In the mid 70's, I was a young teenager living in Lafayette,and I started reading the PCC and Doctor Dobb's, but never came to a meeting (too far away and I didn't have a car or a driver's license yet). My computer experience was strictly by the hour at the Lawrence Hall of Science until I helped a friend build a SOL-20 from Processor Tech. I believe I've ended up on this list because of a letter or two I contributed to PCC during that time. Then, in 9th grade (!), I moved to New Jersey where I became active in the ACGNJ (Amateur Computer Group of NJ) which was the largest such group in the US at that time. I built a SWTPC 6800 from a kit, learning about computing by programming in machine code (in all 4K of memory) until I expanded to 20K and switched to BASIC. In the intervening years I have lived in Atlanta and Boston, and now back in the Bay Area working for Sun Microsystems. Along the way I earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and found a place for my early interests in computing by focusing software design and usability. In recent years I've concentrated on interactive technologies that users don't perceive as being a computer. I've edited a book on this topic called "Information Appliances and Beyond". I recommend that everyone reading this blurb at least take the time to read Chapter 4 -- which is an interview with Rob Haitani who drove the design of the original PalmPilot. Interesting conversation, and extremely enlightening about how to approach the user interface design process... If you like that book, be sure to check out fellow PCC alum Jef Raskin's excellent book The Humane Interface. All in all, I credit PCC with helping foster my interest in this field from a young age (I think I was in 7th grade when I first read a PCC publication). So I give big thanks to many of the folks who are on this site!! Eric Bergman |
