Phil Shapiro

2666 points
Smiling librarian standing in front of bookcase
Washington DC-area

Phil Shapiro has been an educator, teaching students from pre-school to graduate school for the past 35 years. He currently works at a public library in the Washington, DC area, helping youth and adults use their public Linux stations. Between 2007 and 2012, he blogged for PC World magazine on various technology topics and currently writes for Ars Technica, MAKE magazine, FOSS Force, TechSoup for Libraries, and Opensource.com. Visit him at his antique ebook store. For more about what he is up to, follow him on Mastodon @philshapiro@mastodon.social and see his library dance videos on YouTube.

Pairs Math Game

Updated resume (2022)

WashPost - The Man Who Gives Computers to Kids (May, 2000)

PCWorld - Does Free Software Restore Dignity?

PCWorld (original article)

I like to teach. David tenor guitar

The Day My Mind Became Open Sourced

Professional associations and organizations I support:

Internet Press Guild
Women in Film & Video
Washington Apple Pi
Let's Play America
HacDC
Takoma Park Robots and Makers
East Harlem Tutorial Program
Higher Achievement
Small Things Matter

-----

Journalism I support

MAKE magazine
NPR
CoolTools
FOSS Force

--------------

My Amazon wish list

----

"All of the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today." - Chinese proverb

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpotts

Authored Content

Authored Comments

This oversized Toblerone chocolate bar would be great to have in a Trivia Vending Machine. You would need to design a machine specifically for this sized chocolate bar. As I visualize this, the candy bar would come rolling down about five feet from the top of the machine and then make a happy, big thud in the aluminum tub at the bottom of the machine. https://www.amazon.com/Toblerone-Chocolate-Almond-Nougat-Easter/dp/B09H… To get to play a round in the Giant Toblerone Vending Machine, you would first need to earn 15 "coins" from a regular Vending Machine. These coins could be "virtual coins" that are entered into the Giant Toblerone Vending Machine using a QR code, or somesuch.

Max Jarrell, of Los Altos, California, once asked his parents to install Inkscape as his Christmas present. That is all he wanted for Christmas. This anecdote is reported in this PCWorld article https://www.pcworld.com/article/494626/inkscape-3.html For that Christmas, his parents learned the deep value of non-monetary gifts.