Telepresence
Since the late 1990s I have devoted my working life to the research and development of what has become known as telepresence. First as a networking engineer, then developing software for control systems and call provisioning, and finally to designing multi-touch and tablet based collaboration tools.
I was fortunate to have worked with some brilliant folks and to have explored some fascinating concepts, but as of April 15th, 2011, I have hung up my telepresence hat to focus on the next chapter in my development.
My interest in telepresence has always been fueled by my passion for the possibilities created by virtual worlds and 3D virtual spaces. As a technology, I believe telepresence offers a glimpse of a future where physical space is no longer a constraint. A future where physical and virtual spaces blend and anything we can imagine becomes possible. My work in telepresence has been a stepping stone to this end. I have always had a sense that I have a larger role to play in developing this vision of the future, and I know that everything I have done so far has lead me towards it. While my next step seems to be moving in a different direction, it is actually laying the groundwork for a more direct assault on that goal down the road.
Shift of Focus: Startups
One of the more exciting aspects of this journey has been how interesting I found the experience of being part of a growing startup. I truly loved working for a passionate and visionary founder, playing a role in a growing organization filled with brilliant people, making and learning from mistakes, and best of all running circles around companies that are much larger and have far deeper pockets. I find the whole startup lifestyle is exhilarating, and have increasingly had the bug to start my own business.
Business Books
I have always been a prolific reader with a strong drive to learn. Over the years I have read hundreds of business books. Topics like marketing, leadership, strategy, management, design, and even sales are interesting when you know you will some day be starting your own business.
The Startup Daily and Laying the Groundwork
On January 1st, 2011 I launched The Startup Daily as way to share what I learn about entrepreneurship, while applying the lessons to the project itself, which I am treating as a startup of its own.
In some sense The Startup Daily is my own accelerated startup school, offering a chance to retrospectively identify the lessons and experiences of the past 12 years, as well as a disciplined mechanism to acquire as much new knowledge and wisdom for companies I start in the future.
Watch this Virtual Space
Changes in my life seem to bring about changes in my digital presence as well. I am making an effort to be more active in social media, and to have stronger overall online presence. I will use this site to write about my thoughts and experiments with lifestyle design, and to continue to explore my interests and opportunities surrounding topics such as virtual worlds and virtual spaces, interaction design, the psychology of interfaces, the future of telepresence, emotions in computing, avatars and digital identity, experience design, and anything else that sparks my interest.
Hello, I’m Karl
