Robin Whittle's CV

Curriculum Vitae and Capability Statement - Robin Whittle

2023-08-21:

See https://www.firstpr.com.au/issues/ for more on consumer advocacy regarding protecting privacy and preventing censorship. This includes my 2023-08-20 critique of the exposure draft of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023.

Some 1990s material on the Link List: https://www.firstpr.com.au/link/ .

First Principles http://www.firstpr.com.au rw@firstpr.com.au January 2007

This is a reasonably detailed CV covering my electronic, software, telecommunications and advocacy work.

Background

I was born in England in 1955, grew up in Melbourne and have lived here ever since. In 2004, Tina and I were married. We live in a north-eastern suburb of Melbourne.

I finished HSC at Camberwell Grammar School in 1972 and pursued my interests in electronics and music through my employment and my first business Real World Interfaces until 1992, with a year at La Trobe University in 1976 studying music, philosophy and sociology. While my involvement in electronics, software and music continues, in 1992 I became involved in telecommunications - initially as a privacy advocate, then as a technical writer and consultant. First Principles is my business name for writing and consulting.
I specialise in thorough investigation of complex and indefinite issues, and in explaining and discussing the key questions, principles and strategies with those who are not accustomed to understanding technical matters. Most of my telecommunications work in recent years has been writing the Telecommunications Technology Library, for Paul Budde Communications. A list of the reports I wrote is at: ../telco/pb-telco/ .

Writing and advocacy is often a rather solitary activity, but I enjoy research and discussion. Consulting projects can be a welcome opportunity to work intensively as part of a team.

Areas of consulting expertise

Technical and demand aspects of broadband communications - particularly HFC, ADSL and other "last-mile" customer access network technologies.
Privacy and consumer issues regarding telecommunications, problems with intrusive and inappropriate marketing, telemarketing, Calling Number Display and Malicious Call Trace.
Technical, demand and marketing aspects of the music industry - especially future scenarios for network-based artist-to-listener, and retail-shop-based, music discovery, marketing and delivery.
Explaining Internet communications - with a particular focus on content regulation, copyright, cryptography and privacy issues. Exploring the "how" and "why" questions of various technical approaches to content control of Internet communications.
Writing articles, particularly those explaining complex technologies to a non-specialist audience - including technical diagrams and photography.
User documentation for software, hardware and Internet access packages.
Writing articles and/or brochure copy for technology companies.
Assembly, C (and to a limited extent C++) programming, especially for DSP and real-time systems - Unix with 32 bit CPUs or embedded systems with smaller processors.
Assembly language programming with the MicroChip PIC16F870 and the dsPIC 16 bit Digital Signal Processing microcontroller: http://www.microchip.com .
Analogue, digital electronic design, including schematics and through-hole printed circuits.
Programmable logic design: experience to date with Lattice GAL and ispLSI devices.
Mechanical and front-panel design, including Lexan labels.
Reverse engineering of software and hardware.
I operate my own Linux servers at home and a FreeBSD server in San Francisco - on which this site is hosted. I have some expertise in this, but don't do sysadmin or Web design work professionally.

Articles and technical writing

Please see these pages:

http://www.firstpr.com.au/telco/articles/ Articles for Australian Communications magazine 1994 to 1998.
http://www.firstpr.com.au/telco/pb-telco/ Technical reports for Paul Budde Communications 1998 to the present.
http://www.firstpr.com.au/telco/consult/ Consulting and technical writing.

Telecommunications consulting projects

1994 Consulting to Melbourne pre-press and graphic design company Media Equation. BR-ISDN WAN hardware and software for teleworking via extension of Macintosh network to a remote site. Organised the installation of Microlinks at both sites.
1994-95 Consulting to the Bureau of Transport and Communication Economics, as part of the Communications Futures Project - resulting in a 350 page paper "Future Developments in the Music Market." http://www.firstpr.com.au/musicmar/
1995:

Project for Telstra Corporate Strategy.
For Cutler and Co. as part of their Online Economy project.
For LaTrobe Shire Council on Internet communications.

1995 - 96. Fine-tuned and wrote user documentation for a Macintosh Internet starter kit, for Melbourne ISP InterDomain. Developed and wrote user documentation for a Windows 3.1 Internet starter kit.
1996:

Created small website for Ballarat Management Consultants Woodward and Associates.
Consulting to barrister Paul Marin as an expert witness in a criminal case regarding allegedly illegal material in "undeleted" computer files.
For TUSC Computer Systems in Doncaster, a software house for complex real-time systems. I researched the company's methods and achievements and wrote an article for internal and marketing use on the culture and capabilities of the company.

1997 Consulting for Stronghold Developments on development of an HFC-based set-top-box for Internet access.
1997-1998:

As part of a team assembled by CIRCIT for the Australian National Training Authority, on technical standards for IT and telecommunications for VET (TAFE) colleges, particularly in respect of distance education.
For Aurora Communications (NetComm R&D spin-off) on proposals for HFC/satellite Set-Top-Box, cable-modem and MPEG-2 based web delivery. Technical referee for their successful START grant application - however the company was unable to raise the necessary venture capital to commence the project.
For Macquarie Securities - client briefings on impact of "Internet telephony".
For Azzopardi and Partners in Sydney - copy for an Optus network services brochure.

2000:

Work with Backroad Connections on technical standards in education.
Evaluated several lossless audio compression algorithms for Nanyang Technological University, Singapore: http://www.firstpr.com.au/audiocomp/lossless/ .

2003 Further work on technical standards for the VET sector, with John Murphy and Associates. The final report should be at: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/standards/reports/PS2003_Final_Report.pdf . A copy is here: ../telco/PS2003_Final_Report.pdf . My contribution is mainly pages 75 to 94 (Attachment 11 Web Site Usability and Attachment 12 Base-level Web Skills for Learners): guidelines for website usability which may be helpful in many areas beyond education.

Conference presentations

1996 IIR Interactive Multimedia Conference, Sydney: "Short- and long-term cross industry prospects for the use of multimedia."
1996 Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals Annual Conference, Melbourne: "Technology in Consumer Transactions: Setting the Scene".
1996 IIR Information Privacy Conference, Sydney: "Privacy is what the customer says it is."

Advocacy, committees and debates

1992 Submissions and meeting with AUSTEL Privacy Inquiry, concerning the problems of unwanted telephone calls of all kinds, telemarketing in particular Calling Number Display.
Prepared a funding proposal for a mail survey into telecommunications privacy issues, for the Telecom Social and Policy Research Fund - but like most applications, this was not funded.
In the Netherlands, met with local privacy advocates and the Privacy Manager of PTT Telecom. This resulted in a short paper and submission to an AUSTEL billing inquiry, on the privacy aspects of itemised billing.
Presented paper and diagram of telecommunications privacy issues at CIRCIT workshop "Human Communication Factors in Communication and Information Technology Adoption".
1993 Wrote a largely positive critique of the AUSTEL Privacy Inquiry's final report.
Wrote privately circulated paper explaining ADSL and other broadband technologies and exploring some social implications: "Video Through the Telephone Wires - the Technical and Social Aspects of ADSL and other Pay TV and Interactive Technologies".
1993 - 96 Member of the Consumers' Telecommunications Network Council.
1994 Some of the above material, the 1994 ADSL articles and a detailed table comparing various broadband technologies presented as submissions to the Broadband Services Expert Group. A second 70 page submission concentrated on applications, but with material on network technology, BR-ISDN, Internet access, World Wide Web, social aspects of Pay TV and the changed role of advertising when video is digitised. Spoke at the BSEG's Melbourne "Have Your Say" seminar as a "technologically advanced consumer".
Prepared background material for the authors of two Population Group Discussion Papers for the Telecom "Planning for an Information Society Project". The papers were on people with low incomes (ACOSS) and technically advanced households and individuals (CTN).
1994 - 96 Joined AUSTEL's Mobile Churn Committee as the sole consumer rep - for CTN. Prepared graphical and tabular comparison of the privacy and other aspects of various direct marketing, advertising and selling approaches. In 1995 wrote the CTN position paper on the issues this committee was tackling. (The committee still supposedly exists, with carriers working towards another full meeting - but it has not met since December 1995.)
1995:

Discussed with market researchers the need for separate control schemes for telemarketing and market research.
Submission to the Innovation Inquiry - conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.
Joined Standards Australia Digital Video Services Task Group as the CTN representative.
Extensive submission regarding online content regulation (Internet censorship and its privacy and free-speech implications) for the inquiry by the Senate Select Committee on Community Standards Relevant to the Supply of Services Utilising Electronic Technologies.
Worked with the consumer and Privacy Commissioner's representatives who were finalising the AUSTEL Privacy Advisory Committee's report on Calling Number Display.
Met twice with Australian Broadcasting Authority staff who were preparing their investigation of Internet content regulation. With some Privacy Commissioner's staff, visited OzEmail - to learn about their system's workings and the practicality of a "refused access list" scheme which was then being considered by the ABA.

1995 onwards. Active participant on the Link mailing list - a discussion forum for Australian communications, IT, privacy, Internet censorship and cryptography issues.
1995 - 97:

Joined AUSTEL's Standards Advisory Committee (SAC) as the consumer rep. for AFCO, which is know called Consumers' Federation of Australia.
Joined AUSTEL Technical Standards WG 2/1 as CTN representative. WG 2/1 is responsible for the analogue telephone customer equipment standards TS 002, TS 004 and TS 006. In 1996 it also developed TS 030 for Calling Number Display customer equipment.

1995 Spoke at a CTN seminar on consumer involvement in telecommunications standards setting and contributed to the CTN report on the subject - however I do not support all its conclusions.
1996:

Met ABA staff again in Sydney and contributed extensive submissions on their investigation of Internet content regulation.
Wrote, for my web site, a tutorial on technical and policy aspects of encryption, digital signatures and Public Key Authentication Frameworks.
Public comments and work with the Electronic Frontiers of Australia Cryptography Committee on the draft of Standards Australia's work on Public Key Authentication Framework.
Commented on British Government proposals for "Trusted Third Party" cryptography.
Raising awareness amongst technical and policy people about the feasibility and desirability of Customer Activated Malicious Call Trace to deter most malicious phone calls, and to ease the detection of those that remain.
Meeting with Gerard Walsh, special adviser to the AG's Department on Cryptography Policy.

1997 Public comments on AUSTEL's Customer Billing Issues Paper and on the ACCC's Distance Selling Code of Conduct draft and discussion paper.
1998:

63 page submission to Senate Select Committee on Information Technology regarding appropriateness of various forms of regulation, and in particular self-regulation, for a range of privacy and content-regulation aspects of communications. This and the following item are available at: http://www.firstpr.com.au/issues/ .
Critique of the Federal Government's "Gatekeeper" report - concerning government public-key frameworks for authentication, digital signatures and encryption.

1998 - 2005 Submissions to the ACCC on the Australian Direct Marketing Association's request for authorisation of a code of conduct which covers telemarketing. http://www.firstpr.com.au/issues/tm/ .
2005 Submission to DCITA on their proposal for a Do Not Call list to regulate telemarketing. http://www.firstpr.com.au/issues/dnc/ .

Hardware and software projects

1968 - 72 Electronic work at home and at the school radio club, leading to the development of a dance lighting system.
1977 - 80 Built Z-80 based computer from scratch, including development of monitor software - and then drum-sound, drum machine and control-voltage sequencing for music.
1980 - 83 Developed, published and performed modifications to portable Casio digital polyphonic keyboards, primarily the M-10, MT-30 and CT-202.
1982 onwards. Extra memory and sound enhancements for the Roland TR-808 and TR-606 drum machine and the TB-303 Bassline.
1984 onwards. MIDI retrofit for polyphonic synthesisers such as Jupiter 8, Prophet V and later many other units, including accordions. Purpose-built MIDI interfaces for various applications.
1985 Commence Real World Interfaces full-time - concentrating on modifications to musical equipment, including extra memory and sound improvements.
1987 Modified software, sound improvement and extra memory for Yamaha DX7.
1989 - 93 Modified software, sound improvement and battery backed-up memory for Roland MT-32.
1990 - 91 Consulting on real-time audio control software project for Sound Design Studio.
1992 - 95 Printed circuit board and front panel design for 3DIS Pty Ltd, who made 3D video computer perception systems.
1993 - 94 Version 1.x Devil Fish modifications for Roland TB-303.
1994 Hardware and software design for two "Light Harp" MIDI controller systems for Stuart Favilla for the International Computer Music Conference in Denmark.
1995 - 96 Additional unit generators for the Csound audio synthesis language - which were later were incorporated into the "standard" version of Csound. Developed a binaural unit generator which enables the simulation of a head and multiple moving sound sources.
1996 onwards. Version 2.x Devil Fish modifications for TB-303. http://www.firstpr.com.au/rwi/dfish/ .
1997 onwards. 32 megabyte memory boards for Akai samplers: S1000/S1100 and S2800/S3000/CD3000/S3200. http://www.firstpr.com.au/rwi/smem/ .
2002 - 2004 Electronic highland bagpipes MIDI controller for Mark Saul. http://www.marksaul.tv/InstrumentVideos.html .
2005 MIDI In for Devil Fish, using PIC16F870.
2005 ongoing Further development work for Mark Saul.

Further information:

My main First Principles site www.firstpr.com.au
In brief and in colour - a few photos with my wife, Tina, and some more personal words.

I have two research projects which are not mentioned above.

http://astroneu.com A critique of the Big Bang Theory and of the "photon" theory - that electromagnetic radiation is quantized. I propose a redshift mechanism due to the interaction of short coherence length electromagnetic radiation and the sparse plasmas such as stellar coronae and the intergalactic medium.
http://aminotheory.com Coming soon: new theories and observations regarding the common neurological condition Restless Legs Syndrome (http://www.rls.org).