Avalon Team
The development process for Avalon is being managed with a Scrum agile framework. Team members from Indiana University and Northwestern University function as a single Scrum team.
Jon Cameron
Product Owner, Indiana University
As one of Avalon’s Product Owners, Jon works with the developers to represent the needs of Avalon users. As Digital Media Service Manager for the Indiana University Libraries, he's the public face of IU’s multiple instances of the Avalon Media System, providing training, documentation and guidance for a growing user base of collection holders. He also works in various capacities on IU’s Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative.
Chris Colvard
Lead Developer, Indiana University
As a developer for the Avalon Media System, Chris enjoys learning new technologies and being part of active open source communities. Previously, he worked on Variations leading to its being open sourced with over a dozen institutions adopting the system. Chris graduated from DePauw University and has worked for the Digital Library Program since 2006.
Phuong Dinh
Programmer/Analyst, Indiana University
As a Programmer/Analyst, Phuong works on the Avalon Media System stack from the front end to the back end. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University and is also pursuing a Master of Science degree in Computer Science in his spare time. We are thrilled to welcome Phuong back to the team.
Jon Dunn
Project Director, Indiana University
Jon is responsible for overall project direction and management, as well as coordinating the involvement of the project’s partners and advisors. He works at Indiana University Bloomington as Director and Interim Assistant Dean for Library Technologies, where he oversees information technology development and operations for the IU Bloomington Libraries. Jon has worked at IU since 1994 and has been involved with a number of music, audio, and video related digital library efforts, including development of the open source Variations digital music library system, and was a member of the planning team for IU's Media Preservation Initiative. He is also a member of the Open Repositories Steering Committee, Fedora Leadership Group, and Hydra Steering Group.
Ying Feng
Senior Programmer/ Analyst, Indiana University
Ying joined the Avalon team just in time to attend the Samvera Connect 2017, and was excited to be part of the community and dive into the deep Samvera stack. As a developer, she enjoys learning the various tools and code bases employed by Avalon, as well as working closely with other team members to contribute to the on-going releases of Avalon 6.* and Avalon 7. Prior to Avalon, she has many years of experience in web application development for enterprise business. She has a Master degree in Computer Science from IU, and is also interested in computer music and art. In spare time, she likes singing, dancing, painting, gardening and travelling..
Julie Hardesty
Metadata Specialist, Indiana University
Julie helps develop descriptive, structural, and technical metadata standards for the Avalon Media System. She is the Metadata Analyst/Librarian for the Digital Library Program at Indiana University where she manages metadata creation and use for digital library services and projects.
Brian Keese
Programmer/Analyst, Indiana University
Brian joined the Avalon team just as version 3.0 was being released and was proud to share in the glory. Since then he has been working avidly to catch up on the various technologies employed in the system and to contribute however possible. Brian has a Bachelor’s of Science in Anthropology from Tulane University and a Master’s of Science in Computer Science from Indiana University. He spent the first years of his career writing logistics software for the U.S. government and is pleased to be doing just about anything else. When not coding, he is mostly working on his house and dreaming of his next adventurous vacation.
Michael B. Klein
Lead Developer, Northwestern University
As the lead developer on the Northwestern side of the project, Michael enjoys the challenge of helping to craft elegant solutions to complex problems of storing, processing, and delivering audiovisual materials. His previous experience in digital libraries includes positions at Stanford University, Oregon State University, and the Boston Public Library. Before venturing into the library world, he spent 15 years as a contract software developer for ExxonMobil and the U.S. Census Bureau. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Catholic University of America, as well as a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from Simmons College.
Carrick Rogers
Senior Developer, Northwestern University
As a developer for the Avalon Media System, Carrick focuses on development and design for production. Previously Carrick worked for Stanford Digital Library Services and the University of Michigan Print Technology Group. When not programming Carrick enjoys hiking, kayaking, and shooting.
David Schober
Digital Initatives Project Manager, Product Owner for Avalon, Northwestern University
David has over 10 years of experience managing different types of digital projects for non-profit organizations. While at Poetry Foundation, one of his many projects was to implement a digital asset management system for their photos. At the AAP, David managed the re-launch of aapublications.org and worked with design and development teams on both coasts to implement new features on several websites and mobile apps. David also has prior experience at Northwestern University as the Assistant Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations at Feinberg School of Medicine.
Ryan Steans
Project/ Community Manager for Avalon, Northwestern University
Ryan has twenty years of experience working in technology in higher education. More recently, Ryan served as Assistant Director at the Texas Digital Library, a 22-member consortium of memory institutions in Texas providing shared services to the Lone Star State. DigLib projects included DPN, DPLA, DSpace, Vireo, Chronopolis, and other access and preservation services. When not focused on Avalon and Samvera, Ryan enjoys genre film and knowing just enough about Superman to make it weird if you open that can of worms.
