Blog entries about Webby stuff
That saying about cobblers' children having no shoes seems to be true - it takes a long time to do that which you are busy doing for others everyday...
Decided to celebrate my fourth year of working for myself as a content specialist (predominantly) in the online world, with a new look. Elliot from eliptus designed my much-admired business card, and I was so happy with it that I decided to ask him to extend the design to a letterhead and design for my website. Ben Bailey cleverly took the design and wrote nice clean html and css and integrated it into my CMS. So now you can read what I have to say against a backdrop of super hero flying Ms and that lovely swimming pool turquoise/blue. Thanks Elliot. Thanks Ben.
July 22, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Saturday 18 April
I have started getting really interested in the educational opportunities that the Web offers students and their teachers.
For the past 18 months I have been project manager of the National Gallery of Victoria's Broadband Innovation Fund project (known as 'BIF'), which was funded to create innovative online resources for education audiences using works from the NGV collection.
Today at Museums and the Web, i attended a presentation about ArtsEdConnect is a particularly good example of the power of the Web and its benefits to education audiences. Its presenters claimed 14,000 teachers trained, 1 million users, and 200,000 art collector 'sets' devised by teachers since it launched in 1997. It will be great to see the new redesigned website when it launches on 4 May.
April 18, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Today, at the Museums and the Web conference, I finally got excited about the possibilities offered by tagging content. Thanks to Steve.
For ages tagging has provoked a big 'so what?' in me. Tag clouds are all very well for showing what everyone is searching for most, but what does that mean (other than other people looked for it too, you're normal...).
So who is Steve? I have yet to discover where the name cam from, but basically the US Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) threw big $$ at The New Media Consortium to fund a project to further develop the Steve tagging application, a tool that simplifies the navigation of online museum collections by allowing viewers to tag an image with descriptive terms.
The team are dynamic and their presentation was provocative and I have a few ideas to test out when I get home...
April 17, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
I was a bit disappointed in the sessions at the Museums and the Web conference today - a lot of 'what' has been done, not enough of the 'how'.
To end the day, however, the organisers performed an experiment in which they ran 'Un-conference sessions', for which attendees suggested topics for discussion and broke into groups.
I joined the a discussion about 'insource or outsource', which obviously attracted a few managers from public sector organisations who don't have the budget or workload to hire fulltime expert designers, IA, developers etc but who worry about exorbitant fees, not getting what they want and the IP walking out the door with contractors. It was great to hear a few other participants who were contractors (there were no other freelancers present and only two or three in evidence at the conference) confirming that they consider part of their job is to refine the brief with their client, to ensure that everyone is happy with the outcome, and to provide some education in the documentation of project outcomes, handing over of files etc.
An important outcome of this conference for me is confirmation that I am getting things right!
April 16, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Plenary session at Museums and the Web annual conference. Maxwell Anderson is a 'yes we can' sort of director who has guided the Indianapolis Museum of Art into exciting online territory. He delivered a paper describing his philosophy about the potential of the web to excite and engage visitors, to whet their appetites, educate and offer them an opportunity to go behind-the-scenes of a museum.
I have lots of ideas to take back to Melbourne about bringing artworks alive online. Not to replace a real-life experience (you can't substitute standing infront of an artwork) but enriching that experience by presenting supplementary information, helping visitors to interact on in a different way to find out more, and present related information (about artists, locations, genres, subjects, eras etc).
April 15, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Today's highlight at the annual Museums and the Web conference was finding out about the National Museums Online Learning Project - an ambitious undertaking in which UK museums collaborated to create e-learning resources for students and their teachers, and lifelong learners.
Hearing about the challenges and tactics used by project manager Carolyn Royston and the positive outcomes, as reported by stakeholder Steve Gardam from the Imperial War Museum, gave me hope as a project manager, business analyst and content designer and (informal) information architect for hire.
I am hoping to do more work in the e-learning space, especially in cultural organisations.
April 14, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Time for some professional development. One of the few things I miss about working fulltime for someone else is them funding regular opportunities for me to learn new things. As a freelancer I learn a lot on the job, but sometimes it is nice to sit in a room with a group of peers and hear how other people do it. I am off to the USA to attend the annual Museums and the Web in Indianapolis. There I hope to find out more about cultural organisations digitising collections, devising e-learning resources, using Web 2.0 technologies and more.
April 07, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Everything is coming together. I have spent the past 2+ years working as a consultant on various projects at the National Gallery of Victoria - I have helped plan and design a new NGV media site, worked on wireframes for the NGV collection online and have spent the past 18 months program managing a new education feature that offers school kids information and activities about works in the collection (coming soon).
I am particularly pleased that my freelance work has taken me in this direction; collapsing my qualifications (MA Arts Administration) with my passion (the visual arts and crafts) and my profession (communications expert). To that end I am hoping to continue doing interesting work for the cultural sector in Australia and around the world.
April 01, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
For years I have been hearing the catchcry 'content is king' but content continues to be an afterthought with many clients. A sign that content is starting to be considered is the appearance of professional development workshops and courses that help those new to the art to understand how writing for the web differs to other media. I am still waiting for a course to come along that will engage content experts who want to know more, but it's a start.
Here is a course that is coming up - this is not an endorsement, but I am all for the improvement of online content. Please consider:
Managing your online content
22-24 April, Sydney
March 10, 2009 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Posted in Writing
After a very busy 2007-2008 financial year I have decided to make the most of being a self-employed, freelance worker and take some time off. From the beginning of July, BB and I will be on the move exploring central Australia before the price of petrol makes road trips a distant dream. We are not sure when we will be back - I probably won’t be back at my desk until September (at the earliest). If you want to contact me it might take a while for me to respond, but if you are not in a hurry go ahead - I am always keen to hear from and meet new people doing interesting things.
June 30, 2008 |
Posted in Webby stuff
