Since 1987, Alan has been providing independent software development services, both as an instructional designer/ writer and as a programmer of interactive presentations. Alan has a special expertise at synthesizing complex technical information and presenting concepts in a logical and understandable way to diverse audiences. Alan has been the lead programmer and technical director for numerous individual interactive projects ranging from product catalogs and business presentations to arcade-style games. Prior to his career in software development, Alan completed a Master's degree in Education and taught school for 4 years.
As an instructional designer and writer, Alan's duties have included:
Beginning with the release of Java in 1995, Alan designed and programmed a suite of multimedia development tools called Kallisto Tool Suite. Alan defined a tag-based file format for describing an animated, interactive presentation in a compact manner. Alan programmed the components of the Tool Suite to read and write this file format. The resulting animated presentations run in resource constrained Java-based platforms such as thin clients and mobile phones.
Alan worked with a wide variety of vendors to test and promote Kallisto's tools. In 2003-2006, the focus was to deploy content developed in Kallisto's format and to identify other studios interested in using the tools.
In addition to the completing the program development and user documentation , Alan also used the tools to develop content.
The Kallisto Tool Suite
KALLISTO PRESENTER, a Java-based sprite engine for displaying content-based presentations in any Java J2ME platform. Reads a data file generated by Kallisto Composer. 1998-2007.
KALLISTO COMPOSER, a Java-based presentation composition tool for use with Kallisto's runtime engine for Java. Makes extensive use of the Swing interface library. 1999-2007.
Alan is an expert in the use of Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate and Techsmith Camtasia. Alan has experience with a wide range of media editors and data development tools and has in depth knowledge of both MacOS and Windows.
In 1992, Alan and a business partner established Kallisto Productions, Inc., a boutique software firm specializing in interactive productions. In 2007, Alan took full ownership of Kallisto Productions and conducted all aspects of business development and management. His duties have included:
Alan has acted as producer and project manager on numerous projects with budgets in the $50,000 to 150,000 range. Alan's duties have included:
As technical director on large scale interactive software projects, Alan's duties have included:
Alan was on the teams for developing these award winning programs:
LOTUS 1-2-3 TOUR DISK, Lotus Development Corporation, winner of the 1991 Distinguished Award for Demonstration Disks and Best of Show Award for Electronic Documentation, Society of Technical Communications.
MACINTOSH FUNDAMENTALS AND BEYOND, Apple Computer, Inc., winner of the 1989 Gold CINDY Award for Industrial Training.
LEVI'S UNIVERSITY, Levi Strauss & Company, winner of the 1994 Bronze Award, Professional Category, MILIA Awards.
Some of Alan's clients provided this feedback:
"I want to personally thank you for all of your excellent insights, guidance and the incredible value you have added to SNTC. You have been instrumental in expanding awareness and offer knowledge." --Teresa Newell, Manager, Product Management, Smart Net Total Care, Cisco Systems, Inc.
"Your ability to explain and summarize complex detail very efficiently is truly one of the reasons this offer has scaled and is now an official product. You are one of the best at developing content and making it all make sense!" --Damon Bradley, Business Operations Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc.
"I send this message broadly because my response to it is emphatic: this may be the strongest services sales training I have ever seen, and as far as training on NOS, I think it breaks ground. Really nice job on this." --Ann Ruiz, Communications Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc.
"We certainly could not have completed this project without you! Your contributions to the team were exemplary!" --Telethia Willis, Project Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc.
"I believe this is the best interactive CD Apple's produced to date. Congratulations on a superb job. We'll be featuring this in all of our demos at MacWorld." --Mark Thomas, OpenDoc Evangelist, Apple Computer, Inc.
"Everyone is very happy!!! You are making me look good. People are really blown away." --Roslyn Rissler, Advertising Manager, 3Com Corporation
"I want you to know that you have consistently been a pleasure to work with. Your can-do attitude is greatly appreciated." --Scott Braddock, Systems Marketing Programs, 3Com Corporation
"Really, really good. We got rave reviews at Interop. We have worked with contractors before. This is one the few times the end product exceeded our expectations." --Bert Williams, Product Manager, SynOptics
"This demo disk does the best job of representing the look and feel of our product. In a marketing survey, we discovered that many of our customers who had the disk decided to buy our product after viewing the demo." --Michael Solomon, President, Co-CEO, Light Source
"Alan did an awesome job mobilizing the instructional design team. I deeply appreciated the decades of instructional design experience he brought to the team - not just for day-to-day delivery work, but also for instantly building our teams credibility with the client. The client provided me direct feedback that Alan was both highly professional and personable" --Robin Olsen, Senior Manager, Accenture
"The engagement was challenging given the multiple changes of direction from the client, but Alan was always available and went above/beyond in ensuring the success of our engagement. The final training video deliverables were very well received by the client as well as from the respective trainees. Alan was fantastic to work with and I look forward to our continued partnership!" --Steven Lin, Senior Manager, Accenture