chris vansprouts - résumé

1998-present  Metasofa Artists workshops, community, website - designer, founder, facilitator, teacher, learner - see metasofa.org

1989-present  Vansprouts Media - software & media consulting, design, programming, teaching - internet, web, media-art, audio-video, desktop publishing, database, etc for projects and clients in the arts, education, science, and business - Macintosh & Unix software development, system analysis, networks, etc - Linux-based secure webservers with dynamic content - see computer tools below, and vansprouts media

1985-present  Vansprouts Ecotech - hardware consulting, design, construction, teaching - solar photovoltaic power, backyard agriculture, geodesic domes, bicycles & human-powered vehicles, electronics, electrical, welding, etc - see vansprouts ecotech

2014-present  Timebank Knowledge Commons free information library on the internet - database designer, programmer & co-webhost for this collaborative global timebanking resource - metasofa.org/tb-kc

2013-present  Tucson Center for the Message, Tucson AZ - webmaster & monthly newsletter co-editor for the Inayati Sufi community in Tucson - metasofa.org/inayati-tucson

2011-present  Tucson Timetraders Timebank, Tucson AZ - internet consultant, webmaster & programmer for this local timebanking community - with a little help, the website & software could be a global resource providing free timebanking on the internet for everyone in the world - metasofa.org/timebank

2011-14  Sustainable Tucson, Tucson AZ - internet & media consultant for this all-volunteer education & resource networking organization, and webmaster for the wordpress website - urban ecology and sustainability, local community economics & systems design, climate change, etc  (also see Bob Cook below, and Sustainable Tucson working groups)

2009-10  TerraSante Village, near Tucson AZ - website designer & webmaster, and set up community-wide wireless network, for this (as it turns out) bogus eco-sustainable bogus intentional community.  Personally built some small geodesic domes and set up my own desert campsite & garden to truly demonstrate off-grid sustainability - see permaculture conference and terrasante website report

2006-08  City of the Sun, near Columbus NM - designed & installed community-wide wireless network and started a website for this difficult borderland intentional community of about 50 members on a 160-acre land trust.  Managed the community wastewater system for 2 years under supervision of New Mexico Environment Department, successfully using EM (Effective Micro-organisms®).  Also on board of directors about 3 years, and managed a small food co-op and internet-sharing co-op - see projects at city of the sun

2006  Living Foods Learning Center, near Columbus NM - designed print brochure & website.  This off-grid health retreat center founded by Shu Chan, a student of Ann Wigmore, uses live sprouted, fermented & raw foods extensively - see brochure & website

2004-05  Columbus Village Library, Columbus NM - computer lab manager (4 mac g5's, 17 windows pc's) and internet "reference librarian".  Set up the library's first website, webserver & webcam security system.  Also consulted for Columbus Farmers Market and Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

1990-92  Upattinas School, Glenmoore PA (near Phila) - science & math teacher for this private boarding school & NCACS alternative / home-school resource center, with small classes of 5-10 students 6-18 years old.  Also provided PC & Mac computer consulting & desktop publishing, was one of the school van drivers.  (also see upattinas news)

1988-89  Computer Mailworks for Non-Profits, Philadelphia PA - computer consultant, also labeled & sorted outgoing bulk-mail.  This small co-op business, part of Movement for a New Society, provided bulk mailing services for alternative / non-profit agencies in the Philadelphia area.

1980-89  CVS Electronics & Misc-Tech  (vansprouts) - electronics & media consulting, design & repair services  (also see "my card" archive)

1984-85  Graphics Engine Laboratory, Santa Fe NM - first technical director of GEL, a major project of the Center for Contemporary Arts, funded by the NEA to give artists access to expensive new computer graphics tools.  I was responsible for developing the software architecture of the entire graphics system, researching & integrating third-party software & hardware for the project, and maintaining the first GEL computer, a Sun workstation (BSD 2.4 Unix OS) with a UUCP Internet connection via Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1981-85  Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe NM - audio / video technician for live performances including Joan Jonas' opening for the 1983 Video as Attitude exhibition at the Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts, Susan Ohori's New Music Series, Paul Dresher, Musa Suso, and others.  Also technical director of the Graphics Engine Laboratory in 1984.  The CCA is a media-art theatre & gallery, and resource center for media-art production equipment & facilities.

