Welcome to paco.org.
This is my personal and professional home on the web: the place for my authored Blog, biography and career material, personal projects and interests, and the historical archive accumulated over the site’s long life.
I’m Francisco I. Rodríguez, an Information Technology instructor at Dallas College. My work focuses on helping students become comfortable with technology by emphasizing strong foundations, practical experience, and the confidence to keep learning long after a course has ended.
My professional path has included journalism, digital publishing, web development, information technology, and higher education. Each step reinforced the same lesson: technology changes constantly, but curiosity, critical thinking, and problem-solving remain valuable regardless of the tools we use.
Professional Background
For a detailed record of my education, teaching, professional experience, service, certifications, and other career work, see my curriculum vitae.
What I Do
I teach courses in Linux, web development, programming, information security, and related technologies. Whether working with high school students beginning their technical education or college students preparing for careers in information technology, my goal is the same: make technology approachable and understandable.
I believe students learn best by working with technology directly. Reading and discussion matter, but lasting understanding comes from experimenting, troubleshooting, asking questions, and learning from mistakes.
What You’ll Find Here
This site concentrates on material that is specifically mine or part of my personal history.
- My authored Blog and reflections.
- Biography, curriculum vitae, journalism history, and career material.
- Personal projects, entertainment, social/check-in material, and other interests.
- Computing history and preserved material from earlier versions of the site, including The Loudmouth archive.
The broader web ecosystem has two companion publications with deliberately different jobs:
- idtprof.net is the technology education publication: teaching, learning, durable lessons and course resources, and reporting with a meaningful instructional connection.
- paco.io is the technology publication: technology news, PTIR, commentary, projects, tools, and selected technical and digital-garden notes.
Those boundaries keep paco.org personal without forcing everything I teach or follow in technology into one publication.
A Few Things I Believe
Technology should be accessible to everyone.
Strong technical foundations are more valuable than memorizing today’s tools.
Understanding why something works is often more important than simply knowing how to use it.
The best technology professionals remain curious throughout their careers.
Learning doesn’t end with a degree, a certification, or a job title.
Beyond the Classroom
Outside of teaching, I enjoy exploring Linux, open-source software, artificial intelligence, digital preservation, web publishing, and personal knowledge management. Across these sites, I document projects, share ideas, preserve material worth remembering, and continue learning in public.
If something here helps you solve a problem, discover a new idea, or better understand technology, then the site has accomplished its purpose.