Mulberry Technologies, Inc.
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| Wendell Piez |
Wendell PiezLeadershipA recognized expert in the emerging field of Humanities Computing, Wendell Piez has been working with SGML and XML technologies since 1994. In 1995 he was appointed to the faculty at the internationally-known Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (at Rutgers and Princeton Universities), where he worked on developing applications of the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) and EAD (Encoded Archival Description) SGML DTDs. Since 1998, Dr. Piez has worked at Mulberry Technologies Inc., designing and building XML systems both for clients and to support internal processes. Dr. Piez is an experienced instructor at the university level (trained to be a professor of English literature), and has presented numerous courses on XML, XSLT, and related technologies, to both technical and non-technical audiences. His papers on the theory of markup languages and their design have been featured at the Extreme Markup Languages® conferences and published in Markup Languages: Theory and Practice. Other writings include book reviews and shorter pieces, as well as frequent contributions to XSL-List; his solutions to a number of common XSLT problems are cited in the XSL FAQ. Dr. Piez has been a member of the Executive Council of the Association for Computers in the Humanities since 1999. SkillsDocument Analysis, System Design and Implementation, and DTD Development - At Mulberry, Dr. Piez has designed and built XML-based systems both for clients, and to support Mulberry's own production processes, including such applications as publishing training materials in multiple formats (on-screen hypertext and print). In addition, he has implemented several small-to-medium-scale XML applications for his own personal use, such as an XML dream diary ("Dreamwork"), a time logging application, a full-fledged authoring format for research papers ("WritersML"), a web site maintenance language ("LOL"), and so forth. An example of a small-scale but effective application of markup technologies designed by Dr. Piez is a prototype language-learning interface, "Scholia", a demonstration of which, Die Amsel, may be seen on the web. The application is implemented in TEI XML (for the source format), XSLT (for the transformation), and HTML with DOM-compliant scripting (for the user interface). Dr. Piez’s original concentration in document analysis was in the particularly challenging texts encountered in Humanities research. These include both primary texts originally in print or manuscript, using DTDs conforming to the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), as well as metadata initiatives such as the Encoded Archival Description (EAD), an SGML DTD designed to support the creation of finding aids for archival collections. Training - As a member of Mulberry's staff, Dr. Piez teaches XML concepts and syntax; XSLT, XPath and XSL-FO; XML tools; and several more specialized courses such as "XSLT to SVG". Prior to joining Mulberry Technologies, Dr. Piez had several years’ experience as a university educator, teaching composition and literature; in the field of markup technologies he taught principles of text encoding, SGML concepts and syntax, the TEI and EAD SGML document types, and SGML and XML software at venues including the CETH Summer Seminar (1996); various CETH workshops (1996-1997); Princeton University’s graduate-level program "New Tools for Teaching and Research" (1996); and the New York Public Library’s workshop series "Institute for Web Publishing: Advanced SGML" (1996-1997). Audiences ranged from graduate students to senior faculty, librarians and administrative staff. SGML and XML Conversions - Dr. Piez is experienced in down-translations of SGML and XML as supported both by standard styling and transformation technologies (XSL and DSSSL) and vendor-proprietary software (WordPerfect, FrameMaker/SGML, SoftQuad Panorama). XSLT stylesheets designed by Dr. Piez have targeted HTML, XSL-FO (XSL Formatting Objects), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), and other XML and non-XML formats. He is also an accomplished user of complementary technologies such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Since 2001 Mulberry has used an XSLT-based system built by Dr. Piez to produce conference proceedings, in HTML and PDF formats, for the Extreme Markup Languages® conference in Montreal. Employment HistoryConsultant, Mulberry Technologies, Inc. — 1998 to present. Mulberry Technologies, Inc., is a consultancy specializing in SGML and XML design and training, particularly document (information) analysis and DTD development. Humanities Computing Specialist (Faculty), Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities, Rutgers and Princeton Universities — 1995-1997. At the time of Dr. Piez's tenure, CETH was a national center for development and education of electronic text applications to Humanities research and higher education. Project Archivist, Rutgers University Special Collections and University Archives — 1991-1995. Rutgers SC/UA is the manuscripts, archives and rare books division of a major research library. Lecturer, Rutgers University — 1985-1997. As a graduate student and after receiving the doctorate, Dr. Piez taught courses in Composition and Rhetoric, English Poetry, English Romantic and Victorian Literature, and Rhetorics of Electronic Text. EducationPh.D., English, Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ, 1985-1991. B.A., Classics (Ancient Greek), Yale College, New Haven CT, 1980-1984.
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