Nostalgia
While sitting, staring at the acknowledgments page of the thesis, my mind drifted off to various things over the past decade. Between 2002 and 2004, during a pretty dark period of my personal life, I was on a small team of three in making a role-playing game. The vision was innovative, and the writing poetic and haunting enough to attract a following: in its heyday there was an active community of over a thousand, and a server that players queue to play. As the lead design, I associate it...
Read MoreExpression matters
Some of my purist friends contend that data is important but not so much how they are represented. I enjoy huge troves of data, but is also a strong believer that representation matters. We humans, for better or worse, are generally good at some things rather than others; and by expressing information in modules for which we have the best sensitivity we give ourselves a better fighting chance. An example came up with my illustration work for Wikipedia. The request was the usual one, to...
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Jon is a chemist who also makes illustrations, plays the flute, swims, and has one too many curiosities. He was born and raised in Hong Kong before studying in Italy and Canada. Jon now teaches at the United World College in Hong Kong. 