Books
I’ve written, contributed to, published, and edited a number of books over the years. The projects include poetry & personal essays, art criticism, and civic tech.
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The Complete Works of Prince Akbar aka Jus Rhymz
Today marks the publication of The Complete Works of Prince Akbar aka Jus Rhymz. I helped produce this book, which was edited by the artist Lajuana Lamkins. As part of my work, I designed and produced the book itself: I created the website supporting the book: I set up the Amazon store for the sale…
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Paul Jacoulet, Outsider Artist
Today marks the publication of a new piece of art criticism I wrote. Subtitled “A reconsideration of Japanese Woodcut Art from a Parisian in Japan, 1934 – 1960”, the booklet has this central thesis: You can purchase here on Amazon:
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Chasing Landscapes
Today I published a new essay: Chasing Landscapes: A Practical Study in the Removal of Arte Agora from the Public Way, as a limited edition 10-copy booklet. It’s a new form of participatory art criticism– I documented the existence and removal of items in an extended public art project. Here’s the introduction: This month, Vertical…
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Arte Agora
I wrote this book, which defines a new genre of American art that is “made, sold, or placed in the public way”, in May 2019. Here’s an excerpt: You can read the entire volume here: https://www.arteagorabook.com/ or purchase here on Amazon:
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CUTGroup Book
Civic User Testing Group as a New Model for UX Testing, Digital Skills Development, and Community Engagement in Civic Tech documents a methodology I invented while I was Executive Director of the Smart Chicago Collaborative. The model has been implemented in about a dozen cities across the United States.
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The Essential Civic Whitaker
I edited and published “The @CivicWhitaker Anthology: three years of organizing, writing, and documenting in Chicago civic tech at the Smart Chicago Collaborative”. Here’s my introduction: Hiring Christopher Whitaker to work as a consultant for Smart Chicago was one of the best decisions I made here. Together, we created a new job type— part documenter, part…
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Experimental Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Tech
I edited, published, and wrote the preface for this book, subtitled “Meeting people where they are” while I was Executive Director at the Smart Chicago Collaborative.
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Beyond Transparency
I contributed a chapter to this book, subtitled, “Open Data and the Future of Civic Innovation”. Here it is on Amazon:
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The Shining Girls
This book, by Lauren Beukes, is set in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, and I lived there with my family starting in 1985. I spent some time giving Lauren background on what it was like to live here at that time: