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
I am back in Melbourne and at my desk with pencils sharpened, ready to work on interesting content projects. I have just spent an amazing 3 months exploring Central Australia in a trusty Corolla with my favourite co-pilot, a tent, a trangia, and an open-ended timeline. Our route took us from Melbourne to the Clare Valley, into the Flinders Ranges, the strange township that is Woomera, the moonscape of Coober Pedy, the awe-inspiring red centre and into the arts centres and ochre scenery around Alice Springs. Further north things started to get less familiar and exciting - crocs and Kakadu, rock art and AFL in Arnhem Land, the waterfalls of Litchfield National Park and finally Darwin. And then we turned around and drove back again. Ask me about it when you get in touch to talk about how I can help you with your content requirements.
October 01, 2008 |
Posted in Art
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
I was recently invited to go to Mildura to talk about effective writing - specifically about putting together a submission for the local business awards program. As I planned my presentation I realised how difficult it is to generalise about what is ‘good’ writing. And teach it - I have never attended a writing course that taught me much (especially those courses that claim to be able to set you up as a writer for the web in one quick session).
Of course, good writing appeals to its intended audience, tells them something, and perhaps converts, reminds, seduces, pleases, displeases, illuminates or causes some such altered state.
Anyway, I worried about explaining apostrophes (handy tip or overkill?), couldn’t resist condemning the contemporary (marketing/SMS-ing) trend towards over-use of punctuation and capped letters and included some points about style and process. The local business owners were an appreciative audience and if their note-taking was any indication I might have shared something useful.
Or perhaps they were busy writing a ‘to do’ list for the rest of the week!
April 27, 2008 |
Posted in Writing
Here’s my long overdue rant about participating in Full Code Press, a competition recently held in Sydney in which teams build a website in 24 hours. You have all no doubt been wondering how it all went.
Well, we did it. The organisers admitted at the outset that they were uncertain as to whether it was possible, but two teams managed to build two fully-functioning websites and enjoy the adulation of a grateful Victoria not-for-profit client-organisation that now has a presence on the WWW.
You are no doubt wondering ‘how’. This is where it gets interesting, as each team adopted very different methods for tackling the challenge.
Our brief:
Work with strangers in a team under the gaze of bloggers (video, audio, text) who documented every twitch, building a site for an unknown client to a ridiculous deadline in windowless rooms that were the temperature of a fridge.
Methodology:
New Zealanders - met, talk and strategise and (dare I say it) practise. Earnestly set about building a CMS from the ground up. Risk sanity of developer who later confesses to mid-point meltdown. Win by 2.7 points. Developer does celebratory jig.
Australia - swan up to hotel (late after being in an accident in a taxi), meet team mates, set up hardware, have a pretty good idea we might use an open source CMS, get a bit loud and psyched, befriend clients, open the bar at midnight, deliver website with good cheer and ease 30 minutes early.Go to pub for breakfast during judging. Lose by 2.7 points.
Judge for yourself:
NZ: Grampians Disability Advocacy
Australia: The Ripple Effect
The fine print
I have to say that the best bit (other than feeling good about helping the gals at The Ripple Effect) was working with an awesome team of people. Russ Weakley tells that we won the cheerful team prize and he was right - it was uncanny how well we all worked together. Here’s the roll of honour:
- Rex Chung
- Ruth Ellison
- Jeffery Lowder
- David MacDonald
- Marla Mitelman
- Sarah Peeke
August 22, 2007 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Like the new site? Can’t see much difference? That’s because the main changes have been under the hood.
Ben Bailey has worked away patiently at customising Expression Engine so that I can practice what I preach and manage my content in a CMS.
Onwards and upwards.
August 16, 2007 |
Posted in Webby stuff
As part of my mission to bridge the communications gap between techies and content managers, I am collecting tips and tricks that make content managers can use to make content work harder online.
There are a lot of tags that it pays for a content manager to know about. I have just discovered a new one. I swapped it for an hour’s editing with my favourite front-end designer/IA.
The acronym tag is a clever way of managing the wordy explanations for acronyms. I am planning to stick to the old fashioned print convention of spelling out the acronym in its first instance, following it with its acronym in brackets, and then using the acronym tag for successive citations.
Example: I have have just completed a project for the Media unit at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). They were so happy they recommended me to the NGV Multimedia team for another gig.
August 16, 2007 |
Posted in Webby stuff
Full Code Press (FCP) is in peak frenzy. It is anybody’s guess what we will asked to build for whom. The judges have been selected and I have ‘met’ my fellow team players (via email and phone) and read the biogs of the NZ crew and so it is all becoming much more real – we are going to sit in a room and build a site for a lucky (or not-so-lucky) charity in a short, short 24-hour burst of optimism and strong caffeine. All the action will take place in a hotel in Sydney and generous sponsors are covering our costs. There will be chummy meals with the NZ team before the blood-letting begins…
Always a 100-per-cent gal, my FCP training program is rigorous and involves:
July 25, 2007 |
Posted in Webby stuff
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