About
Janell Baxter is an artist, educator, and interactive media developer. She began creating interactive art (in both traditional and digital mediums) in 1993 and has been focusing on emergent and adaptive systems for the past several years. She is currently working on a series of small bots that analyze visuals in search of meaning and inspiration for their own "artwork". These bundles of code have begun to produce and interpret audio (in collaboration with Dr. Joseph Cancellaro).
Commercial work over the past decade has primarily focused on building solutions that enhance communication and collaboration; creating technologies that increase the effectiveness of teams and individuals. These applications have been primarily web based utilizing technologies and languages such as .NET, C#, SQL, ASP, CSS, and XML. Applications that write web standards compliant code have been a particular interest.
Ms. Baxter has been teaching interactive media at Columbia College Chicago since 1998. She has a MS degree in computer science from the University of Chicago, a BFA in studio arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and she is a McCarthy Technologies certified instructor.
Academic Positions
- Assistant Professor, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2009 to present
- Artist-in-Residence, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1999 to 2009
- Part-Time Faculty, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1998 and 1999
Education
- University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, M.S., Computer Science, 2006
- University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, B.F.A., Studio Arts, 1993
- William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, IL, A.A., 1991
Certifications
- Core Instructor Certification, McCarthy Technologies, Inc. 2004
- Core Certification, McCarthy Technologies, Inc. 2002
Technical Skills
- Languages: C#, XML, PHP, SQL, HTML/xHTML, CSS, Java, JavaScript and ActionScript
- Applications: Photoshop, Flash, Processing, Illustrator, and Maya
- Traditional studio arts: accomplished in drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpture
Teaching Interests
- Algorithmic art
- Application design and development
- Interaction design
- Object-oriented programming
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Virtual worlds
- Web design
Research Interests
- Algorithmic art
- Emergent and adaptive systems
- Interface design and interactive application development
- Teamwork (best practices for high-performance teams)
- Virtual communities and collaboration