1980-84  Steina & Woody Vasulka, video artists, Santa Fe NM - computer & electronics consultant for these pioneers in the field of digital video processing.  I designed & developed "vsys", a realtime operating system with a simple computer language (similar to Forth & Logo) for programming, controlling & coordinating a studio full of video equipment, including the Vasulka-Schier Digital Image Processor, a custom-built AMD2900-based bit-slice pipeline-microprocessor for realtime video processing and 3d graphics synthesis.  Vsys was developed in Macro-11 assembly language on a DEC PDP-11 computer with a flakey 8-inch floppy drive and a teletype printer.

1983  Robert Cook, geodesic architecture, Santa Fe NM - designed & developed a programmable calculator algorithm for determining strut dimensions & angles for a multi-layered cylindrical geodesic structure, and helped build prototype models  (also see Sustainable Tucson above)

1981-83  UNI Learning Research Center, Santa Fe NM - technical consultant for artists in audio & video media-art, camera work, editing.  Also developed a microprocessor-based video editing controller, and directed assembly of the newest known clone of the Sandin IP, an analog video image processor / synthesizer system.

1980  Montgomery Ward Service Dept, Osage TV Repair & The Candyman Hi-Fi Repair, Santa Fe NM - electronic repair technician, in repair shops & mobile field services.  Fixed hundreds of TVs and stereos ranging from very cheezy to ultra-elite.

1980  WEBA, solar-energy engineering, Santa Fe NM - created a software package for interactively analyzing long range cost efficiency of passive solar heating technology, with calculations for each customer location based on weather data & previous utility bills.

1979  Atlantic Medical Services, collection agency, Pittsburgh PA - software development & training.  Designed, developed and installed a new in-house hyper-dimensional relational database & billing system to handle over 50,000 accounts, and translated the old database from their former service provider.  All in 2 months, on schedule with no glitches, for $5 per hour.  Last checked in 1989, the system was still in use with no major changes to my original software.

1978-79  Dataform Systems, Pittsburgh PA - software development & training.  Adapted standard business application software to the needs of customers (sales, inventory, payroll, accounts, etc).  Wrote some low-level disk editing utilities for recovering crashed floppy disks, also some demo games, and a custom database package for Atlantic Medical Services.

1978  School of Computer Technology, business vo-tech school, Pittsburgh PA - programming instructor, Fortran & COBOL, history of computers, etc.  Developed curriculum outlines, teaching materials, tests, example software, including a department store inventory simulation, and a grading & attendance database for my 150 students in 5 classes (18-26 years old).

1973-77  EEW Inc, Pittsburgh PA - electronic design & development, analog & digital electronics, computer hardware, digital video & audio peripherals

1977  Murray Ave TV Repair & The Office Machine, Pittsburgh PA - repair shop technician - TVs, stereos, telephone answering machines, etc

1977  Random Theatre, NYC - electronic design, electrical contracting.  Designed, built & installed a set of 1800-watt lighting controls for theater house lights.

1977  Public Access Synthesizer Studio, NYC - electronic design & construction.  Designed & built new music synthesizer modules, and assembled old Buchla 100-series module kits, for electronic music production by independent artists.

1974-77  Academic tutoring  (vansprouts) - personal tutoring in science & math, high-school & undergraduate levels

1975-76  Cooper Union, Liberal Arts & Sciences Dept, NYC - office assistant, and audio / visual technician for lectures, slide-shows, poetry readings, etc  (work-study job)

1973-74  Prof Irving Lowe, NMR Laboratory, Physics Dept, University of Pittsburgh, Pgh PA - software design.  Developed a numerical analysis & graphics display software library for DEC PDP-11 LPS Laboratory Peripheral System + Nicolet digital transient recorder.

1972-74  Computer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pgh PA - software design & development - status monitor for DEC PDP-10 timesharing system, and a tutorial PDP-10 machine-code simulator

1998-present  Metasofa Artists workshops, community, website - designer, founder, facilitator, teacher, learner - see metasofa.org

1981-present  Nutrition & agriculture studies - vegetarian diet, sprouting, fermentation, permaculture, organic gardening & agriculture, em, composting, etc   (also see vansprouts ecotech)

1973-present  Alternative music studies - world musics, instrument building, just-intonation, Harry Partch, Terry Riley, et al   (also hear meta metta mantra)

1972-present  Biking & hiking - bicycle touring, racing, design, construction, repair - hiking, wilderness camping

