David Bellin is a technology consultant with a special interest in the appropriate uses of Internet technology for nonprofit and international organizations. As a US Congress Fulbright scholar, Bellin developed technology courses and implemented practical systems in Honduras at the Escuela Agricola Panamericana. In 2000, Bellin was awarded a second Fulbright position in Nepal, where he trained faculty at Kathmandu University and helped develop that nation’s first graduate-level program in computer science. Fluent in Spanish, he has consulted internationally with the American Friends Service committee and at the Universidad Nacional Autonomia de Mexico (UNAM).
Bellin’s academic career includes positions at Pratt Institute in New York and at the University of North Carolina, A&T in Greensboro. As Director of Graduate Studies at A&T, he developed a master’s program from its inception in 1993 to an enrollment of 90 students with substantial funding and national recognition by the end of the decade. While he has devoted the past five years to working with the nonprofit sector and underrepresented populations, Bellin is currently considering the possibility of a return to an academic position. His primary areas of interest are the social implications of technology and the teaching challenges faced by addressing the needs of underrepresented populations at all levels of university study. He teaches in the areas of software metrics, object-oriented analysis, and the social implications of current technology.
Bellin’s commitment to social issues in computing bridges both his academic work (offering a social issues curriculum at the graduate and undergraduate level) and his publications. In addition to several technical books, Bellin edited Computers in battle, one of the first studies of the question of feasibility and ethics in the use of computer-based weapons. His doctoral dissertation, “Information commodities and the production process: How the introduction of CASE tools affects the software development life cycle” (City University of New York), addressed both the technical and the project dynamics of software development. A founder of the NYC chapter of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, he also suffers from way too many certifications, licenses, and hobbies!
David Bellin’s publications include numerous articles, as well as the following books:
The CRC card book (1997: Addison-Wesley), with Susan Simone, forward by Ward Cunningham.
Software maintenance: the small systems management guide (1991: Prentice Hall). Also published in Portuguese.
The structured systems development manual (1990: Yourdon - Prentice Hall), with Susan Suchman, forward by Meilar Page-Jones. Also published in Spanish.
Manual del desarrollo de sistemas (1988: Institute for Technology and Development), with Susan Suchman.
Computers in battle: will they work? (1987: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), co?editor with Gary Chapman. Computer Press Association runner-up for best nonfiction book. Also published in Japanese and Italian.
The complete computer maintenance handbook (1986: Harper and Row). Also published in Japanese.