Dr. Rockwell is the reason I attended McMaster's Multimedia program. He was the one who introduced the program to me at one of the University Fairs in Toronto when I was deciding what to do with my future university path.
He is a professor in the Multimedia program and taught mainly upper year courses, which was unfortunate as I didn't have a long enough time to get to know him. I was fortunate enough to have him as a professor in MMEDIA 3B03 (Topics in the Philosophy and History of Computing). His teaching style is very laid back and he tries to engage his students in the material, wanting you to read about it on your own and become interested in it, rather than trying to force it to you through lecturing. He refers to himself as being 'old' in the sense that he is a professor who has been around for a while and seen technology evolve dramatically through his years. Being someone with so much experience, his knowledge is very broad in the field of computing and has contributed a lot of this through his research and writings. He takes a theoretical approach to his teachings and enjoys bringing about intellectual discussion on the topics being covered - while at the same time wanting you to think outside the box and come up with new ideas and ask questions.
While in his MMEDIA 3B03 class, Dr. Rockwell opened our eyes to what people really expect when writing proposals for research grants. He taught us how to write without the 'b/s' and condense our thoughts on the page to keeping things short, sweet, and to the point. Essays in his class were restricted to only a few pages and he wanted us to do research and bring new ideas while explaning them in such little space - forcing us to make every word and every sentence count.
Dr. Rockwell sees
Ubiquitous Computing as the future of computing, and it is already beginning to happen with "The Cloud' and the new 3G iPhone being able to connect to the Internet anywhere in the world, mobile computing on the go, etc.
Unfortunately as of July 1st 2008, Dr. Rockwell will be leaving McMaster and moving on to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alberta where he will be pursuing his research and teachings.
Website:
http://www.geoffreyrockwell. com/
