“Seriously, you and me man, we’re done professionally.” – C. Bale

Download CV (pdf)

::: contact

Skype: pazonada
Email: a at amd4 dot net

::: profile

Multimedia producer, mobile technology researcher and new media strategist; interested in creative project management, user experience research, and technology for international development.

::: education

09/08-06/10 – MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – Cambridge, MA
Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies. 5.0 GPA (5.0 scale)
Master’s thesis: “New medium, new practice: Civic production in live-streaming mobile video.” (download PDF)

01/00-12/01 – SMITH COLLEGE – Northampton, MA
BA in Anthropology. 3.6 GPA (4.0 scale)

09/97-12/99 – EMERSON COLLEGE – Boston, MA
Five semesters in Writing, Literature and Publishing

::: experience

09/08-Present MIT Center for Civic Media, Research Associate – Cambridge, MA
Design and implement technology projects with specific communities. My initiatives have primarily focused on mobile technology, include supervising the development of Aago, a mobile application developed in Xcode for youth media creation and curation, from concept and contextual inquiry to wire framing, UI design, rapid prototyping and testing with young adults at the Museum of Science Computer Clubhouse. I also led an intergenerational mobile filmmaking project with Kenyan teenagers and adults (mgenerations.com) focused on storytelling, shooting and editing on mobile phones, and am strategizing the function and design of Engaging Neighborhoods, an open source civic engagement web platform and media archive for activists in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany. Other work includes publishing and presenting papers on trends in mobile video production (MobileHCI, 2011), the future of mobile video (“Handbook of Participatory Video,” upcoming) and the social impact of internet in rural Peru (National Association for New Media Literacy Education, 2011; The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, Vol. 6/2, 2010).

01/09-Present MIT Comparative Media Studies, Instructor/Teaching Assistant
Assistant teacher for Communicating with Mobile Technology (Spring 2010 & Spring 2011), a class leading students through the process of creating a mobile application on Android and Apple devices, focusing on HCI concerns – ideation, observation and use scenarios, paper prototyping, programming, testing and deployment. Mobile apps ranged from ARGs and interactive menus to location sensing for coordinating social interactions. Instructor of Promoting the Arts Through Design (PATD, Spring 2009), teaching documentary video production to create a promotional piece on the MIT Glass Lab. Assistant teacher for Digital Poetry (Fall 2009), where students utilized all forms of media to create interactive poems.

10/06-08/08 1199SEIU, Senior Communications Specialist – Boston, MA
Co-coordinated communications strategy and production for the New Organizing department, including writing, editing, design, print project management, video production (shooting, editing, DVD authoring, online distribution), website development, large-scale text messaging, and e-outreach for various campaigns. Helped develop new media strategies for organizing initiatives; provided media relations support; designed websites and managed web content; photographed and filmed events.

01/03-10/06 UU SERVICE COMMITTEE, Communications Assistant – Cambridge, MA
Managed all web content updates on a daily basis; assisted in the production and editing of printed publications, marketing material, online communication, and public relations projects; managed audio/video library; served as in-house photographer and videographer for events and trips, including international partner visits; created visual presentations for organizational program initiatives and conferences.

01/02-10/02 FRESHADDRESS, INC., Marketing Associate – Newtonville, MA
Working for this start-up internet company of six employees, I oversaw external communications spanning customer support, public relations, marketing, sales, and design for print advertisement and web graphics. Served as company representative at national marketing conventions around the country.

::: creative projects

co.807 (2011)
Managed web presence, online marketing and model photography for a neckwear business.

STUDIO CRUX
Freelance multimedia production: most recent project is a DVD release of On the Line: Internet in Rural Peru, a documentary film being screened at conferences and festivals. Past projects include AD work for a series of videos produced for MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics (2010), and shooting/editing of video pieces for NGOs, including Save Darfur Coalition, U.S. Campaign for Burma, Democracy Now! and Third Sector New England.

Photography: Covered political conflict and tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia and Thailand (2006); currently photograph weddings, arts/culture events, political events and private functions.

Web design: created seven personal websites, three NGO websites (fairunionelections.org; pcavoice.org; phinneyassociation.org), and one biographical site for a classical composer (geoffreyking.com).

48 HOUR FILM PROJECT (2004-7; 2011)
Produced and directed short films from 2004-7 as part of Tapioca Productions when this film competition was held in Boston; won seven awards, including Best Film, in 2007. Served as judge for the “48 Go Green” competition for environmental-related short films in 2011.

::: awards

GRADUATE SCHOLAR AWARD (2010)
Presented research at the sixth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society in Berlin, Germany, moderated other conference sessions and facilitated a group on Technology in Community.

MIT CMS MEDIA SPECTACLE (2010)
Won “Best Nonfiction” prize for short film, The Living Room Monologues.

CARROLL L. WILSON AWARD (2009)
Won a grant from the MIT Entrepreneurship Center to travel to rural Peru and film a documentary on the use of new wireless networks by local entrepreneurs in the Andes and Amazon.

::: skills

Computer applications – Administrative: OpenOffice, Microsoft Office, Outlook, PowerPoint; Scrivener; multiple browser platforms.

Computer applications – Multimedia: Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Encore DVD, InDesign; Final Cut Pro, Motion, LiveType, DVD Studio Pro; Fireworks, some Flash and Processing.

Computer applications – Web: Squarespace; WordPress; Dreamweaver, MS Frontpage; some Drupal.

Language skills: English (mother tongue); Intermediate Spanish (5 years of courses); conversational German (4 courses at Goethe Institute Boston); basic Italian (2 courses at Alighieri Society, Boston).

::: activities

Volunteer/Activism: Competed in road races for the South Boston Boys & Girl’s Club (2007, 2008); active in political campaigns for Democratic gubernatorial and presidential candidates (2006-present) as well as the cause for Burmese democracy and refugee/migrant rights, including volunteer PR work for a Thailand-based human rights group.

International travel: I have lived abroad in Mexico (1989), the Netherlands (1999), the UK (2004) and have enjoyed traveling through the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Peru, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, and Europe.