I’m a self-professed vinyl junkie, web geek, learner, teacher, exuberant gardener and cook, hockey fan, vegetarian, and recovering nonprofit executive director.

I live in Hamilton, Canada with my husband Michael Chambers, who runs Catherine North Studios. We share our home with three cats (Isabelle, Jezebel and Josephine) and two rescued greyhounds (Grace and Bing).

I teach computer stuff and other web geekery at Toronto’s Harris Institute for the Arts, a private post-secondary school specializing in audio and music industry education. I also served as the registrar at Harris Institute from March 2008 to August 2009.

I’m one of the founders of Yibboo.com, a (nascent) internet start-up dedicated to helping people discover face-to-face learning and teaching opportunities in their community. I’ve also spent some time recently at Mohawk College, working as a technologist in their fabulous new Collaboratory.

Here are a few more random things about me:

• I was born in Montreal, Quebec and raised in various places across Ontario and Quebec. My dad was an explosives expert, so we moved around a lot. [Um, wait a sec––that came out all wrong...]
• My greyhound Bing is a therapy dog; we volunteer at Paws for Reading, a local children’s literacy-assistance program.
• I collect vinyl from 60s, 70s and 80s – over 1,100 records and growing. One of my favourite genres is Space Age Pop (aka exotica, lounge, cocktail, etc).
• My nickname/alias/pseudonym of choice is magnetha, so if you run into magnetha elsewhere on the web… it’s probably me.

I’m always interested in projects that promote creative collaboration and information sharing. So if you want to pitch me an idea, don’t be shy!