Michael L. Murtaugh
De Genestetstraat 11-1
1054 AW Amsterdam
+31 20 489 3940
mm @ automatist.org
www.automatist.org

profile

education

1996

M.Sc. Media Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / MIT Media Lab
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

1994

B.Sc. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

employment

2003–present

Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Mentor / Technical Instructor, MA Media Design Department
http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdma/

2001–present

Automatist.org, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Founder. See projects section.

1999–2001

Jam New Media (for Public Dialogue), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Co-founder, partnership with Jeanine de Bruin; Designed and implemented projects with focus on uses of new media for science communication. See projects section.

1997–1999

newMetropolis Science & Technology Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Exhibition & Interactive design. Worked under design director James Bradburne.

1997

Medialab, Schellingkhout, The Netherlands
Interaction design / Programming Telecommunications Game “Get Connected”

1994–1996

MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Research Assistant in the Interactive Cinema group under Glorianna Davenport.

1992

Fiducia, Karlsruhe, Germany
CASE (Computer aided software engineering) tool programming

1990

International Business Machines, White Plains, New York, USA
Summer Internship

teaching and speaking engagements

2004

Seminar “Making Data Visible”
Invited Speaker; London Knowledge Lab, University of London, UK

2000–2003

Merz Akademie, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Stuttgart
Developed and led 3 separate 5-day workshops on topics related to design of interactive media. (July 2000, June 2002, and May 2003)

2003

International Film Festival Rotterdam / Submarine, Bruno Felix
Invited Speaker / mentor Masterclass for Interactive Documentary Makers

2001

Mediamatic Salon @ Baby, Amsterdam
Invited speaker

2001

Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Participation as mentor in video for science communication class

2000

Mediamatic, Amsterdam, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer
Participation in 2 workshops as speaker / mentor for "Gedrag Ontwerpen" program
http://www.mediamatic.nl/workshops/archief/2000_01/verhalenspelen_docu.html
http://www.mediamatic.nl/workshops/archief/2000_01/topologie2_sprekers.html

1999–2000

Jam New Media
Co-development and deployment of workshops for online video production

2000

International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA)
Invited speaker and panel participant "Docs Online" program

2000

Seminar “Information in bits and genes”
Invited Speaker; Technology & Agrarian Development Group, Wageningen UR

1999

Preferred Placement: The Hit Economy, Hyperlink Diplomacy and Web
Invited Speaker; organized by Richard Rogers
http://www.govcom.org/symposium.html

1997

CILECT: Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision
Invited Speaker; (International Association of Cinema and Television Schools)
Congress 1997: Training for the Next Century, Ebeltoft Denmark

1995

International Documentary Film Festival Rotterdam
Invited Speaker; "Exploding Cinema" Program, February 1995

1995

Banff Center for the Arts, Alberta, Canada
Participation as presenter with Glorianna Davenport in Interactive Storytelling workshop.

1995

ACM Multimedia Conference, San Francisco, USA
Presented paper with Glorianna Davenport (see publications)

publications

1997

Automatist storyteller systems and the shifting sands of story
with Glorianna Davenport
IBM Systems Journal, Volume 36, Number 3, 1997
http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/363/davenport.html

1996

The Automatist Storytelling System
Putting the Editor's Knowledge in Software
Masters Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996
http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~murtaugh/thesis/

1995

ConText: Towards the evolving documentary
with Glorianna Davenport
Proceedings of the third ACM international conference on Multimedia
San Francisco, California, 1995
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/217279.215302

citations

2006

Else/Where, Janet Abrams and Peter Hall Editors, University of Minnesota Design Institute
pp. 290-299, Article “Contours & Colonies” by Andrea Codrington, review of project “Unravelling Histories”

2004

Internet Art, by Rachel Greene, Thames & Hudson
p. 139, references to project “Unravelling Histories”

2003

Information Design Source Book, Graphic-Sha Publishing, Japan
pp 228-231 description and images of “Blood” project as an example of “Unfolding Navigations”

2000

Items Magazine # 6, Dec 2000, Published by BIS B.V., Amsterdam
p. 63 review of Docs online presentation / “Elastic Boston” project in “www” column by Menno Grootveld

projects

2006

Softwarestudies.org
CMS for online peer review of articles for a forthcoming publication (and website).