Chris Syversen
Programmer, Northwestern University
Chris started working at Northwestern University Library in 2013. His projects have included developing Northwestern's images repository, Images/DIL, where he helped add-in automated tests, and worked on the team that developed the Metadata Editor at Northwestern University (MENU). He previously worked as a consultant in the trading and financial industry. He's used many programming languages and frameworks and is really excited to contribute to an open source application that will be used in libraries and archives. He'd be really excited to never do anything intense in PERL again.
Evviva Weinraub
Project Director, Northwestern University
Evviva Weinraub is the Associate University Librarian for Digital Strategies at Northwestern University and the co-Project Director on the Avalon project. At Northwestern, Evviva has broad responsibilities for development and implementation of technology services within the libraries primarily focused on digital collections and repositories, metadata and discovery services, and infrastructure and desktop computing. With Avalon she works with her co-Director to establish overall project direction, management, and priority setting, as well as coordinate involvement with the project's partners and advisors.
Maria Whitaker
Head, Digital Media Software Development, Scrum Master, Indiana University
Maria manages the IU Avalon development team and acts as the Avalon Scrum Master. Before joining the Avalon team, her career in software development encompassed systems for research and business administration, including collaboration with other universities in the Kuali open source space. She holds a Master’s of Science degree in Computer Science from Indiana University and has been with IU since 2005.
Jennifer Young
Metadata Specialist, Northwestern University
As a metadata expert for the Avalon Media System, Jennifer works with Julie to make decisions regarding all aspects of metadata. She is the Metadata Coordinator in the Repository & Digital Curation workgroup at Northwestern University managing the creation of metadata for NU’s digital repositories.
Former Team Members
Karen Miller
Metadata Specialist, Northwestern University
Karen works closely with Julie and Stefan to determine metadata requirements, policies, and standards for the Avalon Media System. When not busy with digital library projects, Karen is an original cataloger of monographs, maps, and posters. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science from Dominican University.
Stu Baker
Co-Project Director, Northwestern University
Stu Baker is the Associate University Librarian for Library Technologies at Northwestern University and the co-Project Director on the project, helping to establish overall project direction and priority setting. He has broad responsibility for development and implementation of technology services at the libraries, including the library management system, federated search and open URL resolvers, interlibrary loan and reserve services, all web services, staff and public computing, and digital repository implementation.
Debs Cane
Repository Community Manager, Northwestern University
As a the Repository Community Manager for the Avalon Media System, Debs is responsible for working with partners and other potential Avalon adopters at other institutions. She comes to us with robust experience that closely matches the needs of this unique position. In addition to her background teaching History courses in higher education and previously attending NU as a grad student, Debs brings with her the experiences from her previously held positions in the non-profit and for-profit education sectors.
Steve DiDomenico
SME/Consultant, Northwestern University
Steve has been instrumental in the planning phase of the project through the development process of Avalon 2.0. He is now involved with the planning and implementation of Avalon at Northwestern. Steve is Head of the Enterprise Systems Department in the Northwestern University Library; this department helps maintain the backend public-facing servers for the Library, as well as develop software for some of our major systems, particularly the Digital Repository. In his spare time Steve enjoys playing guitar, playing video games, and spending time with his wife Aliza and their rescued retired racing greyhound Kraven.
Stefan Elnabli
Audiovisual Media Specialist, Northwestern University
As Audiovisual Media Specialist, Stefan contributed to development involving audiovisual encoding, metadata, and content modeling for Avalon Media System. He obtained his degree in audiovisual preservation from New York University's Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program at Tisch School of the Arts. His work with archival media includes stints in the WNET Channel 13 Digital Archive, Anthology Film Archives, and major university libraries such as New York University and Stanford University. Currently he is the Moving Image and Sound Preservation Specialist at Northwestern University Library's Digital Collections Department. He is a devoted film projectionist and VHS enthusiast.
Kevin Flick
Project Assistant, Indiana University
Kevin is responsible for marketing and communication, as well as user experience research for the Avalon Media System. He has a B.S. in Informatics (Indiana University), and is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Human Computer Interaction Design at Indiana University. Kevin has the distinction of launching the Internet's first music blog, back in 1997, which he maintained for many years. He is also a recording engineer, and enjoys taking artists through the recording process, as well as managing their music careers.
Adam Hallett
Programmer/Analyst, Northwestern University
Adam graduated from Michigan State University in 2008 with a degree in Anthropology. After graduation he taught English to children in Yeosu, Korea (home of the 2012 World Expo). In the past he has worked with early stage startups in areas such as solar energy and customer loyalty, and also at a voter non-profit. In his spare time he enjoys running, rowing, and watching a lot of British TV.
