User:Joelwest
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Joel West is a researcher on high-technology topics, particularly those related to computers, software and telecommunications.
About Me
I work in San José, California, so not surprisingly my Wikipedia contributions are often about Silicon Valley. As a third generation Californian, I am also making contributions regarding various aspects of California geography, cities and institutions that seem unduly neglected, particularly the state's universities and details of my native San Diego.
More information about me can be found at my web page (http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/west_j/About/index.html). And no, the phrase "web page" is neither pointless nor redundant.
About my Contributions
I notice on Wikipedia that a lot of people "contribute" an article by searching the Internet to find something already written and then copy/paste it in. This might not be a copyright violation if the document is in the public domain (e.g. a 76-year-old book that's been scanned in). But it is still called plagiarism if you do it without crediting the sources.
My contributions are exactly that -- mine and contributed. In journalism they call it a "rewrite job"; in academia, it might be called a "literature review" (or "term paper"). I am summarizing and synthesizing from existing sources a complete story from a single coherent point of view (mine). There are others who've been doing this for 2+ years, and I would like my work to sit with the best of them.
If you want to comment on my contributions (http://en2.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&target=Joelwest) (good or bad), send me messages at my talk page or drop me an e-mail (http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Emailuser&target=joelwest).