I am a freelance software developer and consultant based in Brisbane, Australia.
In my work I specialize in text encoding, library systems, content management, research data management, and knowledge representation. My clients are mainly in the cultural heritage and university sectors. My clients include the universities of Oklahoma, Monash, Melbourne, and Sydney, the National Library of Australia, and the Public Record Office Victoria.
Services I provide my clients include:
- Consulting and training in XML and knowledge-based systems
- Transforming text
- Extracting structured data from text
- Visualization of data
- Processing metadata
- Automation of web publishing workflows
I have worked as a programmer and IT consultant since the late 1980s.
I’ve used many different programming languages, including procedural languages like BASIC, Pascal, and C; functional languages like Lisp, PostScript, Javascript, XQuery and XSLT, object-oriented languages like C++ and Java, and query languages like XPath, SQL, and SPARQL. These days I am specialising in metadata processing, and I am writing a lot of code in a data-flow language called XProc which I’ve found well-suited to that kind of work.
I have a strong interest in Linked Open Data (LOD), especially in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums). I’m particularly concerned with the need to bridge the gaps which still exist between the legacy systems of GLAM institutions and the requirements of the new world of web-based metadata. The transition to these new technologies is now very commonly understood to be a good idea, even inevitable, but many institutions lack the experience and knowledge to map out a way forward. It’s my view that institutions should be looking for the simplest steps possible that will get them started on Linked Open Data; steps that don’t depend on them making changes to their existing systems, but adding Linked Data systems that plug into their existing systems’ frameworks and APIs. I believe that once they’ve gained some practical experience of working with LOD, their possible next steps will become a lot clearer. I see my role as helping to get institutions into that space.