I've been crafting books since 1986, since 1991 as a free-range chicken. When I meet someone new and they ask what I do, I say I'm a book midwife... I help people have their books. You can view a list of some books I've helped be born here.
Since 2001 I've also helped clients communicate in online venues, including webites, email blasts (they're not always evil...), and even a software product interface.
I like the "think globally, act locally" concept. One of my current local projects is supporting a budding localvore movement. I'm maintaining a website for them; you can read more about the localvore concept and find links here:
Upper Valley Localvores :: blog :: wiki
I follow the evolution of the web pretty closely... yes, the social network changes everything. Among other things, I'm waiting with bated breath for the tools to arrive that let us all participate without needing to become master coders... or accepting the lowest common denominator Myspace look. All hail the current generation of master coders, of course (to learn more, here is a good place to start).
For this site, though, I'm using Google's Pages tool and hosting. Here's another site I've made with these tools for an indexer friend. Google Pages is a chance to work creatively within a limited range of options, instead of getting lost in the infinite variety of web design. You might think of it as writing poetry that scans... If you have a project or organization that could use what we might call a microsite like this one, contact me and I can fill you in a bit more.
short bio
Free-range designer/builder since 1991.
Before that, six years of in-house work at two book publishing companies, including duties for marketing and riding the early wave of do-it-yourself design and composition on Macs. Imagine that, I was editing, designing, typesetting books in 1986 (thank you, Midwest Publications, now The Critical Thinking Co.).
Before that, a fun collection of work/travel/study, including a year studying and working in Mainz, Germany; a year teaching English in Kunming, China; a year teaching German at the Putney School in Vermont; a year running a media lab at a college in North Carolina; two years acquiring a masters degree in public administration in development management at the Monterey Institute of International Studies; and four years acquiring a bachelor's degree in geography and German at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
I now live on a small horse farm in Lyme, New Hampshire, where mucking out a couple of horse stalls every morning keeps it real. Here's one of my house buds, Hobbes (a Portuguese Water Dog, for those who like to know these things):
For a traditional exposition, you can view my resumé.
I'd love to talk about the next thing you're thinking of building, print or new media. Email me at jenna (at) jdbb.net.
