Knowledge and Experience

With a little over 20 years of writing, editing, teaching, researching, and more under the belt, significant knowledge and experience is bound to have been gained. Settings I've performed these activities in include in-office at a health insurance company, in homes and businesses, at summer camps, on-site at clients' locations, and at home. I've worked one-on-one, all the way up to interacting with 200+ children and adults, and everything in between.

Through decades of work, I've gained and demonstrated a wide variety of knowledge and experience.

Knowledge

I've gained theoretical and conceptual understanding of the following through my laboratory software client:

• Laboratories and laboratory informatics: This includes laboratory information management systems (LIMS), laboratory information systems (LIS), electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN), scientific data management systems (SDMS), chromatography data systems (CDS), electronic health records (EHR), and many other systems. Laboratories and their regulation, workflow, and automation are also understood.
• Other types of informatics as applied to science, research, and industry: While informatics may be applied to laboratories, it can also be applied to other scientific and industry efforts that may or may not incorporate laboratory work as we think of it. A good example is bioinformatics, which is more concerned with software and hardware applications to life science problems. Biodiversity and forest informatics are other examples.
• Background on a complex assortment of industries and research fields, and the application of informatics to them: From manufacturing industries to the clinical sciences, I've gained a broader understanding of how science and industry is applying informatics solutions to their workflows.
• Cannabis regulation, research, and laboratory testing: I single out cannabis as I put a lot of work into developing guides, articles, and encyclopedic entries on cannabis and its many touchpoints. Given the rapid change in regulation and test methods around the world, I found myself in this world a lot for several years, even adding and editing open-access journal articles to CannaQAwiki (now on LIMSwiki).
• COVID-19 testing, reporting, and information management: Similar to cannabis, several years of effort went into understanding the COVID-19 pandemic and its intersections with laboratories, their workflows, their reporting requirements, and their data management needs (and problems).
• Standards and regulations applicable to laboratories: Standardization and regulation touch not only laboratories but also software development, and as such, over the years I've gained a better understanding of these topics.
• Cybersecurity and cloud computing: I developed an entire guide for each of these topics. While a little removed from them at this point, I still have a relatively strong grasp of these topics, particularly as applied to laboratories.
• University-based informatics programs: Another topic I'm a bit more removed from, I still maintain a guide about such university programs and understand how these programs have changed (and dwindled) since the mid-2010s.
• FAIR Data Principles and artificial intelligence: This is my newest area of knowledge, and it is continuing to expand. I understand the FAIR Data Principles fairly well at this point and how they apply to research objects and software. I'm expanding my understanding of how they relate to science and industry on a broader scale, and how the application of FAIR to data in general makes it more ready for artificial intelligence (AI) training. I'm less versed in the actual fundamental concepts underlying AI and machine learning (ML), but through the loading and editing of journal articles on the topics, I've gained ground.
• The use of a variety of publishing tools: This will lead into the experience area, but it is important to have conceptual understanding of the software systems we use to publish content. Yes, the practical application is generally more important, but gaining knowledge of the inner workings of, for example, MediaWiki, over the years has helped me better understand what it is and is not capable of doing, so when it gets applied (i.e., experience), it is done so efficiently.

Other areas of knowledge I've gained through my work with other clients over the years include:

• Teaching, tutoring, and education concepts;
• Bookbinding and book conservation;
• Travel and related concepts;
• The oil and gas industry;
• Landscaping and lawn care;
• Pregnancy and child rearing; and
• The internet and its uses.

Outside of these concepts, I have many other areas of knowledge (differing in level of familiarity) gained independently, including a wide variety of earth sciences, computing, cooking, philosophy, sociology, the natural world, gardening, automotive repair, wood working, construction and maintenance, and more.

Experience

I've practically applied that knowledge as such:

• Extensively developing on and maintaining MediaWiki installations: As noted on my portfolio, I've been heavily involved with four MediaWiki installations through my laboratory software client. Aside from that, I have years of Wikipedia experience, and I've also consulted on a MediaWiki implementation for a separate business client using the software for internal knowledge management. While I have never had the opportunity to fully do the server-side administration, I've run back-end scripts before (with a little help from the server admin). By far, most of my use of MediaWiki has been on customizing the front-end, setting up templates, developing organizational structure (e.g., namespaces, categories, front page elements), tweaking settings, updating the software (via the front-end, after the admin backed up the instance on the server side), and developing and curating content to a specific standard of excellence.
• Developing content on other platforms: I've also had years of experience developing on WordPress implementations. While I don't do that as much as I used to, I'm still familiar with the software and its capabilities. I've applied that knowledge not only with my laboratory software client but also other clients in the past (including my own blogs and WordPress sites over the years). To a lesser degree I've learned about and practically used Moodle, LearnDash, and TiddlyWiki. I'm less versed in the first two than I used to be, but TiddlyWiki is still relatively fresh in my head.
• Writing, editing, and researching: At this point, I'm intimately familiar with the technical and academic domains. I've also worked in other non-fiction domains, such as travel writing, topical blogging, copywriting, and instructional materials, and more. (I tend to avoid copywriting these days due to my dislike of the marketing world.) I have some experience with editing fiction, but I tend to focus on non-fiction. I've applied my knowledge of writing, editing, and researching with my many clients over the years. My laboratory software client has been the most rewarding, putting my abilities to use while gaining knowledge of subjects and presenting them in a concise, informative way with full citations to back up claims. I've softly edited hundreds of open-access academic journal articles as part of their overall loading process to the wiki, creating a positive feedback loop of practicing my editing skills while acquiring new knowledge. My research process is streamlined to largely incorporate online sources, but occasionally tap into physical sources at libraries. My output includes all sorts of formats, both long- and short-form (see my portfolio).
• Teaching and tutoring: While I don't engage in this type of professional work as much as I used to, I've been able to apply my knowledge of teaching and tutoring in many different contexts over the years. From business English to beginner Spanish, in many of the settings mentioned earlier, I've taught or tutored one-on-one or in groups of 200+. I often developed my own materials, unless I was working with a third-party using their teaching methodologies. Additionally, from the health insurance company to MediaWiki users, I've been developing useful training materials and brief courses for online learning. I've even taught a few informal bookbinding classes.