Current Developers

Marc Durdin

I wrote the first versions of Keyman, as a teenager while living in Laos, in between home schooling and riding my bicycle around town fixing NGO computers. After moving to Tasmania for University, where I completed a Bachelor of Computing degree, I worked with my wife for a year in Papua New Guinea as a volunteer with Australian Volunteers International. I continued part-time development of Keyman during and after University and started working full time on the full suite of Keyman projects in 2005.

Outside work I still ride my bike. We have two daughters and one son. After living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for two years, our family is back in Australia where I continue to lead the Keyman team within SIL. I can speak, read, and write, to varying degrees, Khmer, Lao, Thai and Tok Pisin, and used to speak French as a child.

My personal blog can be found at marc.durdin.net and my Twitter account is @MarcDurdin.

Makara Sok

My name is Makara. I have just graduated with an MA in Linguistics. The topic of my thesis was about how to convert Khmer words into IPA. It was a really fun project to do because I got to incorporate my limited knowledge in coding into the making of the tool with the help of my advisor, and contribute to Khmer language research. I love to explore new technological things and that is why I am now here to help and learn from the Keyman team.

Joshua Horton

I grew up in the United States watching lots of science-fiction shows. I always loved the grand vision of the future those shows set out, with people of various ethnicities, races, and even species all working together in harmony... well, at least most of the time. This led me to a stint as a graduate student at the University of Florida, during which time I became interested in work in natural language processing and computational linguistics. While searching for data necessary for my research, I became aware of the technological issues suffered by many of the world's people groups - a problem that Keyman has been addressing for years. When someone lacks the ability to type effectively in their own language, how can we communicate or collaborate effectively with them?

Growing up during our new "Information Age" has given me a great appreciation for what technology can do to bring people together and facilitate cross-cultural relationships, but it can only do so when people can effectively use it. Toward this end, I completed a Doctorate of Computer Engineering there in August 2015, after which I worked for a year and a half as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Florida. Now, as of May 2017 I've joined the Keyman team as a software developer.

Eberhard Beilharz

I am one of the few non-native English speakers in the team, coming from Germany. I have a degree in computer science from the University of Applied Sciences in Karlsruhe. After working in a small software company for several years I joined SIL’s language software development department where I worked on different projects with a focus on maintaining cross-platform compatibility of our products. During my time with the Keyman team I mainly worked on all aspects of Keyman for Linux.

If I happen to have some spare time I enjoy reading, bicycling and other outdoor activities.

Darcy Wong

I'm a Texan from a family of engineers, and have an MS in Software Engineering from Southern Methodist University. Since 2000, I've been working as a software developer, and in 2013, my family moved to southeast Asia where I joined one of SIL's Language Technology teams. As of May 2017, I've been working remotely with this entertaining and cross-cultural team. It's been a very encouraging environment as we learn together how to improve Keyman for our users.

My wife and I have two children. I also enjoy playing Ultimate (frisbee), going to the gym, and playing boardgames.

Mark Sinclair

I am a systems developer and experienced university teacher in computer science and telecommunications, with research interests in computational intelligence and network design. I was committed to the development of higher education in Cambodia over eighteen years, including co-founding an MSc, two university departments and a software house. After three years at Northumbria University as Assistant Professor in Computer & Information Sciences, I moved to CAP (Christians Against Poverty) as a systems developer. Following financial difficulties at CAP, I took voluntary redundancy, and alongside phased retirement, have subsequently had three fixed-term contracts as an MSc Project Supervisor in Computing Science at the University of Glasgow; Academic Mentor in Computer Science at NPIC (for SIL in Cambodia); and now as Senior Software Developer for SIL in Cambodia.

I have a BA and MA in Electrical Sciences from Pembroke College, University of Cambridge; an MSc in Telecommunication and Information Systems, and a PhD in Electronic Systems Engineering from the University of Essex. I am a Chartered Engineer, a member of both the IET and IEEE, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at NPIC in Cambodia.

I am married, with two adult children, and two cats. I love playing computer games, reading science fiction and fantasy novels, going to the cinema and theatre, and am an active member of my local church.

My personal website can be found at markcsinclair.co.uk

Previous Contributors

More about previous contributors