The Passing of Philip V.W. Dodds
Artist, inventor, innovator, collaborator and colleague Philip V.W. Dodds passed away on Saturday morning. Please help me recognize and celebrate his accomplishments and the lives he continues to touch.
I tried to write this yesterday and just couldn't. I truly believe the elearning community would not have SCORM as it is today without Philip's contributions as a visionary thinker, organizer, architect and evangelist. He was a man of art and a man of science. He loved technology, yet took great pride and active participation in true and faithful restorations to his historic home. He was drawing electronic circuits on blackboards at an early age, did R&D at ARP Instruments and Kurzweil Music, and led the charge to make CD-ROMs and sound cards a standard part of personal computers through his efforts with IMA and the MPC "Multimedia PC" standards efforts in the late 80's and early 90's.
I'd encourage you to learn more about him real soon now, courtesy of a page available through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Meantime, here is what Elliott Masie had to share about Philip in a message to the Learning Consortium:
"What are we saying to each other?"That was a single line, spoken by the sound engineer at the end of Close Encounters of a Third Kind, as he played chords and a friendly alien spaceship played music back.
The role was played by a young sound engineer who was spotted by Steven Spielberg and given the on-screen role to be the interface between these two worlds. That man, Philip Dodds, was still young and inventing, as he passed this Saturday morning.
Philip Dodds was the Chief Architect of SCORM and the force behind sharable and reusable content. He was deeply involved in the evolution of interactive multimedia and expanding the possibilities for learning via technology.
If you use a Learning Management System, author an interactive learning module or talk about the future of Web 2.0, take a moment to thank a man who you probably never met. Philip's work was KEY and CRITICAL to the exciting world of learning, knowledge management and collaboration that we take for granted.
Philip's dreams were to create a global set of standards and specifications that would allow content to be searchable, reusable and expandable.
Philip, we thank you for all that you have done and we'll keep asking that question: "What are we saying to each other?"
With respect and sadness,
Elliott Masie
P.S. wikipedia reference at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Dodds
Labels: notices
21 Comments:
At 11:59 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Tom,
I have fond memories of Phil describing something and drawing very complex yet meaningful charts. One time, he got deeply lost in the chart..resurfaced a few minutes later and said "hmmm that was interesting"
Let's add a few of our memories here..
Elliott
At 6:47 PM ,
Bill Claxton said...
I remember Phil as a great engineer who was active in the multimedia standards movement. Back in the day (when videodiscs were news), there was IMA and something Macromedia encouraged, which if I recall was known as the Chinatown Group.
I seem to recall Phil speaking at a videodisc event organised by Gene Youngblood and held in LA around 1975.
Later, I exchanged post with Phil and his wife Sue over IMA standards inputs. I may even have a copy of their standards document somewhere.
I have posted a tribute on my own blog http://blog.itr8.com/2007/10/remembering-phil-dodds.html.
At 7:17 AM ,
Aaron said...
Tom,
I count myself very lucky to have worked under Phil. When things get complicated at work, I often remind myself and others in the room that we shouldn't "boil the ocean."
He was a man of accessible wit the belied great vision, and though I'll chuckle everytime one of his euphemisms pop up in upcoming TWG meetings, they will likely be followed up with a somber pause. His presence and leadership will be sorely missed.
At 7:22 AM ,
Aaron said...
Tom,
I count myself very forunate to have worked under Phil for many years. I credit him as much as anyone for providing direction for me professionally, and I often hear his voice reminding me to not "boil the ocean."
I'm sure in the next couple of weeks, there will be many tributes to Phil's many euphemisms. He was a man of incredible, but accessible wit. It was approachable and it belied a great deal of genius. I will chuckle heartily at upcoming TWG meetings when someone talks about "herding kittens," but with each bit of fond laughter, there will be a great deal of somber pause.
At 7:24 AM ,
Anonymous said...