1970-present  Musical groups & projects - violincello, electric cello, electric bass, lyrics, vocals, guitar, percussion, synthesizers, computers, tapes, mixers, etc

1997-2004 & 2010-12  Dances of Universal Peace, Pittsburgh PA, Charlottesville VA, Silver City NM, Durango CO, Phoenix & Tucson AZ - drumming, guitar, apprentice dance-leader

2005  "Trouble in Columbus" play, Tumbleweed Theater, Columbus NM - helped with lighting & set building, played Squeaker "just trying to do something nice for someone" and accompanied Jimmie Helms on guitar - written & directed by Dandelion, many actors from City of the Sun

2002-present  Fluoride poisoning in southwestern NM, and patient healing...  gradual and eventually almost-fatal gastrointestinal & neurological / brain damage, caused by accidentally ingesting naturally occuring fluoride (and other toxins) from well-water & "organic" garden produce in lovely Gila NM over a period of 8 months...  i'm doing much better now, but still healing after more than 17 years.  There is increasing awareness of this simple public health hazard, which extends across the Chihuahuan Desert from Willcox AZ to Las Cruces NM, and along the Gila River thru Phoenix, and provides a steady & unethical cash flow for the field of "Internal Medicine".

2000  Mandala Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara, workshop & ritual performance, Tempe AZ - drumming / percussion and sound tech assistance for a weekend workshop led by Prema Dasara and Anahata Iradah (Dances of Universal Peace)

1992  National Wrecking Co & Bunk bands, Philadelphia PA - electric cello, electric bass, stage lighting, driving, cassette label & package design

1988-93  Movement for a New Society, Philadelphia Community School & Re-evaluation Co-counseling, Phila PA - participated in workshops & work with Quaker peace activists and others, community organizing & non-violent social-change activism, arts & creativity workshops.  also worked in Computer Mailworks for Non-Profits and the Mariposa Food Co-op.

1988-89  Student Services, University of Pennsylvania, Phila PA - shuttle van driver

1988-89  Painted Bride Performing Arts Center & Philadelphia Folk Festival, Phila PA - volunteer usher

1980-85  Mobile Computer Lab & Sprouts Van - renovation of 1964 IHC stepvan into a rolling toolbox, library, office...  a thorough education in automotive mechanics, oxy-acetylene welding, bodywork, etc  (still in use as a trailer, see summer 2010)

1982  Tetrahedron bass speaker - design & prototype for compact non-ported bass speaker cabinet, a truncated tetrahedron made of 3/4-inch plywood, for a front-loading 15-inch woofer

1980  Der Weinerschnitzel, Santa Fe NM - fast food cook for 4 weeks

1979  Yellow Cab Company, Pittsburgh PA - taxicab driver for 6 weeks

1978-79  Young Lust rock / blues band, Pittsburgh PA - electric bass, sound & lighting, contract writing, and half the driving.  also built a portable 6-channel light board and a 16-channel analog-audio snake.

1974-76  Cooper Union Pro Musica, NYC - baroque violincello with a recorder ensemble in Cooper Union's music club

1974  "The Last Episode of Star Trek" short film - technical production, lighting, camera, sound, editing, special effects & titles for this short film (12 minutes, color super-8).  Also, i was Dr McCoy "he's dead, Jim".  After three friends wrote the script and built sets, i did all the technical film stuff, editing in the Electronic Music Lab at the University of Pgh.

1971-74  Soloworks, Computer Science Dept, University of Pittsburgh, Pgh PA - teen-age guinea-pig, programmer & tutor in a computer literacy project for advanced high-school students, sponsored by Pgh Public Schools & NSF.  We wrote software in Basic for board games, physics simulations, graphing / plotting math functions, etc.

1971-72  Project Mazda, Education & Communications Dept, University of Pittsburgh, Pgh PA - teen-age guinea-pig, programmer, tutor, and consultant for a graduate study experimental open-classroom computer / media literacy laboratory.  Similar to Soloworks, but more diverse in society and content.  We were kids of all ages and backgrounds, and worked with film and other media-arts as well as computer technologies.

1966-73  Pittsburgh All-City Orchestras, Allderdice High School Orchestra, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, Pgh PA - classical violincello

1974-76  The Cooper Union, Manhattan NYC - Electrical Engineering & Physics undergraduate, full academic scholarship, dropped out after 2 years.  Also worked as an office assistant & audio / visual technician for the Liberal Arts & Sciences Dept, and played cello in the music club.

