Jeff Turman Library-geek, lego-builder, data-visualizer.

Code Hammer, Data Hacker, Tinkerer and DIY Advocate

For the last 15 years, I’ve dedicated my career to morally responsible computer architecture by making safe, reliable, and useful software for education and journalism. I believe technology should only contribute to society and human well-being. The privacy of citizens is one of the most important aspects of good software practice - our tech should not spy on us.

Achievements

  • Member of the PII Data Retention and Management Working Group, charged by the Assessment Coordination Group of the UA Libraries to initialize and help maintain the guiding practices for UAL’s use and retention of personal identifiable information (PII), as well as maintain an inventory of where such data is generated and used, in order to increase the security of patron data
  • Member of multiple hiring search committees, including the Head of the Office of Digital Innovation and Stewardship (ODIS) at UAL, providing guidance about technology principals and standards expected in the UA Libraries
  • Attendee of Code4Lib, the conference for digital libraries in education, government, and other stewards of data, representing the UA Libraries as a leading national institution of higher education
  • Winner of 2009 Award of Excellence in Technology, Arizona Daily Star/Tucson Citizen, for the design and programming of tools that decreased the Marketing department’s turnaround time for delivering materials to potential clients by automating PDF file creation and concatenation

Work Experience

University of Arizona Libraries 2014 - present

As an Applications Development Programmer, I create and maintain software for the University of Arizona Libraries’ Tech Services/Strategies (TeSS) department including learning tools, digital collections, database portals, repository access and metadata analysis, as well as the main Libraries’ website.

Wick Newspaper Properties 2012 - 2014

As a Web Developer, Sr., I created and maintained web properties and applications for 15 different newspapers, including journalism sites such as the Frontiersman and The Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun, and the Tucson Weekly, of course. I developed a JavaScript library for live newsstand geolocation and status via the then-new Google Tools API, helping to increase the visibility of physical newsstands in towns like Anchorage, AK. I also developed a streetcam integration project to help drivers avoid congestion in small towns, before Google Maps started displaying drive times and traffic updates.

Tucson Newspapers Incorporated (Gannett Enterprises) 2008 - 2012

As a Web Developer for the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen, I maintained programming for the two high-availability properties. I helped program one of the first real estate finder applications for the newspapers using my own Javascript code that employed the Haversine formula, dramatically increasing the newspaper’s clickthru revenue. I also won a cash award for developing an application decreasing the turnaround time of delivery of marketing materials to prospective clientele. When the Tucson Citizen was dissolved, I helped archive over 30 years worth of articles, >100K documents, which myself and many others have since data-mined for numerous projects. I also helped develop the first Daily Star iOS mobile app, which netted the Star >2K app downloads by the middle of 2012.

Foundry Digital Design 2007 - 2008

Foundry was my first entrepreneurial venture to profit from my skills as a Technologist/Developer. I had ~30 client properties that I developed and hosted, using PHP/Linux/Apache (LAMP). I was one of the original members of the first Tucson Wordpress Meetup, Tucson Digital Arts Community, and what eventually became the first Tucson co-working space at 115 S. Broadway. (We could never get rid of the cockroaches.)

Experience and skill sets

Expertise

  • XML/XSL/XSLTs
  • SOAP
  • JSON
  • YAML
  • REST
  • Javascript (including D5, P5, Vue, Angular, React)
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • PHP (versions 5 - 8)
  • Python (including Scikitlearn, Pandas, Jupyter)
  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • NoSQL
  • GraphQL
  • Human
  • Docker/Compose
  • Unix shell scripting
  • Git, Subversion version control

Skill Sets

  • Web application development:
    • Backend development with object oriented programming (OOP)
    • Frontend development with the Document Object Model (DOM) programming
    • “Pen-test” application security testing using MetaSploit and other packages found in the Kali Linux distro
    • Shibboleth/SAML application integration (SSO)
  • Data Mining/Analysis:
    • Information Retrieval
    • Machine learning, inferential statistics, sparse matrix analysis
    • Natural language processing
    • Structured and unstructured data munging
    • Elasticsearch/Kibana software
    • Tableau
  • DevOps:
    • Virtualization with Vagrant, VirtualBox, Ansible (orchestration)
    • Containerization with Docker, Docker Compose
    • Amazon Web Services
  • IDEs:
    • PHPStorm/PyCharm
    • VS Code
    • AWS Cloud9
    • Vi/Vim
  • Unix operating systems:
    • Debian package environment (apt)
    • RedHat package environment (yum)
    • R-Pi (Raspbian)
  • Mac/Apple operating system (MacOS, iOS):
    • Brew package environment
    • Native application development and distribution
  • Application Programming Interfaces (API) development and usage:
    • CRUD
    • Request/Response Cycle
  • Agile methodology:
    • Scrum
    • Kanban
  • Remote development protocols:
    • ssh
    • telnet
    • HTTP
    • TCP/IP
    • FTP, SFTP
    • SMTP
  • Library preservation objects and protocols:
    • Dublin core, METS, etc.
    • Bags and bagging objects
    • AIP, SIP, DIP
    • Preservation object monitoring

Accreditations and Certifications

Data Visualization University of Illinois 2016 Verification
Text Retrieval and Search Engines University of Illinois 2016 Verification
Text Mining and Analytics University of Illinois 2016 Verification
Pattern Discovery in Data Mining University of Illinois 2016 Verification
Cluster Analysis in Data Mining University of Illinois 2017 Verification
Multimedia Programming and Design Design Sessions, Multimedia 2007 New York City, NY
Digital Archiving, Affiliate Smithsonian Institute 2005 Washington, DC

Education

2001 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Arizona

Civic & Professional Affiliations

  • Code4Tucson, a local technologist group representing the Code4America Brigade