Curriculum vitae of Tom Jennings
Born: Boston Massachusetts, 1955.
Lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
- HONORS AND AWARDS
- EFF Pioneer of the Electronic Frontier award
recipient, by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, 1992.
(URL)
- Inductee, Shareware Industry Conference
Hall of Fame, for Fido/FidoNet, 1997. (URL)
- Andrew Fluegelman Award recipient, first award issued,
for significant contribution to the software community (and to date,
the only non-commercial recipient), by Software Publishers Association,
for Fido/FidoNet, 1987 ((URL) but SPA
has "repurposed" itself and old information no longer available).
- Dvorak/Zoom Telecommunications Award, recipient,
1992. (Granting organization has disappeared. (URL))
- SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- The Reanimation Library show, GRIDSPACE, Brooklyn NY, March
2010. (URL)
- Future Imaginary, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis
School of Art and Design, group show, March 2009. (URL)
- Object Lessons, Gigantic Art Space, New York, March/May 2006. (URL)
- Building the Unthinkable, apex art, New York, September/October 2004. (URL),
listed as "World Power Systems" not Tom Jennings.
- Story Teller, Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque NM, August 2003. (URL),
(URL)
- Installation of Encapsulated Landscapes, Model 47 Trinity Diorama
plus historic materials, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe NM,
May 2003.
- Model 71 Measuring Device, 49th Venice Biennale, Temporary
Autonomous Pavillion (Slovenian Pavillion), Venice Italy, 2001. (URL)
- Model 47, Trinity Diorama, other objects, The Cuban Missile Crisis:
When the Cold War Got Hot, Florida International Museum, St. Petersberg
FL, 2000-2001.
- Story Teller, OUTWEST, Plan B Revolving Arts, Santa Fe, NM,
1999.
- Encapsulated Landscapes, Arizona Biennial, Tucson AZ, 1999.
- Model 23 Trinitite Box, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson AZ,
1999.
- Model 71 Measuring Device, IGNITION, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Tucson AZ, 1998.
- SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS
- Story Teller, inaugural show at Machine Project, Los Angeles,
2003.
- Obsolete Forgeries, Access Tucson lobby, Tucson AZ,
2000. Accompanied three-part cable TV show; see Performances.
- WRITTEN BY THE ARTIST
- wabi tek sabi, an essay on material philosophy, 2011.
- Rocks and
Code, thesis for my 2009 MFA from University of California, Irvine,
a narrative involving Cold War technology, landscape, random numbers,
the history of computing, and the history of math tables, wrapped
around the result of a road trip.
- History of Character
Codes, a history of abstract representation of alphabetic
information within machinery, 1999.
- Electron Tube
Database, exhaustive cross-referenced technical reference data on
2500 electron tubes, 1999.
- The Charactron
Display, a brief history of an artistic mis-use of an
information-processing device from the late 1950's,
1998.
- Nixie Indicators
and Decimal Counting Tubes, a brief history of an early information
display device and related technologies, 1998.
- HOMOCORE, seminal
queer/punk 'zine, self-published semi-periodical, 2000+ circulation,
San Francisco CA, 1988-1991.
- Editor in chief, FidoNews, the
weekly newsletter of the FidoNet network, 100,000 circulation,
1984-1985, 1991-1993.
- TEACHING, LECTURES, PERFORMANCES
- With Professor Simon Penny, co-authored and co-taught various technical art practice
curriculum, UCI's ACE program, 2006 - 2010 school years, teaching technical philosophy,
basic electronics, project planning, software and project design.
- With Professor Simon Penny, authored and taught Hardware
Intelligence/electronics curriculum, UCI's ACE program, 2005 school
year.
- Early Computing, public lecture at Machine Project Gallery,
2004.
- Basic Electronics for Artists, intensive crash course in practical
electronics, presented through Los Angeles Art and Technology Hackers
Club, at c-level, 5 June – 6 July 2003.
- Electronics for Artists, guest lecturer, Electronic Technologies
for Art 147B course, University of California San Diego, 2003.
- History of Computing, guest lecturer, VA40/ICAM40 Introduction
to Computing in the Arts course, University of California San Diego,
2003.
- FidoNet”, guest lecturer, Media Theory course, California
Institute for the Arts (CalArts), 2002.
- Computer Bulletin Board culture, guest lecturer, Media Theory
course, California Institute for the Arts (CalArts), 2002.
- Obsolete Forgeries, three-part cable TV series, Tucson AZ; 2000.