Leah Lee
Programmer/Analyst, Indiana University
As a programmer for the Avalon Media System, she contributes to the system’s codebase and enjoys working with this new and exciting technology. She graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science in 2009. Since then, she has worked as a database administrator for Worm’s Way, Inc. and as a Systems Analyst/Programmer for IU International Services, developing for the Sunapsis International Office Module. When not programming, she enjoys anime, manga, drawing, cooking, bicycling, swimming and gardening.
Brianna Marshall
Project Assistant, Indiana University
Brianna was the Avalon Project Assistant during her time as a graduate student at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing; she received her Master of Library Science and Master of Information Science with a specialization in digital libraries in May 2014. She is currently the Digital Curation Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mark Notess
Former Product Owner, Indiana University
Mark Notess was Head, User Experience and Digital Media Services, within the IU Bloomington Libraries at Indiana University. His primary responsibility since joining IU in 2001 has been the Variations Digital Music Library and related projects. For Avalon, he is one of the product owners, investigating and representing user needs to guide the development activities. Before joining IU, Mark worked in startups and the high tech industry on e-learning portals, user interface tools, and user-centered design. Mark speaks and consults on learning technologies and user experience topics, blogging about these at LearningUX.com. He holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology as well as masters degrees in both computer science and education. He serves on the boards of ACM's eLearn Magazine and the new journal, Future Learning.
Nathan Rogers
Programmer/Analyst, Indiana University
Nathan has worked in digital libraries for the last ten years. With a degree in computer science and an MLIS he has experience understanding how to develop applications for large digital repositories. In his spare time he likes to do bicycle tours and recently traveled by two wheels from New Orleans to Minneapolis.
Cynthia Ramlo
Lead User Experience Designer, Indiana University
Cynthia has worked on application development teams at the City of Bloomington and at Indiana University. Recently she was the designer for the Lakota Language Project where she developed materials to teach Lakota to children on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She received her M.I.S. degree from the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University and is currently an adjunct faculty member for the Information and Library Sciences Department in the School of Informatics.
Ariadne Rehbein
Project Assistant, Indiana University
Ariadne is responsible for marketing and communication for the Avalon Media System. She also works on pilot projects at Indiana University. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Library Science and Information Science with a specialization in digital libraries. She is particularly interested in digital preservation and digital archives.
Julie Rudder
Product Owner, Northwestern University
Julie is one of two Product Owners for the Avalon Media System project. In this role, she helps identify and prioritize features of the system based on feedback from key stakeholders and partners. Julie works at Northwestern University Library and for the past five years has been helping faculty and graduate students incorporate digital media into teaching and research. Julie has experience in media streaming technologies and user facing support for use of media in the teaching and learning environment.
Shelby Silvernell
QA Tester, Northwestern University
Shelby recently began working as Visual Resources Digitization Assistant in the Digital Collections department at Northwestern University Library. In this role, she digitizes library collections materials and converts and delivers media files. She joined the Avalon team as a QA tester. Previously she worked as a Scanning Technician, Metadata Technician, and Photographer & Imaging Specialist at the Chicago History Museum. She received her BFA in photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Claire Stewart
Co-Project Director, Northwestern University
Claire Stewart is a project co-director, and helps with overall vision and direction for the Avalon project and system. She heads the Digital Collections department, a unit of the division of Library Technology, which provides digitization services for library collections and to faculty in support of their teaching and research at Northwestern University. She is also the director of Northwestern’s Center for Scholarly Communication & Digital Curation. She is the library's lead on scholarly communication issues, and is responsible for providing leadership in development of repository services and digital publishing and digital archiving projects. Claire has held numerous positions at Northwestern since 1994 and is a campus expert on copyright, digitization and multimedia services.
Chris Syversen
Programmer, Northwestern University
Chris started working at Northwestern University Library in 2013. His projects have included developing Northwestern's images repository, Images/DIL, where he helped add-in automated tests, and worked on the team that developed the Metadata Editor at Northwestern University (MENU). He previously worked as a consultant in the trading and financial industry. He's used many programming languages and frameworks and is really excited to contribute to an open source application that will be used in libraries and archives. He'd be really excited to never do anything intense in PERL again.
Andrea Zielke
Project Assistant, Northwestern University
Andrea Zielke joined the Avalon Media Systems team as Project Assistant in April of 2012 and worked for the project through April 2014. She assisted with the planning and organization of Avalon's day to day operations as well as providing support for Northwestern's Library Technology Division. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a M.A. in Library and Information Studies where she had previously earned a B.A. in English.