  • Steadfastly acquired skills in multimedia event production and management

  • Field tested understanding of guerrilla marketing techniques for web based audience development and media buying management

  • Photography, radio, and video production


Work Experience:

Internet and Computer Experience:
For the complete listing of web sites developed and implemented, please go to the networks section.

  • Builder for Fakespace Systems. Worked on a Virtual Reality interface project for Los Alamos National Labs. (1999-2000)

  • E-commerce website developer for World of Wonder. Programmed advanced site for documentary Eyes of Tammy Faye and implemented and administer online catalog for company. (1999)

  • Guerilla marketer for SonicBox. Implemented "alternative" marketing campaigns for product rollouts. (1999)

  • Online marketer for ABIhosting.com and Chemic Designs. Provided web-marketing services to a variety of websites and search engine placement management. (1998-1999)

  • HTML designer for Muller Studios. Coded website for various clients.

  • HTML designer for PlanetRx.com. Scheduled daily/weekly production of html content and design for internet's biggest online pharmacy.

  • Audience Development Specialist for IDG's WebShopper.com/PCWorld.com. Worked closely with the circulation department to innovate and design specialized marketing techniques focused on growing e-commerce and computer savvy audiences. (June 1998 - June 1999)

  • General Manager, San Francisco Computer Museum, a website and proposed museum for presenting both the history of computing and an ongoing, interactive exchange between the public and programs developed by the software developers, artists, musicians, and designers. Developed web site, managed office, organized board meetings, and created public awareness of the museum. (August 1996 - June 2000)

  • Interface and print designer, George Coates Performance Works, San Francisco. Conducted ongoing experiments in multimedia and internet interface design for performances staged by George Coates. (1997-1999)

  • Executive Producer for CoMA '97: The Festival for Computer and New Media Art, an event celebrating art and computers, jointly sponsored by the San Francisco Multimedia Task Force, the San Francisco Computer Museum, blasthaus gallery, and computer companies within the San Francisco Bay Area. Organized a lecture on digital art and music, a panel discussion on "Exploring the Digital Boundaries of Art", and an open gallery tour of digital and performance art in San Francisco during the week of October 2-4 1997 in San Francisco. These events attracted thousands of people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  • Developed testing proceedures and scripts for PlanetU.com's large-scale, subscriber based, website and set up networked bug-tracking system. Learned about NetDynamics and figured out how to emulate a wide variety of user types. (1997)

  • Assistant editor and contributing writer for the Analytical Engine, a quarterly journal on the history of California computing published by the Computer History Association of California.

Research and Teaching Experience:
For the complete listing of research interests and teaching experience, please go to the curriculum vitae section.

  • Research Assistant for NSF Grant in Design Studies on a project titled "Mapping Breast Cancer: Geographic Information Systems at the Interface of Disease Surveillance and Advocacy Science." (Spring 2003)

  • Research Assistant for Associate Professor Tamar Gordon and her project on the globalization of ethnic display in theme parks and cultural centers. (Summer and Fall 2002)

  • Research Assistant for NSF Grant in Design Studies where I began to conduct ethnographic research in the use of GIS in a project titled "Who's Mapping the Mappers?: Ethnographic Research in the Production of Digital Cartography." (Spring 2002)

  • Research Assistant for Center for Ethics and Complex Systems where I began to interview technology professionals, government officials, business executives and employees, not-for-profit sector organizations, and citizens in everyday life about how they cope with the emergent opportunities, constraints, and dilemmas introduced by information technologies. (Summer and Fall 2001)

  • Research Assistant for NSF Grant in Design Studies resulted in a twenty minute video and accompanying paper about design practices called "What is Design: A Pedagogical Video of Design Practice." (Spring 2001)

  • Teaching Assistant for Information Technology Revolution: Myth or Reality with Assistant Professor, Kim Fortun. Taught own section of 25 students. (Fall 2000)

  • Developer for a GIS project team for the Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies. There I obtained a grant from Lemelson National Program in Invention, Innovation and Creativity to implement a Geographic Information System, and learned how to work as an intermediary between military and civilian interests. (1995-1996)


Conferences and Presentations Concerning GIS and EM:

For the complete listing of conferences, presentations, and publications, please go to the curriculum vitae section.

  • SUNY Buffalo IGERT Colloquium invited speaker. Buffalo, NY. Talk: Ethnographic Research into the Ethics of Cartographic Experimentalism. (November 2003)

  • Society for Social Studies of Science. Atlanta, GA. Paper: Mapping the Public / Mapping for the Public: Spatial Analysis of Environment and Health Interactions in the Case of Breast Cancer. (October 2003)

  • Society for Social Studies of Science. Milwaukee, WI. Paper: Mapping Community Concerns--Breast Cancer, Toxic Releases, and GIS. (November 2002)

  • PPGIS (Public Participation Geographic Information Systems). New Brunswick, NJ. Paper: Mapping Community Concerns--Breast Cancer, Toxic Releases, and GIS (July 2002)

  • Mapping Sciences Conference. Melbourne, Australia. Paper accepted and submitted, but not delivered in person: Who's Mapping the Mappers?: Ethnographic Research in the Production of Digital Cartography. (June 2002)

  • Transforming Spaces: The Topological Turn in Technology Studies. Darmstadt, Germany. Paper: Who's Mapping the Mappers?: Ethnographic Research in the Production of Digital Cartography. (March 2002)

  • Society for Social Studies of Science/EASST. Vienna, Austria. Paper: Posthuman and Nostalgic Interfaces: Towards a New Categorization of Information Experiences. (September 2000)


Education: