Brian C. O'Connor

Brian O'Connor's research focuses on Photo Provocations (thinking in, with, and about photographs); Doing Things with Information (being human); Structures of Image Collections (how much entropy can you stand?); Soft retrieval (pragmatic philosophy and computation); Interdisciplinary studies (erosion of boundaries so that "inter" will be irrelevant).

"I am rather more fond of the notion of learning than the notion of teaching. Certain areas of exploration fascinate me & I have some skills - in whatever circumstances I can make them known by passions and act as a guide for others I am learning/teaching. Perhaps 'thinkering' is the descriptive term - contemplating, doing, sharing, examining."

Brian shot his first roll of photographs in the first grade - before writing his first sentence. He studied Greek & Latin literature at Dartmouth and spent a good deal of time at the movies. A master's degree in film under Mickey Siporin at Montclair State, several years of documentary production, and Ph.D. research at Berkeley on representation all form the foundation for his current work. Collaborations with close friends and colleagues have led to publications in several arenas dealing with images, representation, and questions.

"I would like to think that I fit into the class of scholars who hold boundaries in little regard while holding people with skills and interests in high regard. In the early part of the 21st century I find myself wrestling with notions of just what is a document and just how do image-based documents work? It is exciting to be engaged in the philosophical, social, and artistic realm of making sense of the new image environment in which we find ourselves."

Hand crafting and paddling kayaks is among his passions.

Brian is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Information Science, College of Information, University of North Texas.