Certain Factoids

About Sheila 007
Experience
- Running my own shop for more than 10 years, creating, advising, and solving problems for companies large and niche.
- Tech support to Noam Chomsky (his home office)
- Webmaster for numerous individual laboratories at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
- Tech support & tech liaison for faculty at Course 1. I ‘translated’ tech speak from IT to scientists and engineers.
- Editor for the first definitive book on getting favorable attention from search engines (SEO)
What else
I tend to experiment on my own websites with the latest trends in websitery so that when things break, I know how to fix them. As a result, my own websites often suffer the fates of the cobbler’s children (hint: they go barefoot!).
I have a creative background (see below) but what draws my interest with all things internet is how things break. Any time I encounter a snafu, I know that it’s the fault of a person (many times it’s me). It’s not the technology per se. Because technology doesn’t use itself to create things – though you might persuade me with Ted Talks about how spoons come into existence…if you really try.
The problem with that NASA Mars Orbiter was a really interesting human problem. A mix of metric and USA Imperial measurement caused it to either explode or just disappear forever (no one knows!). I use it as a reminder of testing my assumptions especially around talking about websites, email, hosting, errors, robots.
I work on teams with other developers and designers. And three trusty developers regularly collaborate with me to solve things together faster on client websites.
I work solo.
And I work alongside Skybridge Studios in Newburyport, MA.
I’m an American who lived most of my adult life in Boston, but have since moved to the climes of Québec, Canada where I enjoy expanding my limited knowledge of French talking about food, weather, and whether or not my dog is castrated.
I pursued degrees in writing at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Bennington MFA Writers Series, and at Harvard.
I’ve published poems at Harvard Dudley Review, Six Sentences, and Celebrity Death Haiku, and am working on a novel.
When not solving technical problems, for fun and pay, I also collect art, read all kinds of fiction, with a special love for Noir from Ireland.
I also love films by Pedro Almodovar, and all of the James Bond films.
Oh, Oh Seven.
My name is laughably common. There are so many people with my same name.
It could be worse; I am friends with someone in Singapore who only has one name. Simon. That’s it. When he came to work in the US he was required had to have two names – so he just repeated it. Simon Simon.
I could go that route. I prefer a recognizable number to accompany me, hence Sheila 007. I mean how many of us are there?
Yeah, don’t tell me.