I first met Phil while giving a presentation at an ITEC conference in Amsterdam in 2005. He was so enthusiastic about the presentation that he was almost jumping out of his chair. Afterwards we talked for a long time and hatched a plan to bring his standards vision to the computer gaming community. I have rarely met anyone who could be so passionate about ideas. Phil, I hope you have finally met your pilot face to face now that you have "crossed the bar"
At 9:26 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Ah, the humor of Philip. I was so proud when he took a shine to my phrase "there you go, soup in about a minute" used in an early SCORM packaging demonstration.
I think his patient persistence, dogged determination and humor come through in the interview with Philip that I found archived on an ARP Chroma site. The interview is from an October 1993 issue of Keyboard Magazine and looks back at The Synth That Survived ARP's Fall.
http://tinyurl.com/277slw
At 10:01 AM ,
Unknown said...
The Philip Dodds I knew was the consummate engineer, musician and leader. He was the creative genius with an ability to perform in public, but who often preferred time to himself, working with his hands and with his mind, out of the limelight and behind the scenes. In the real world of music and the metaphorical world of standards he was the bass player who kept the band together and from whom both the rhythm and melodies flowed.
The band will play on without him, but it just won't sound the same.
At 2:00 PM ,
Unknown said...
Tom, thanks so much for initiating this. Like you it has also taken me a while to be able to write this but I join you and the others in the wild range of emotions and memories invoked by thinking of Phil.
Not having the gift of brevity and conciseness that you, Elliott and most other have I've posted some of my fond memories of times of working with Phil for over tend years and some of his great legacy on Off Course - On Target at http://waynehodgins.typepad.com/ontarget/2007/10/memories-of-phi.html
As I concluded there; On Saturday, we lost our "grand navigator" but thanks to Phil Dodds we're well equipped to find our own way now.
At 8:55 AM ,
Anonymous said...
I remember working with Phil back in the early 80's on the formation of IMA and spending some of the most enjoyable times of my life with him and Sue at their home in Annapolis, shooting the breeze on how technology would develop well before CDi and other bygone technologies.
Not only will he be missed as a great innovator but also as a friend. He not only touched the lives of those in the US but he will also be missed by colleagues here in in the UK and around the world.
Thank you Phil for touching my life.
With warmest memories
Steve
Professor Steve Molyneux, Director ADL Partnership Lab (UK)
At 12:24 PM ,
Laurie said...
I met Phil years ago at a holiday open house that he and Susan hosted. Their house preservation project was breathtaking, and Phil's vision, creativity, and eagerness to collaborate on technology projects has been a model for me ever since.
Our world has lost an amazing man.
At 2:11 PM ,
Anonymous said...
My first interaction with Philip was at an ADL working group meeting in 1999. It quickly became apparent to me that this was not a "new" idea, and this fiesty guy had not only an understanding of the problem but had figured out a solution as well! Philip did an amazing job socializing SCORM to adoption not just by the US military, but worldwide. He pulled off what others could not with other standardization efforts that grew out of DoD (HLA, Ada.) For me, it serves as a model for similar future efforts.
At 5:01 PM ,
Chris Ryan said...
I never met Phil in person, but had the pleasure of "interviewing" him a few years back via e-mail for my Chroma Web site (he was product lead for the Chroma synthesizer at ARP and CBS/Fender). His enthusiasm and love, twenty years on, for one of his projects, and especially the people involved, really struck me.
The Keyboard magazine interview on my site is linked above (not sure why it's a Google cache of the page rather than direct to the site); my interview with Philip Dodds and Tony Williams, one of the engineers on the Chroma project, can be found here:
http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=doddswilliams
Here is the direct link to the Keyboard interview:
http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=vintage
Chris
At 4:25 PM ,
Anonymous said...
I had the pleasure of working with Phil when I was the final musical test person at ARP in 1973. I was only 20 years old, but it was the most exciting job I have ever had. Phil was one of the great, innovative minds at ARP and I'm happy to read of all his later accomplishments. He will also be immortalized for his Re Mi Do Do So communication with gentle aliens.
Patricia Genetos (formerly Miller)
At 11:38 AM ,
The High Command said...
