Why Techtelos? I started Techtelos as my research and teaching and consulting “home” in 2015. My goal was to use my experience and training in ethics, teaching, ministry and human-computer interaction to help bridge the gap between technology’s potential and the realities of how and where nonprofits and religious organizations do their work. I chose the name “Techtelos” for my firm because it captures what I believe we can bring together, even in the face of rapid change: “tech” for the rich new tools and devices that we have at hand, and “telos,” an ancient word for “goal or purpose,” for the values and hopes that we live toward.
The beginning steps for my work were not in technology, but in my own early experiences of work and education: working in disability rights advocacy and in hunger ministry with homeless men and women, and working and studying at Harvard as the first in my family to go to college. I know the ways that power and voice can be used to build on-ramps for others in society, if we choose to make space to learn from people about their experiences, strengths and needs. Technology gives us new ways to do that, and challenges us to think about the practices we want to preserve and the communities we want to have. After completing my M.Div. and Ph.D. work in social ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary and being ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ, I taught full time as a professor for over a decade at Friends University in Kansas and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, teaching about technology, professional ethics and community-based research along with pastoral work and teaching in church and denominational settings.
Over time, I realized I wanted to help people beyond academia to examine the ways that online technologies actually work, and to help them use those tools for their teaching and learning and community justice work. To do this, I stepped out of my role as a full-time professor and became a student again, focusing on human-computer interaction and online learning through a Master of Science degree in Iowa State University’s College of Engineering. Now, in addition to my consulting and training work through Techtelos, I continue to teach in Pittsburgh Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program, and work with churches in transition as an interim pastor (most recently with Community of Reconciliation Church in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood.)
In my consulting, training, and graduate-level teaching, I bring together the practices of technology analysis and literacy, shared ethical reflection, and organizational and community research to help others build ways to use technology for their own work of teaching, community-building, and justice. I would love to talk with you about ways I can help you or your organization with consulting and coaching, custom courses, and evaluation of how your online presence reflects your mission. E-mail me at deirdre@techtelos.com to start the conversation.