all coding and no play makes me a null boy

This is the portfolio section of frankcaron.com. Here you'll be able to see a sampling of the different work I've done over the course of my life. My employment has ranged greatly over the last 10 years, including extensive web development and database-driven application development, web design and interface design and technical writing and critical assessment. Not everything I've ever done is listed below, but a fair sampling is available. Additionally, the context of some of the projects might not be the most terribly suited to whatever employment I currently happen to be seeking, so try not to take context in consideration. So, with that in mind, browse away!

Resume

PDF version | DOC version | HTML version - Updated April 14, 2007.

Sample Writing

Ars Technica Author Index
An up-to-date index of the most recent articles I've written for Ars Technica. Specific examples follow, but using this index will give you a general idea of where my writing is presently.

2008 EA, Sony Financials News Story
A financial article dealing explicitly with both a narrative analysis of company proceedings and some in-depth financial reporting. Demonstrates the range of my writing ability.

Microsoft PC gaming critical analysis
A critical analysis piece that pools pertinent information and constructs an open-ended argument based on facts and educated perspectives to present a particular viewpoint to the audience and encourage discussion, whether for or against.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Review
A sample product review of a PlayStation 3 title called "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune." This is only one of many product reviews I've written in my career.

"A.I." Featurette
A feature I wrote while in the employ of Deeko Digital Entertainment News, addressing the move towards the next-generation of products and how the transition could affect artificial intelligence.

"Back to the Board" Feature
A feature article I wrote for the University of Waterloo school newspaper, "The Imprint", publicizing the entrepreneurial tenacity of a UW graduate student.

"Rhetorical Masquerade" Academic Paper
An academic paper I wrote attacking the integrity of the common conception of rhetorical studies. Strong rhetorical voice used to persuade and appeal to the logos of the reader. Recieved accolades for composition and convincing tone.

"Fletcher Boy" Rhyming tale
A completely researched and thoroughly-developed children's story that I wrote for my ENGL 208C class. The story was developed using many specialized symbolic, rhetorical and thematic devices used for hundreds of years in children's lit.

Sample Work

Sin-dex.com
A school project for a digital advertising course, this website was the culmination of an entire campaign meant to advertise a UW affliate artist's work entitled the "Moral Meter." Our project was later featured in an art gallery exhibit at the University of Waterloo's Render gallery.

TDSB Academic Workspace
A proposed redesign I drafted out for the TDSB Sharepoint 2007 installation, an intranet and internet application for sharing data and collaboration amongst students, teachers and staff.

TDSB Supporting Teachers
A site I created, commissioned by the TDSB E-Learning Department, for Supporting New Teachers in the classroom specified to be similar in design to my site.

TDSB Virtual School Orientation CD
A CD walk-through I created while at the TDSB to help stream-line the orientation process of the Virtual School system. Every new student is given a copy of this.

TDSB Virtual Career Centre
Another site I designed during my employ in the TDSB. The original hadn't been updated in almost 1996, and the suggested design was readily approved; a much nicer design.

TDSB Virtual School Website
I was responsible for recoding many fundamental back-end functions of the Virtual School registration process when the site was updated by the team in early 2006.

TDSB Wind Turbine
A project for Toronto Hydro teaching about the Wind Turbines. Commissioned by the Board and created by the E-Learning Department. I created the Flash animations.

TDSB TELegraph Logo Redesign
A quick redesign I did to prove the archaic nature of the original, meant to be used for the Telegraph newsletter.

TDSB Virtual Coop
The grand-daddy of my TDSB work: a fully-fledged Flash-based online application meant to supplement the in-class portion of high-school cooperative education. Test login: demo/demo.

TDSB Learning Objects
A series of Flash-based learning objects I created while working in the TDSB E-Learning Department. Meant to supplement in-class learning.

Franky's Casino
A series of gambling games I created for use with the TDSB's Mathematics Learning Objects initiative.

Dennis Hitchmough E-Learning Site
Dennis Hitchmough's E-Learning home. A site I created for my boss for use with our E-Learning initiatives.

If I Die
An idea I had and subsequently created: a site where people could record memories to leave for loved ones.

Twitwol
An idea I had and subsequently created: a site that aggregates popular and late-breaking news stories and crunches them down to ten words or less. Powered by Twitter.

SkiFree MX
A remake of the classic "SkiFree" game I was designing with the help of and assets from the original creator of SkiFree Chris Pirih.

Desktop Manager
An application I designed for use with Windows Active Desktop. Allows a simple XML calendar to be placed on the desktop.

Insignius Designs
A cached version of the website of my old design firm, Insignius Designs. Closed in 2001 due to university time constraints.

Personal Business Cards
I recently redesigned my personal business card, leading to a few different outcomes. Showcases my breadth of design applications to other forms of media besides the web.

Neco Guild Site
Guild site for an old World of Warcarft guild Neco. I was a co-founder and created the entire site: from the design to the database coding.

Rhetoric Redesign
A design project I worked on in one of my design classes. Outlines design methodologies and choices made in redesigning and creating advertisments and print media.