About
Shawn Rider is a writer, artist, teacher and programmer, currently working as a Web Technologist for PBS TeacherLine. He is also the owner and Editor in Chief of GamesFirst.com, a long-running independent videogame review website.
Curriculum Vitae
This CV is quite outdated and will be updated sometime in the future. Download PDF version.
A much abbreviated CV intro is available below. For complete details, download the PDF version of the CV.
Education
MFA Media Arts Production
SUNY at Buffalo
2006
Concentration: Digital art; new media
Thesis: Hour: 720 (a massively multiplayer experience)
MA Literature
University of Idaho
2001
Concentration: Contemporary literature; postmodernism; narrative theory
Thesis: Old Medium, New Masters: Daniel Clowes and the Making of American Comics Literature
BA English, Creative Writing
University of Idaho
1999
Concentration: Creative writing; literary theory; French
Production Skills
Operating Systems:Windows, Mac OS, Unix, Linux
Software Packages: Photoshop, Pagemaker, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver, Frontpage, MS Office, OpenOffice.org, After Effects, DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, Quark, Audacity, Pro Tools, Sound Forge, Acid, Apache and more.
Technologies, Markup and Programming Languages: X/HTML, XML, CSS, Python, PHP, JavaScript, mySQL and more.
Miscellaneous: Silkscreening, guitar, saxophone.
Employment
Web Technologist August 2006 to present
PBS TeacherLine (http://teacherline.pbs.org)
Adjunct Lecturer, Summer 2004 to Summer 2006
Department of Media Study, SUNY at Buffalo
Courses:
DMS 537: New Media I
DMS 538: New Media II
DMS 419/533: Advanced Digital Art
DMS 428/530: 2D Animation and Motion Graphic Design
DMS 315: Videogame Design
DMS 434: Concepts in Animation Graphics
Web design, multimedia design, game design, Flash, DVD authoring, project development, creative process, critical feedback, game studies, new media and digital theory
Editor in Chief / Owner, GamesFirst! , May 1999 to Present
http://www.gamesfirst.com
One of the oldest independent websites online
Over 150 thousand monthly readers
Manage staff of over two dozen regular writers
Determine content and editorial direction
Work with Press Relations representatives
Handle business activities, ad sales, etc.
Writing reviews, previews, articles, and interviews
Coding and programming custom content management system
Update and maintain website
