About mindsocket
 Mindsocket was, for many years, the online presence for my consulting company. In 2002, having returned from 15 months of living and working Silicon Valley, I decided to go back to school, and became a full-time cognitive science student. I am nearly finished that degree, and plan to continue my studies in educational technology and psychology research in the Fall of 2007. More recently, I started a MySpace blog to post some of the thoughts and ideas I am interested in. After a couple weeks of posting stuff, I decided to make this site into a kind of blog, and here it is.

I am interested in a wide range of topics, and this is where I will post comments and links related to stuff I find interesting.

About Ken MacAllister
 I am currently a full-time student at Simon Fraser University in the Cognitive Science program. I also work as a research assistant in the Faculty of Education in the Learning Kit Educational Technology and Psychology Laboratory. I volunteer in the ENGRAMMETRON educational neurosciences laboratory, and operate as a liason between neuroscience researchers and educational psychologists, helping to facilitate collaboration.

At the Learning Kit lab, my activities include:

  • Creating and maintaining the project web site
  • Performing interface design for gStudy software (buttons, menus, splash screens, etc.)
  • Creating educational multimedia and web content (learning kits) for gStudy software
  • Maintaining the computers in the lab and assist in the setup of experiments
  • Training others in how to use our software applications
  • Giving presentations on our activities

More details are available on my staff page at SFU.

Prior to my academic career, I spent 15 years running my own consulting company, providing services that evolved along with changing technologies:

  • 1998 - 2002: Educational project management services. Involved planning, developing and deploying large scale national and international educational projects involving proprietary computing and telecommunications systems at locations in Asia, North America and Europe.
  • 1993 - 1997: Business education services. Taught courses in more than 60 business applications to a wide range of government and corporate clients. I wrote and illustrated training manuals, and developed specialized training plans to suit the needs of specific clients.
  • 1988 - 1992: Machine drafting and design services. Proving a complete range of 2D and 3D technical drawings, owner's manuals, production plans, schedules, materials analyses, and flow/optimization for use in industrial fabrication. Design projects included materials handling systems, robotics, agricultural machines and batching plants.

    The common thread in all of my work is communicating complex technical information through words, pictures, animation, live instruction and video-- including the planning, specification, design and implementation of educational projects. I have a passion for explaining things and helping others understand new information.

    This work has informed my interest in how people learn, perceive, understand, reason, plan, pay attention and remember. I am fascinated by imagination, consciousness and artificial intelligence. I believe that understanding cognition can inform effective communication.

More details about my work experience can be found on my Flash resume. You can also take a look at some of my experiments with educational animation.

As implied in the list of interests on the right, I am a life-long science enthusiast. My interest in science is rooted in the joy of developing a deeper understanding of the universe, and in a sense fascination and wonder. I am not, however, blindly enthusiastic about science and technology, and I am well aware that there is a dark side that is detrimental to society and the environment -and the state of both concern me deeply.

Other information about me and my interests appears on the right. I have also posted a few pictures in my pics section or check out my blog.

    

Interests

  • Aesthetics
  • Androids
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Astrobiology
  • Astronomy
  • Alternative energy
  • Behavior
  • Biochemistry
  • Cellular biology
  • Cognitive science
  • Communications
  • Computer simulations
  • Concept formation
  • Cosmology
  • Creativity and imagination
  • Curriculum design and development
  • Educational psychology
  • Educational technologies
  • Electric vehicles
  • Epistemology
  • Ergonomics
  • Fields and forces
  • Game theory
  • Genomics
  • Human-computer interfaces (HCI)
  • Illustration
  • Industrial design
  • Learning
  • Materials science
  • Metacognition
  • Metaphysics
  • Neuroscience
  • Peace
  • Philosophy
  • Reasoning
  • Recycling
  • Robotics
  • Science education
  • Self-regulation
  • Semantics
  • Semiotics
  • Social democracy
  • Social psychology
  • Sustainable development
  • Topology
  • Visualization and visual reasoning

Likes

  • Art: Salvidor Dali, Rene Magritte, Mark Ryden, Chris Woods , Derek Maryanovich
  • Animation: Tex Avery, John Kricfaluci, Matt Groening
  • Books: Science, philosophy, politics, reference
  • Colors: Lavinder neon, cobalt blue, teal
  • Cuisine: East-indian / punjabi, Italian, Greek
  • Design: Simplicity, minimalism, functionality
  • Exercise: Endurance and speed inline skating
  • Grounding: Meditation, self-hypnosis
  • Journalists: Robert Fisk, Seymour Hersh, Amy Goodman, Scott Ritter
  • Music: Jazz, electronica, ambient, bhangra, techno, hip-hop - almost anything other than country.
  • Nature: Hiking, camping, kayaking, skiing
    • Animals: Cats, squirrels, birds, primates, spiders, bees, ants, whales, cephalopods
    • Plants: I like gardening and forests in general
    • Landscapes of all kinds
  • Scents: Orange, pine, spice, cedar, soil, ocean
  • Sounds: Water, wind
  • Sports: Gymnastics, speed skating
  • Tastes: Tangy, spicy, fruit flavors, salty
  • Textures: Smooth, ripples, rounding, fur, feathers, gel
  • Travel:
    • I was born and live in Canada
    • I have been to: Cuba, Mexico, The Netherlands, Germany, England, Scotland, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, The Philippines, The U.S.
    • I would like to visit: Icelend, Finland, Norway, Australia, China, India, Thailand, Nepal, Venesuela, Brazil
  • Other: Toe socks, hot air balloons, caves, xylophones, laboratory glassware, pebbles, labyrinths, hedge mazes, old buildings, cloud patterns, crystal formations, echolocation, plasma dynamics...