User:Jigs Gaton

About
As a writer and editor by trade (since 1979), I come to Wikipedia late in life (on the eve of retirement in 2018) with the hope of continuing to improve the internet in some small way. I first began working on internet improvement while working at IBM on OS/2 Warp code, where I helped design online tutorials using HTML and mixed media, such as video, audio, slide shows, etc. But my journey to improve communication via technology actually started while working on the IBM 3820 Printer, a device that first began incorporating images and text together without the use of X-ACTO blades and paper glue. As a writer and a technologist together, my entire working career has been driven by exploring ways to put together the visual with the contextual - or in other words, to make digital communication more life-like and full-featured.

Early on
Born in Brooklyn NY (1956) to parents of immigrants from both Odessa Russia and Dublin Ireland, I started life with a mixed bag of experiences and opportunities; for example, I was culturally raised both Jewish and Irish at the same time but rejected both, and struck out on my own as soon as I was legally able to do so. Joining the US Army in 1974 allowed me to escape from New York and to see the world (without becoming cannon fodder during a brief outbreak of world peace).

Mid-Life (crisis)
Using the GI Bill, I was able to fund my college education and support a family at the same time, and after graduation I was able to join the baby-booming middle-class with a decent job at IBM, working on interesting projects such as Robotic Arms, the first IBM PC and derivatives and finally on the now defunct OS/2. After a good 18 years of that life, my mid-life "crisis" entailed 1) retiring early and 2) moving into a VM Camper and becoming the hippie that I never was as a teen. There I discovered Tibetan Buddhism and met Chögyam Trungpa, who introduced me to philosophy, poetry and photography with new eyes and new teachers, the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Ann Waldman. From there, my journey included moving to Nepal and checking into the nearest monastery for three years, thus completing my preliminary Buddhist teachings (think shaved head plus one million prayers).

Now
As a permanent resident of Kathmandu Nepal, I've turned my contributory efforts in helping humanity towards teaching others (within the International Aid community) on how to communicate better, and how to run projects more effectively and efficiently. My small consulting firm has trained thousands of South Asian and African aid workers in this regard, and continues to do so on a very humble scale.

Wikipedia Goals
As a world citizen (or Expat), my goals for volunteering on Wikipedia are simple:
 * To help improve the overall quality of knowledge and information found within this global repository
 * To ensure that the history of technology growth through the 70's, 80's and 90's is represented accurately and completely.
 * To improve the body of knowledge concerning development work and project planning, as that relates to bettering the human condition for all.