Welcome to OPIE Blog. This is where we’ll talk about the our company, the site, upcoming promotions (watch this space, we’ve got something juicy planned), and occasionally we’ll get you to write something completely unrelated to OPIEweb the site.

To kick things off, I thought I’d talk a bit about myself, and the people behind OPIEWeb. So, here goes:

Who Is OPIEWeb?

Well, you are. I am too. Amazing how that works isn’t it? More on that later.

My name is Rob Allen and I am the official OPIEWeb Geek in Chief. I make the site work (an occasionally, not work). I have a BS in Psychology from Northeastern University which is where I learned about IO Psych in general, human factors, OB and human resources. I had some great professors there who angled me in that direction about half-way through my time at NEU and I like to think it wasn’t a waste of time.Once out of college though I reverted to my geeky roots and found work as a web developer/programmer which I continue to this day.

Many of you, if not all, arrived here when your listserv, blog, University or inbox was graced with a message from Jennifer Bunk, an IO Psychology professor from West Chester University in Pennsylvania and my wife. She is the Contributor in Chief for OPIEWeb and the person you will most likely see answering your questions when they involve multi-variate statistics, work-family conflict, or workplace mistreatment. You may also see her at SIOP, AOM or OHP conferences presenting on those topics.

So that’s it. We’re the people that make OPIEWeb exist. We have help in the form of the excellent StackExchange engine which we pay Fog Creek Software for every month.

You said something about me being OPIEWeb as well?

Yes. Other than the folks at Fog Creek that make the software, Dr. Bunk who is helping bring people to the site, and myself, the site is run by and for you. Yes you. Stop looking around, I’m really mean it. You are the topic, the content provider and the audience all at the same time. It’s a lot of pressure I know, but you can handle it. You see, as a developer I know all too well what it is like working in a field that changes so rapidly that even the academics and practitioners who shape the field are really perpetual students. We have a site of our own called StackOverflow (you can see my profile here) which you can think of as OPIEWeb’s parent site. You may even see the family resemblance.

But I’m not an Academic

Yeah, sorry about that. You see, being married to a professor, hanging out with professors and hearing about academics all the time, I tend to draw from that area when I give examples. That should in no way imply that this is a site for academics and students only. We definitely want, even need practitioners, consultants and trainers to lend their voices because we are so inclined to lean toward academic discussions.

That’s enough about me. What do you think about me OPIEWeb? Let us know in the comment section, or on Facebook, or LinkedIn.

- Rob