- OTHER PROJECTS
- Dead Media Project, moderator, database and brief submissions on
dead media, http://www.deadmedia.org, 1999-present.
- First draft of a report on EDVAC, first copy of this famous paper
on the internet, http://wps.com/texts/EDVAC, 2001.
- Propane (LPG) powered antique car, art and fuel/emissions research
project, 1989-present, see http://wps.com/LPG
- The S.C.U.M. Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, first transcription
and web publication, 1995.
- 666 Illinois, experimental performance-oriented
organization/household, San Francisco, 1990-1993.
- 164 Shipley, experimental performance-oriented
organization/household, San Francisco, 1986-1990.
- ARTICLES AND REVIEWS
- Santa Fe Reporter newspaper, detailed review of Story Teller
in OUTWEST show, Santa Fe NM, 1999.
- Tucson Weekly newspaper, show review, Tucson AZ, 1998.
- The Catalyst, Arizona Daily Wildcat newspaper, show review, Tucson
AZ, 1998.
- The Internet Civil Revolution in the United States, by Aki Okabe
(Japan), 1996.
- Happy Mutant Handbook, by Mark Frauenfelder, Carla Sinclair,
Gareth Branwyn, Will Kreth (Riverhead Books), interview, 1995.
- WIRED magazine issue 4.04, interview, 1995.
- Communications without fetters (FidoNet), Network World magazine,
interview, 29 Aug 1994.
- Fringeware Review 1/19, magazine, interview, Austin TX, 1994.
- Threat By Example, by Martin Sprouse, essay, San Francisco CA ,
1990.
- BOARDWATCH magazine, frequent interviews and mentions due to
FidoNet, 1989-1996.
- GROUP MEMBERSHIPS
- Art and Technology Hackers Club, member and contributor, Los
Angeles CA, 2003.
- Asilomar Microcomputer Conference invitee/participant, 2002 -
present.
- FCC Amateur Extra Class radio license holder, KF6QFI,
1998-present.
- Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR),
participant, San Francisco, 1992-1993.
- Shred of Dignity Skaters' Union, political and social engineering,
organizing and instant street macro-theater, San Francisco CA,
1986-1991.
- Hackers Conference, one of the original invitees, various California
locations,1984-present.
- RESUMÉ
- Program technician, Arts Computation Engineering program, University
of California, Irvine, 2003-present.
- Computer programmer, domain-name registration system for African
continent, University of Oregon, 2002-2003.
- Computer programmer, public software distribution system, Public
Software Foundation, pubsoft.org, 2002-2003.
- Senior Network Operations Manager, Keen.com Inc., San Francisco
CA, 2000-2001.
- Vice President of Engineering, Best Internet Communications, Inc.,
Mountain View CA, 1996.
- Proprietor, then President, radical grass-roots internet service
provider, The Little Garden, San Francisco CA, 1992-1996.
- Contractor, built WIRED magazine's first internet presence, San
Francisco CA, 1992.
- Contractor, wired radio station studios, KOIT-AM/FM, San Francisco
CA, 1992.
- Contractor, built radio broadcast studios, KKIQ-FM, Walnut Creek
CA, 1991.
- Staff computer programmer, Cygnus Support, Palo Alto CA, 1991.
- Assistant radio engineer, KKSF-FM, San Francisco CA, 1991.
- Contract computer programmer, wrote large viral test machine
simulator, Communitree Group, San
- Francisco CA, 1990.
- Proprietor/computer programmer, world's largest amateur computer
network, 32,000 worldwide systems, Fido Software, San Francisco CA,
1985-1992.
- Computer programmer, Apple Computer, Cupertino CA, 1985.
- Staff computer programmer, wrote portable BIOS that led to Phoenix
BIOS, Phoenix Technologies nee Phoenix Software, Norwood MA, 1982.
- Electronic engineer, Avco Everett Research Lab, brief, awful stint
for defense contractor, Everett MA, 1982.
- Staff computer programmer, Microft Inc, Falmouth MA, 1981.
- Engineering department (!), Computer Service Systems Network,
Boston MA, 1979.
- Computer programmer, Solid State Technology, Woburn MA, 1979.
- Electronic technician, Bose Corp., Framingham MA, 1977.
- Electronic technician, field engineer, computer programmer, Ocean
Research Equipment, Falmouth MA, 1973-1977.
- EDUCATION
- Master of Fine Arts, concentration in Arts Computation Engineering
graduate program, University of California, Irvine, 2009.
- Lawrence High School, Falmouth Mass., 1973.