Resume

Michael Plasmeier's Extracurricular Resume What I Do

A PDF version of this work is available here: Image:Michael Plasmeier Extracurricular Resume.pdf

Websites

GridView

GridView [1] is an application for Facebook which lets users put all of their friends on their profile and makes a photo mosaic of themselves with their friend’s photos. GridView has over 900,000 users, of which >500,000 use it every month.

I work with a business partner who is a professional in the industry. Using his experience, we are building up GridView by adding new features and seeking optimal monetization strategies. So far, I have already learned many things about running a real world business, including managing contractors, and focusing on strategies to increase revenue.

So far with GridView I have worked with an outsourcing firm to build multi-thousand dollar flash application which I designed.

SeniorQuoter

SeniorQuoter [2] is an installable PHP application which lets high school yearbooks streamline their senior quote collection process. SeniorQuoter is freely licensed under the GNU GPL. SeniorQuoter features a clean and simple, highly-usable interface for both students and yearbook departments.

In the second quarter of the 2007-08 school year, I led a group study at my school to instruct 4 students in building dynamic websites with PHP and MySQL. After we learned the skills, we put them to use developing the admin interface for version 2 of SeniorQuoter. I strengthened my leadership skills as a project manager.

Tecker 911

Tecker 911 [3] is a video podcast which shows ordinary people how technology can help their ordinary lives. Tecker 911 is also shown on Haverford’s local cable public access channel, bringing the show to tens of thousands of people.

Tecker 911 is great community service, since we bring technology education to the both the residents of Havertown (on their televisions), and the world (on their computers and iPods).

Tecker 911 is also great leadership experience for me. The show is filmed over the weekend in my living room. I coordinate all of the shoots, equipment, writing, and editing. Tecker 911 has three other regular contributors and has released 60 episodes.

Videre

Videre is a project I lead and developed at the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence in Information, Society & Technology. Videre is a proof of concept of how online gradebooks can be improved. It extends existing online data and presents it in graphical form, finds trends, and keeps updates clear with email and text message alerts as well as newsfeeds.

Tecker

Tecker [4] is a social question and answer service I wrote in PHP during 10th Grade. Although Tecker never caught on with the public, it was very helpful for me in developing my coding skills and researching online communities.

ThePlaz.com

ThePlaz.com [5] is my main website. It a centralized repository of what I am up to. It also serves as a place to store my smaller projects, such as pure CSS dropdowns for MediaWiki and applications for the TI-83+ calculator. I also post up educational resources and my thoughts on the world which I hope will benefit others.

ThePlaz.com had more than 1.4 million page views in 2008 and has about 5,000 pages of content. I also have over 15,000 of my photos on flickr. Most of my photos and work on ThePlaz.com is licensed under a Creative Commons license, allowing reuse for non commercial purposes.

Dictionary Robot

Dictionary Robot [6] is a prototype which lets students look up multiple words at a time in an online dictionary. This will revolutionize the way students make vocabulary lists.

The Physical World

I am the CTO of the publications (Yearbook and Newspaper) office at my high school. This job requires that I analyze the requirements of the staff to maintain their computers and network.
I am a regular host and contributor to H-Vision, my school’s morning news program. As a senior member I have a deep relationship with the faculty as I give input in building this growing and developing program.
I have many years of theater experience, steaming mostly from my involvement with the Haverford Middle School Theater Co. and People’s Light and Theater Company, a professional theater, in Malvern, PA. In middle school I stage managed the 6th grade production of Wonderland! featuring 100 participants. In 2004, I acted at the National Constitution Center in one of the only 2 youth shows ever performed there. Backstage, I volunteered in the lighting department at People’s Light which requires that I effectively communicate with the people who put their lives on the line hanging from a narrow pipe 16 feet off of the ground.
I am also involved with policies regarding technology at my school. I have a deep relationship with the director of technology and the principal of my school. We meet almost every month to discuss upcoming programs and policies. (Sample: Day in the Life)

Reading/Watching/Listening List

MSNBC Homepage – My favorite general interest news site.
Time – I try to read it cover to cover every week.
Change.gov – Recent announcements from the Barack Obama Transition Team. I find it very interesting how Obama is using the internet to solicit ideas and to allow greater transparency than ever into how our government works.
NBC Nightly News – I try to watch it as often as possible for a concise run-down of what happened with the world that day.
The Daily Show – Most segments are spot on at discovering double speak and contradictions with our politicians in Washington.
ArsTechnica – The top technology news site. Accurate, technical, and un-biased.
Security Now – An in-depth technical podcast about security news and technologies like SSL, DNS, and AES.
Digg – The Digg community votes on the top technology stories from news sites and blogs.
WinSuperSite and The Windows Weekly podcast– a site reviewing the new announcements from Microsoft fairly and without FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
CIO Magazine – Although I do not understand much in it, it gives a good preview of what corporations look for in technology and how they operate.
INC Magazine and Fast Company – Covers the innovative small businesses.
Finally, I comment on the most interesting items I find at http://delicious.com/theplaz