2005–2006

Videodagboek: Borstkanker / Videodagboek: Prostaatkanker
(Videodiary: Breast Cancer / Videodiary: Prostate Cancer)
with Jeanine de Bruin for the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), Amsterdam, NL
Design and production of streaming video-based websites to support the decision making process of those diagnosed with cancer. Video clips give a firsthand account of doctor’s visits, treatment, and at-home interviews. Design included specialised CMS to manage subtitles and auxiliary textual information tracks synchronized with the streaming video.
http://www.kwfkankerbestrijding.nl/kbb/
http://www.kwfkankerbestrijding.nl/pk/

2005

Vathorstgroeit.nl
A "video wiki" for a developing suburb of the Dutch city of Amersfoort. The site allows residents to upload video clips and supports grouping and annotating the clips to create a community-based "evolving documentary". NB: the editing capabilities are only available when registered and logged in.
http://www.vathorstgroeit.nl

2005

Open History Timeline: Web Design Timeline
with Femke Snelting
Design and programming of a custom content management system to support communal history writing. Through an open structure of questions and answers placed on a timeline, participants give their definition of the first ten years of web design.
http://www.designtimeline.org

2005

Robott.org
with Joost Bottema
Design and programming custom content management system / navigation system for an online magazine style presentation of student projects in visual communication.
http://www.robott.org

2004

Map of Creativity
with Remon Tijssen, James Bradburne for the Next Generation Foundation, UK
Design and programming of an interactive visualisation and navigation tool for an extensible database of innovative education projects throughout the world.
http://www.ngf.org.uk/map

2003

European Seminar on Multilevel Governance: Video Presentation
with Jeanine de Bruinfor the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs (BZK), The Hague, NL
Design and programming of an interactive video summary of report about citizen participation for the EU.

2002

Unravelling Histories
Collaboration with De Geuzen, NL
Design and programming online database and public browser for an extensible collection of over 200 cross-indexed photographs and texts.
http://www.unravelling-histories.org

2002

Blood: Perspectives on Art, Power, Politics and Pathology
with Joost Bottema for the Frankfurt Museum of Applied Art (mak.frankfurt), Germany
Design and programming of an online database and browsing system for an exhibition collection of over 300 items and associated texts. Developed "word-linking" an automatic word-based cross-reference system.
http://automatist.org/blood

2001

Txtbk.com
Collaboration with Joost Bottema
Design and programming of an experimental online hypertext reading system.
http://robott.org/book2

2001

Jol-Fix
with Jeanine de Bruin (Jam New Media) for Jol-Fix B.V., NL
Design and production of a website with an online digital catalog using short video fragments to situate product use.
http://www.jol-fix.nl

2001

Echte Welvaart
with Jeanine de Bruin (Jam New Media) and Joost Bottema for Stichting Echte Welvaart, Utrecht, NL
Design and programming of a website and content-management system, including the "atlas", a tool for browsing and visualizing patterns among over 400 project descriptions dynamically organized by theme, location, or target audience.
http://www.echtewelvaart.nl/atlas_frames.cgi?_pageid=63

2001

Comment Browser
Design and programming of an experimental interface to support "non-linear" reading of discussion threads.
http://automatist.org/commentbrowser/

2001

Bio50
with Jeanine de Bruin (Jam New Media) for the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, NL
Design and production of a video-based CD-ROM commemorating 50 years of the biology department at the VU.

2000

Xenotransplantie: kan dat?
with Jeanine de Bruin (Jam New Media) for Stichting Consument en Biotechnologie (Foundation for Consumers and Biotechnology), NL
Design and production of an interactive video-based CD-ROM for use in small scale "community meetings" to stimulate discussion around the use of animals for human organ transplantation.

1999

E21.nl (Energy in the 21st century)
with Jeanine de Bruin (Jam New Media) for the Van Staveren Stichting, Arnhem, NL
Design and programming of content management system for an education website to stimulate students to study energy sciences.
http://e21.nl

1999

Klonen Kloneren
with Jeanine de Bruin (Jam New Media) for the Rathenau Instituut, The Hague, NL
Design and production of a video-based summary and interactive exhibition for a public campaign about cloning technology.

1995

News in the Future, MIT Media Lab

Design and programming of an experimental interface demonstrating the idea of an "elastic canvas", a hierarchical presentation of a project abstracts in a single seamless display.
http://automatist.org/nif/

1995

ConTour: Boston Renewed Vistas, MIT Media Lab
Design and programming of an experimental interface for an “evolving documentary”.
http://automatist.org/contour/

courses & seminars

2001–2003

Communication training
Gestaltcentrum De Walvis, Amsterdam
Under leadership of Tine van Wijk, training in Gestalt communication through weekly group meetings, intensive weekend sessions. Participation in seminars led by Konstantin Pavlov, East European Gestalt Institute.

awards

1994–1996

Eastman Kodak Media Lab Fellowship 1994 - 1996
Awarded by Eastman Kodak and the MIT Media Laboratory

skills

Extensive experience with video production for the web from shooting and editing to compression. Experience with use of synchronous text (for subtitles, auxiliary information) and multi-lingual installations.

Programming Languages: Python, (My)SQL, PERL, JavaScript (AJAX), ActionScript (Flash), XML, HTML, CSS, Java, C/C++
Experience in building custom interfaces for visualizing & uncovering connections within a digital collection. Custom content management systems with tight integration between back-end database/CGI scripts to front-end user interaction (Flash/HTML).
Fluent in English and Dutch.