July 31, 2004
About Kristen, mediatinker

Q & A
Who are you?
I’m a kindergartner who was excited to learn that she’d be a grown up in the new millennium.

Why do you live in Japan?
It was a six-month job assignment back in 1998. Japan suits me so well that I haven’t left yet and don’t intend to.

Why do you have a weblog?
I use my weblog to entertain (and sometimes enlighten) friends and strangers. It also anchors me to my computer. I started out with a regular website (1994) and a mailing list (1998). When weblog software reached my radar in 2000, I converted.

You come across as such a know-it-all sometimes…
I used to be a know-it-all but now Google knows more than I do. Fortunately, I’m only one search away from knowing it all again. Don’t ask me for facts when I’m not at my computer.

What do you do?
I make videos. I write stuff. I do web things from time to time. I’m for hire, so please take a look at my resume and portfolio, then contact me if you’re interested.

What else do you do?
When I drag myself away from the virtual world, I am usually swimming, cooking, taking long walks, scratching in notebooks, or reading. I also run around doing stupid things with my very smart friends.

What do you like?
Vanilla. Strong coffee. Black. Good words. Water. The sound of wind through pines. The night sky. And Tod—I like him very much.

Can you recommend what to see in Tokyo?
Yes, I can. Check out the Hello Tokyo page. Buy a copy of my DVD. Please.

Can I send you an e-mail?
Of course, but no guarantee of a reply. kristen@mediatinker.com

About Mediatinker
It’s been more than ten years since I helped to found Telerama, one of the first public ISPs in the US. I answered phones, offered tech support, wrote documentation, taught online classes (using IRC and Screen!) and was general dogsbody to the tech boys. Good times with lots to learn—in those days, the Net was new to almost everyone. But being excluded from the hard-core tech back then, I’ve never considered myself much of a geek.

In the mid-nineties, I was working for a university, teaching faculty and administrators how to use e-mail, ftp and telnet with lots of time devoted to writing how-to manuals and tip sheets. Eventually, I became university webmaster and launched into developing online instructional materials, video, audio and interactive tutorials.

A three month trip to Japan in 1996 ushered in a new era of international living. In 1998 we moved to Singapore for six months, followed by a move to Tokyo and a short term assignment as Year 2000 Test Center Manager for Perot Systems Japan/UBS Warburg. Going on seven years later, we’re still here.

These days, I sit at my desk in Tokyo in front of a Mac G5, a PowerBook G4, and several Unix boxes. My work is more diverse, with several corporate videos under my belt, a year of leading an IT non-profit (DigitalEve Japan), assorted classes and workshops taught, and lots and lots of writing. In addition to the paid work, I’ve drafted a book which will probably never see the light of day and written a play that I hope to produce someday.

I chose the name ‘media tinker’ because I can’t decide what I am—writer, filmmaker, photographer, web guru, general know-it-all, or empress of everything. I work with media of all types, and maybe not always successfully, so media tinker seemed most fitting. And a bit of self-deprecation is always good to keep the ego in check. (If you know me, you are laughing right now.)

Posted by kuri at July 31, 2004 03:50 PM

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