Genesis

Make no mistake, I wasn’t hired to manage the Appalachian Ohio WIRED project because of any visionary understanding of the capabilities of interactive media or expertise in digital technology. More realistically, I filled the project’s need for an experienced bureaucrat to navigate them through the vagaries of federal grant funding. I was intrigued by what I learned about the project at my initial interview. The combination of science and art, two of my long-time interests, seemed to offer a range of possibilities that I had never had the opportunity to explore. I never expected that in the coming weeks I would get to terraform an island, explore the Sistine Chapel, view earth from space, and even select a new, younger body made to my personal specifications. This represented the beginning of my exploration of interactive digital technology, which today continues to challenge my imagination with the variety of applications that are changing the way people communicate and interact with others. Because I’ve been asked so often to describe what the WIRED project is all about, I decided to create this blog to provide information about the activities of the project, share my learning experiences, and highlight news and events that demonstrate the unbelievable pace of technology and innovation that characterize this global growth industry.