I considered Phil to be my best friend at ARP in Newton, MA in the early seventies, when he was the Service Manager and I was a wet-behind-the-ears manual writer. I remember him as a kind, funny, and knowledgeable guy, a fellow fish-out-of-water in what was the chaotic corporate world of analog synthesis back then. I'm sorry to have not re-connected with him.
~Roger Dumas
At 2:49 PM ,
Anonymous said...
I 1st met Phil early in 1976 when I started work as a synthesizer test technician at ARP. Over the next 5 or 6 years, I learned a great deal about engineering from him even though I never worked directly for him. Working at ARP was a family like environment and even though we went our separate ways, throughout the decades since ARP closed people still meet at weddings, parties or even occassionally through work. Seeing Phil (even if had been 6 or 7 years) was like meeting at the Echo Bridge Cafe in Newton after work on Friday, it was as if you had just left work 6 or 7 minutes ago.
During the last few years I only very ocassionally have been on an email thread (usally some bit of ARP information)and Phil would chime in with that dry wit, (I can see that slight crooked grin) often with an exquisitely subtle PUN, and you could see we were about to fall into PUN PIT... but what pun fun we would have.
Phil was THE prototype for the "Modern Renaissance Man". I am glad to have known him, and saddened to hear of his passing, he will be missed. I am certain I speak for all of Philip's family & friends and the ARP "family" in saying never would have been too soon for this time to come.
Roy Lewis/Lead Manufacturing Engineer/www.Irobot.com
At 11:53 AM ,
Anonymous said...
I am very sad to hear about Phil's passing just now.
He fixed 5 of the 6 ARP 2600s that i had owned while on the bench at ARP and I still have the last one that he had fixed with his little enhancements that made it last so long. I also attended his wedding in the 70s and will miss him very much.
Warmest regards and condolences to Sue and his Family.
Richard Hooker
At 7:22 PM ,
jjhannon56 said...
I just found out about this...I am very, very sad to hear about Phil.
I worked with Phil as a Electronic Technician at 3 different companies: The service department at ARP, Fender Musical instruments at the R&D facility in Woburn, MA and at Visage.
I learned a lot from him. He had a calm manner and wit that was inspiring when things were hectic at work. His puns were legendary and he could keep at it until we begged him to stop :)
My fond memory was working on a prototype piano with him during the end of the ARP era.
I was a Technician that always wanted to be an Engineer...but never got to be one. Phil had confidence in me and treated me like a fellow engineer.
My prayers and thoughts are with him and his family and friends.
John Hannon
Electronic Technician
USPS/PD&C Boston
At 8:15 AM ,
Larry said...
Tom,
Although it's been many years, I remember when Phil came into Kurzweil Music as VP Engineering. His calm, thoughtful, and insightful coaching style made an overwhelming challenge a lot easier to swallow. He showed great grace under pressure, especially after Visage was in trouble.
I'll remember Phis as smart and classy a person as I have ever met.
Larry
At 12:31 PM ,
Anonymous said...
In the late seventies I was another one of the technicians passing through ARP to become trained on their synthesizers for a Midwestern music store. Phil didn't just train us, he could explain the existence of every component, and why it's value was chosen, as a composer could explain why each note and it's duration was used in a symphony. A few years later I remember doing a doubletake while watching ET...I KNOW that guy!
Rich Bogen
At 2:12 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Tom, thanks so much for initiating this. Like you it has also taken me a while to be able to write this but I join you and the others in the wild range of emotions and memories invoked by thinking of Phil.
At 8:26 AM ,
Paul Bates said...
Tom, I am just finding the wiki on Phil and your post today in 2010
My memories of Phil are from 1985 when he ran Visage, a Framingham MA high tech company that added interactive video technology to PCs. The simplicity and brilliance of his abilities with electronics AND people can't be overstated.
Young and cocky as I was at the time, I stood in wonder of the things going on around me that I was part of.
Taking time now I look back 25 years and realize how great those things were and how much I was able to learn and grow as a result Phil and what he created.
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