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I Wonder

Hi, my name’s Tim Gorichanazgor-SHON-iz. I’m curious, in both senses of the word: I have a lot of questions, and they say I’m a little on the weird side. In my writing, research and teaching, I'd like to spark a little more wonder in all of us.

I teach and conduct research at Drexel University in the College of Computing and Informatics, where I am an Assistant Teaching Professor.

I also write essays and fiction and run ultramarathons. Sometimes I run while I'm writing, and sometimes I do research about running. Sometimes I do other things, like practice classical guitar.

I write about tech and ethics on Substack. Check it out and subscribe below!

What I'm Up To

Here is more about me now (inspired by Derek Sivers).

Reading: I read 80–100 books every year. One book I'd recommend is The Book of Goose, by Yiyun Li. It's a novel that, on one hand, follows the life of a child author who rises to fame out of a tiny village in rural post-war France, and on the other hand explores childhood friendship and how people grow apart.

Writing: I’m a congenital fiction writer. I've written a number of novels, a few of which I've self-published. My latest is Overyear, a coming-of-age fantasy story about a late bloomer. If short stories are more your speed, an interesting one to start with is The River God. In addition to fiction, I've written several essays and articles.

Running: I started running when I was 20, and I’ve grown to love it. I generally run one or two 100-mile races a year now. Read more about some of my runs on my running blog.

Teaching: At Drexel, I teach courses on various aspects of ethics and design in human–computer interaction and user experience. I also serve the Teaching and Learning Center as a teaching consultant.

Research: I have a PhD in information studies, and I study people's experiences with information and technology. I'm particularly interested in how we can design systems to help us become better people, applying the philosophy of the virtues to design. I'm also an editor with Proceedings from the Document Academy, and I'm editor of news and book reviews for the journal Education for Information.

Guitar: I’ve monkeyed around on the guitar since about eighth grade, but I didn’t practice with gusto until I started my PhD program. (Correlation?) I more recently discovered a love for classical guitar, and I'm studying at Classical Guitar Corner. I'm working on Grade 4 at present.

Location: I live with my husband and my cat in West Philadelphia, where I appreciate the trees and tilted sidewalks. I moved here from Wisconsin in 2014.