Jesse David Hollington

Creating a web page or blog has always seemed to me as somewhat of an exercise in narcissism. Generally, I have a lot of opinions on a lot of things, but do not consider myself egocentric enough to assume that such opinions should matter to anybody but myself.

In reality, The Technocrat began as something that I decided to do partly because everybody else seemed to have blogs, and partly because I occasionally felt the need to bore my friends with an e-mail waxing philosophical on some subject or another. Rather than subjecting them to my long-winded e-mails, I decided that putting it all on a blog made a lot more sense, so I decided to start doing that instead.

A secondary consideration was that after I switched to a Mac, suddenly I had all of these really neat and easy-to-use web authoring tools. Having a bunch of web space kicking around, and having the tools to create some snazzy looking pages with a minimum of effort seemed to compel me to try to do something useful.

Of course, not being able to come with anything particularly original or useful to base a web site on, we ended up with The Technocrat instead….

About the Name

Quite frankly, all of the semi-original names were taken, and anything else was just cheesy. However, if I had to find an adjective to define myself, “technocrat” is probably the best word, although perhaps in the softest of meanings.

I was first exposed to the term when it was bestowed upon me by Tom Jennings, the founder of FidoNet. I was running for election to a position of some influence within that particular sandbox, and when asked to describe me, all Tom could really say was, “I don’t know him, but he seems like he possibly might be a Technocrat.” (my paraphrasing, but I think the original quote can still be found on Google somewhere).

I do firmly believe that knowledge is power, and I firmly believe that those with the most knowledge, guided by wisdom, are the best equipped to make intelligent decisions about things. Hence, as an advocate of a soft form of technocracy, that would make me a “Technocrat.”

Background

I have been involved in computers and technology for most of my adult life and even for some time before that. I have worked actively in the IT field for almost 20 years, primarily within the space of networking and collaborative technologies, with a strong focus in the world of Novell technologies, and general messaging and groupware solutions. I won’t bore you with a resume of projects, but suffice it to say that information technology is a big part of both my personal and professional life.

Outside of the I.T. world, I have been active in the Royal Canadian Air Cadet program for twenty years, having recently stepped down after four years as Commanding Officer of 707 Squadron in Etobicoke, Ontario. I am currently taking a bit of time off from the Cadet program, although I am sure I will become involved again.

My other main hobby these days seems to revolve around the world of the iPod. This little device has dramatically changed the way I look at technology, and has brought me into the world I always envisioned—one where technology is a background appliance that simplifies our lives rather than a cumbersome lodestone of further complexity. The iPod was the “gateway drug” back in 2004 that led me into a world of all things Apple, and today I have a collection of iPods, iPhones and most recently, a shiny new iPad. The result of my passion for all of this has resulted in a very active involvement over at iLounge.com, where I am currently Applications Editor and Forum Administrator.

I’m also married to a wonderful lady who is a secondary school music teacher and recently completed her post-graduate degree in Music Education. Her interest in technology is that of the ultimate consumer…. She is the antithesis of me when it comes to gadgets, and uses technology as much as she needs to in order to get the job done. Observing technology through her eyes has given me a whole new perspective.

We have one new baby girl, Victoria Grace, who is the apple of my eye. The two cats are still wandering around the house somewhere, mostly trying to avoid the baby.