about me

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In my current role as Web Strategist at NASA, I am developing a holistic strategic roadmap for the role of the web at Ames.  This strategy integrates elements of Gov 2.0, Open Gov, social media, cloud computing, enterprise 2.0 and much more.   Sort of a “strategic mashup”, if you will.

If you want to know more about me, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, browse through my (mostly family) photos on Flickr, use Foursquare to try and find me , be amused with the extremely random stuff I stick on Tumblr, and read a summary of my past career experiences at LinkedIn.

There.  That should keep you occupied for a while.

 

Here’s a bunch of stuff about me:

  • I’m married to Keturah and we have two sons – Mason and Jude
  • We live in Half Moon Bay, CaliforniaIn the process of relocating to Boston. As of 2012, we live in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
  • I grew up in Glastonbury, Connecticut
  • I graduated from the University of Vermont in 1993
  • I lived in the Bay Area since 1999 after living in Tempe, Arizona from ’94-’99.
  • I once flew from San Francisco to Boston and took a taxi directly from the airport to Fenway Park in order to camp out all night and buy Red Sox-Yankees tickets in the morning
  • French fries – can’t imagine a world without them
  • Same with cheesecake, sushi, and burritos.
  • If my house was on fire, I would first make sure my family was safe then see if it was possible to run back in and save my iPod iPhone
  • I used to take vacations that basically involved traveling to Phish concerts. That time they played a set starting at midnight and ending at sunrise on January 1, 2000 – I was there.
  • I love all sports, but there’s really only two teams that can make me scream with joy: Boston Red Sox and UConn Huskies’ mens basketball.
  • Before discovering the web, I used to teach tennis for a living
  • When I win the lottery, I’m going to travel the world and shoot photographs.
  • Used to think that I wanted to retire and see the world via boat.  But the reality of pirates roaming the seas pretty much freaks me out and ruins it.  Now my goal is to retire and live on a Mediterranean yacht.
  • I think blogging can make the world a better place.
  • So can solar power.

And here’s a picture of me with my family. That’s me on the left, my wife Keturah is the pretty one on the right side of the picture.  Mason is the older boy and Jude is the little one.

Family picture

OK…so if you want some corporate style bio of me, here’s one that I wrote very recently.

J.J. Toothman is a passionate web technologist with over 10 years of experience crafting online strategies within a number of industries and pairing them with all-star web solutions and professional implementations.

Previously, J.J. worked with Stanford University on web strategies to engage alumni and internal web collaboration tools.  From 2001 to 2007, he held the position of Web Services Manager at NASA Ames Research Center. While at NASA, he implemented numerous open source software solutions and web applications in addition to evangelizing and integrating web standards within software development teams. In 2007, he led the strategic definition, content development process implementation, and website development of NASA Ames’ first official public blog.

In 2005, J.J. completed a Master of Arts degree in Multimedia by developing Luminance, an interactive art installation that explores non-tethered physical human interaction with digital content. J.J. has previous experience with e-commerce dot-coms and global interactive adverting agencies where he produced web projects for diverse brands such as Proctor & Gamble, Palm Computing, and Barclays Global Investors. When not online, he can be found spending time with his family, experiencing the great outdoors of Northern California, and exploring his love for black-and-white photography.

Here are some things I’ve done in my career in the last 10 years or so.  Connect with me on LinkedIn if you’re interested in a more extensive history with additional details

  • 2010: Returned to NASA Ames Research Center as a Web technology strategist.  Blogging about that at http://nasawebdude.com
  • 2009: Worked in San Francisco with the startup Ticketfly.  It was a startup so everyone does a little bit of everything, but a couple things I’m focusing on are adding social web features to Ticketfly’s ticketing and events management platform and building a killer WordPress MU platform for hosting music venue websites.
  • 2007-2009: Stanford University. Focusing on deploying collaborative web tools within the enterprise; participating with the university’s strategy on Facebook and other social networks; and integrating Twitter with Reunion Homecoming Weekend
  • 2001 – 2007:  NASA Ames Research Center.  Did a ton of stuff but near the end of my time there my interest was in helping NASA to embrace blogging as a tool for improving internal communications as well as being a strategy to engage with the public and participate online.