# Chris J. Karr (@cjkarr.bsky.social)

Profile: https://sifa.id/p/cjkarr.bsky.social
Headline: Open source software developer working to build an ethical and humane future.

## About

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## Experience

- **Founder and Chief Developer at Audacious Software** (2010 – present)
  Started to provide bespoke software development services to research clients.
- **Founder at The Behavioral Research Innovation Center (BRIC)** (2025 – present)
  Founded BRIC to create and disseminate sustainable and reusable software technologies and practices for the scientific research community.
- **Chief Technology Officer at Power2Switch** (2010 – 2011)
  Managed the technical transition and scaling while the company was transitioning from a seed-state start-up through its Series A funding and and participation in the Exclerate Labs incubator (now TechStars Chicago).
- **Summer Intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory** (1998 – 1999)
  Worked as a summer intern within the CIC-6 computing support assisting Lab users with developing software on the Blue Mountain supercomputer. Also created and taught basic software development skills to New Mexico high school teachers as part of the Lab's outreach through the annual New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge.
- **Software Developer at Northwestern University** (2002 – 2006)
  Worked as a software developer for the University's Academic Technologies unit (now Academic & Research Technology) supporting faculty and staff on grant-driven and internal projects.
- **Publisher at Weird Fiction Quarterly** (2023 – present)
  Took over publishing duties from WFQ founder Russell Smeaton with partner Sarah Walker. Have continued to publish several volumes of flash fiction every year, in addition to other special projects such as chapbooks and charity anthologies with award winning authors.
- **Wellhand at Folsom Well Service** (1994 – 1998)
  Served as a wellhand assisting with the installation and repair of windmills and other water infrastructure, supporting the ranching communities of Northeastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Southeastern Colorado.

## Education

- **Northwestern University** — M.A., Media, Technology, and Society (2006 – 2009)
- **Princeton University** — A.B., Computer Science (1998 – 2002)

## Skills

- FORTRAN
- Plumbing
- MPI
- Plone
- Python
- TypeScript
- Linux
- Docker
- Swift
- Objective-C
- Java
- Kotlin
- Django
- JavaScript
- C++
- Irix
- HTML
- Parallel Computing
- ActionScript
- ECMAScript
- Zope
- LaTeX
- Digital Publishing
- Adobe Photoshop
- Electrical
- Android Development
- iOS Development
- Symbian Development
- Windows Phone Development
- Java Servlets
- WordPress
- AWS

## Projects

- **The Oyez Project** — https://www.oyez.org/
  Served as the technical lead on the Supreme Court oral arguments archive through several technology transitions, and leading to convert a limited streaming archive to a more open form, using formats such as MP3 files and permissive Creative Commons licensing.
- **Fresh Comics** — https://freshcomics.us
  Created and continue maintain one of the Internet's older comic book weekly release calendar, available on the web, iOS, and Android devices.
- **Scitopia Chicago** — https://scitopiachicago.org/
  Supporting University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno in his efforts to build a science education center for teens in Chicago's Washington Park neighborhood and the city at large. 

## Publications

- Framing Helper Therapy to Support User Engagement: Causal Evidence from a Public Deployment of a Mental Health Support Text Messaging Program (https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791591)
- Effectiveness of a Digital Health Intervention Leveraging Reinforcement Learning: Results From the Diabetes and Mental Health Adaptive Notification Tracking and Evaluation (DIAMANTE) Randomized Clinical Trial — Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://doi.org/10.2196/60834)
- Effectiveness of a Digital Health Intervention Leveraging Reinforcement Learning: Results From the Diabetes and Mental Health Adaptive Notification Tracking and Evaluation (DIAMANTE) Randomized Clinical Trial (Preprint) (https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.60834)
- The relationship between text message sentiment and self-reported depression — Journal of Affective Disorders (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.12.048)
- A Smartphone-Based Self-management Intervention for Individuals With Bipolar Disorder (LiveWell): Protocol Development for an Expert System to Provide Adaptive User Feedback — JMIR Formative Research (https://doi.org/10.2196/32932)
- Evaluation of Changes in Depression, Anxiety, and Social Anxiety Using Smartphone Sensor Features: Longitudinal Cohort Study — Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://doi.org/10.2196/22844)
- A Text Messaging Intervention (StayWell at Home) to Counteract Depression and Anxiety During COVID-19 Social Distancing: Pre-Post Study (Preprint) (https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.25298)
- A Playful City in the Cards — Extended Abstracts of the 2020 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3383668.3419873)
- Feasibility, Acceptability, and Influence of mHealth-Supported N-of-1 Trials for Enhanced Cognitive and Emotional Well-Being in US Volunteers — Frontiers in Public Health (http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00260)
- Comparison of the Effects of Coaching and Receipt of App Recommendations on Depression, Anxiety, and Engagement in the IntelliCare Platform: Factorial Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint) (https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.13609)
- Capturing Rest-Activity Profiles in Schizophrenia Using Wearable and Mobile Technologies: Development, Implementation, Feasibility, and Acceptability of a Remote Monitoring Platform — JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.8292)
- Evaluation of a recommender app for apps for the treatment of depression and anxiety: an analysis of longitudinal user engagement — Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocy023)
- IntelliCare: An Eclectic, Skills-Based App Suite for the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety — Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6645)
- Mobile Phone Sensor Correlates of Depressive Symptom Severity in Daily-Life Behavior: An Exploratory Study — Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4273)
- A single vs. multi-sensor approach to enhanced detection of smartphone placement — 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/embc.2014.6944424)
- Researching Real-World Web Use with Roxy: Collecting Observational Web Data with Informed Consent — Journal of Information Technology & Politics (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2012.664966)
- Harnessing Context Sensing to Develop a Mobile Intervention for Depression — Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1838)

## Volunteering

- President at Fremont Place Rowhouses Homeowners Association
- Volunteer at Five Blues Lake National Park
- Election Judge at Chicago Board of Elections
- Monitor at Greeley Elementary School Neighborhood Watch

## Languages

- Spanish (elementary)
- Russian (elementary)
- English (native)

## Other profiles

- github: https://github.com/audaciouscode/
- fediverse: https://omgwars.com/@chris
- orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1828-4497
- website: http://notesfromthevoid.cc/
- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjkarr/