Digital Philology and Corpus Linguistics

Since the early 90s I’ve been interested in using computers to better understand languages and texts. This has involved text preparation, markup, linguistic annotation, and building rich reading environments for ancient, medieval, and early modern texts.

Tolkien and Tolkien Studies

Tolkien planted the original seeds for my interest in linguistics. I now study the Middle-earth texts of Tolkien from the perspective of corpus linguistics, digital humanities, and computational literary analysis. In 2018, I started the Digital Tolkien Project.

Computer-Aided Historical Language Learning

Stemming from my interests in corpus linguistics and learning science, I have worked for almost twenty years on tools to help learn historical languages (especially Ancient Greek but also Germanic languages). This has mostly involved work in vocabulary, text sequencing, and adaptive reading environments.

Lancaster University

I recently completed an MA in Corpus Linguistics with Distinction. My dissertation was a multi-dimensional analysis of linguistic variation in Tolkien’s Middle-earth works. I am planning on continuing this work in a PhD in the near future.

Ancient Greek and Indo-European Linguistics

I am developing a Morphological Lexicon of Ancient Greek that is machine-actionable, corpus-verified, pedagogically useful, informed by morphological theory and historical linguistics, and compatible with linguistic linked open data principles.

Open Source and Web Standards

I have been developing open source software and working with Web technologies since 1993 and have been using Python since 1998. I was an invited expert to the W3C group that developed XML and am a Fellow and former Board Member of the Python Software Foundation.

Online Education and Learning Science

I have been involved in online education for 25 years—as a teacher, student, and platform developer. I have a graduate certificate in educational research methodology and a higher education teaching certificate. I led the open-sourcing of the edX platform and helped establish their learning analytics team. I was an external member of the Board at Signum University before resigning to join the faculty.

Music Theory and Composition

I have been composing music in a variety of styles since an early age, initially self-taught but recently completing study in music theory and composition at Berklee. I am also interested in music encoding and the computational modelling of music theory. I have taught classes on music theory and Bach and have presented my music research at the Music Encoding Conference.

Software Entrepreneurship

Much of my career has been in senior technical roles at software startups with emphasis on advanced technologies, product architecture and design, open source and web standards. I was Chief Scientist and then CTO of mValent from its founding in 2001 to its acquisition by Oracle in 2008. I then founded and led Eldarion until its closure in 2023.

Wine Education

I have undertaken study and/or exams with the Court of Master Sommeliers, Wine & Spirit Education Trust, and Wine Scholar Guild. I enjoy drinking mostly French and Italian wines.

Cosmology and General Relativity

Before switching undergraduate majors to linguistics, I was a mathematics and physics major and my goal was to become a theoretical physicist. I’ve continued to maintain an interest in cosmology and general relativity.

Molecular Biology and Artificial Life

While always interested in the computational simulation of life, I didn’t get into biology growing up; but after doing online courses in biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology I’ve become interested in computer models of cell biology.