Project(s): Open Publishing Guide, OPL Website

Ben is a multi-disciplined media producer. His disciplines range from producing web media, writing music, producing videos, and various different design works.

Ben was born in Vienna, Austria. His media career started early while attending the American International School in Vienna. At the age of six, Ben started to scan in with his father his color books and color them in using Adobe Photoshop. At the age of eight, he designed his first newsletter Newsamania and distributed to readers in the school. He was the designer for both the elementary newsletter What's Happenin' and his Middle School newsletter Middle School Monitor. At the age of thirteen, he designed the opening to the school's K-12 2001 Yearbook, beginning his 6 year commitment to the school's Yearbook. During this time in yearbook, his work was awarded and recognized five times by its publisher, Taylor Publishing, and presented in the publisher's Yearbook Yearbook.

At the age of thirteen, Ben also began to play guitar and take lessons. He picked up the instrument quickly, performing his first live performance in Kutztown, PA. His interest grew stronger with time, and began to compose his own music, ranging from instrumental music to ballads and rock anthems. Upon graduating High School from the American International School in Vienna in Spring 2006, he attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey, England to earn earn his diploma in Guitar Performance. While there, he submersed myself in the opportunities the school had to offer, including studying with former Alice Cooper guitarist Pete Friesen, and being a session guitarist for John Gallen (one of the sound engineers for the Queen: A Night at the Opera album). It exposed him to several forms of music, and taught him that "there is good in most music...one is naive to stick their noses at music at first hearing."

Here at RIT, Ben is earning his undergraduate degree in New Media Publishing. While studying his professional concentrations, he also continues to personally study several topics in Information Technology, including Java, PHP, and other web development platforms. He currently is a lab assistant for the School of Print Media. His experiences in a variety of different medias helps him contribute to the Open Publishing Guide and other OPL projects as a technical developer and researcher.