1973-74  Electronic Music Lab, Music Dept, University of Pittsburgh, Pgh PA - electronic music composition, studio production & live performance.  Audio processing, mixing, tape recording, editing techniques.  Buchla 100, ARP 2600, other synthesizers.  Also edited "The Last Episode of Star Trek" film here.

1972-74  College Board test scores, all top 10% to 1% - SAT Verbal 650 Math 760, English Comp 710, Chemistry 700, Physics 750, Math-1 790, Math-2 800

1969-74  Taylor Allderdice High School, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Pgh PA - advanced academic curriculum grades 7-12, graduated 1 year early.  Also cellist in top school orchestra, and ran cross-country against my asthma.

1973  William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia PA - summer school classes for English credit required for early HS graduatation

1968  Computer Science Dept, University of Pittsburgh, Pgh PA - Computer Science 101, just for fun  (a friend working in the university enrolled me at 11 years old, too shy to attend class with the big kids but i did the weekly programming assignments and got an A on the final exam)

1964-69  Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh PA - extra-curricular astronomy / science / math classes, great telephone technology exhibits, multi-story Tesla coil!

1962-69  Wightman Elementary School, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Pgh PA - grades K-6, math wiz, science club, etc.  Nice school library!

2004-present  Internet / Web - Unix, Linux, Debian, Ubuntu, freeBSD, Apache, openSSL, HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, SVG, iCal, etc  (vansprouts media)

1989-present  Apple Macintosh & IOS - Mac OS 3.2 thru 9.2, OS X 10.2 thru current, HyperCard HyperTalk xcmds, ResEdit, Think-C, Pascal, Claris, Xpress, Adobe, page layout, graphics, photo, music, audio, video, programming languages, disk utilities, etc  (vansprouts media)

1984-95  Academic Internet - Unix shells, mail, usenet news, www/html, ftp, gopher, uucp, etc  (GEL, others)

1988-92  IBM PC - MS-DOS, MS-Word, Multiplan, early Windows, etc  (Computer Mailworks, Upattinas School, others)

1985-91  NEC PC-8201 laptop - Basic, Z80/8085 machine code, assembler (by vansprouts), memory & i/o hardware design & modifications, wysiwyg graphics editor & typesetting software, digital polyphonic harmonic music synthesizer & editor  (vansprouts)

1984-85  Sun Microsystems 2/120 graphics workstation - BSD Unix, csh, C, Pascal, 68k assembler, vi, awk, etc, uucp, system admin  (GEL)

1980-84  DEC PDP-11 minicomputer - Macro-11/Assembler, vsys (by vansprouts), TECO, PIP  (Vasulkas)
1980-84  AMD 2900 bit-slice pipeline-microprocessor - microcode, microcode assemblers  (Vasulkas)

1978-83  Commodore KIM-1 microprocessor development system & VIC-20 personal computer - 6502 machine code, Basic, memory & i/o hardware design  (vansprouts media, UNI Learning Research)

1978-79  Qantel 210,960,1400 business systems - Basic, machine code  (Dataform Systems, Atlantic Medical Services)

1978  IBM System-3/10 punchcard batch - COBOL  (School of Computer Technology)
1978  Honeywell 200/120 punchcard batch - COBOL, Fortran  (School of Computer Technology)

1974-75  DEC PDP-11 punchcard batch - Fortran  (Cooper Union)

1973-74  DEC PDP-11 realtime Laboratory Peripheral System - Macro-11/Assembler, Fortran, Basic, Edit, PIP  (U of Pgh Physics)
1971-74  DEC PDP-10 timesharing, tty & graphics terminals & pen-plotters - Macro-10/Assembler, DDT, TECO, PIL, Fortran, Basic  (U of Pgh CC)
1968-74  DEC PDP-4/7/9 realtime graphics - machine code, assembler, i/o hardware design  (U of Pgh CC)

1971-72  Com-Share XDS dialup tty timesharing - Basic, Fortran, QED  (Soloworks)
1969-71  IBM 360/50 tty timesharing - PIL, Catalyst, Fortran  (U of Pgh CC)

1968-69  IBM 7090 punchcard batch - MAD, Fortran  (U of Pgh CC)