I R Sam

Having been involved in the web development field for several years now as a Creative Director and as I move towards the roll of Manager I have become more aware of the lack of standards in education for our field.

Plenty of kids are interested in the field but when they try to get practical education the material they are taught is not up to par with the technologies that web development companies are using. I realize that there are practical reasons for this as far as many smaller colleges and high schools are concerned, and I doubt whether these reasons have to do with complacency on the part of the educators. The ones that I interacted with seemed passionate about the teaching.

Our business is based out of Port Angeles, WA where technology is flourishing and yet inter-business bickering, general incompetence, and childish name calling holds the business community back from effectively contribute towards any goals that would actually benefit the community instead of one or two businesses. The result is various organizations all with small membership levels and attendance with less than exemplary results.

The kids in the community are going through high school and working as hard as they can to get out of this area. The tech gifted kids that do grow up here view this place as dead, and a vast majority of them move on to other places to find jobs. There is a complete disconnect between the local tech businesses and our high schools and colleges that I feel will cause definite employment problems down the road for these very businesses.

I believe that it is up to these businesses to take the first steps and try to work with local educators and foundations to help develop material, knowledge and maybe even resources to help develop a trained workforce that will benefit not just one but all that get involved.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the issue and I have several projects in the works at the moment that I hope will help build a stronger tech community in the greater Olympic Peninsula area. If you are interested in discussing these topics with me, please contact me at any time.

Forest or Mr. “Disco Fish”, I read your comment and it was hella gay. I can’t believe I even turned on comments for this blog. Also, how do you spell your last name?

Update: I found out how to ban specific accounts and turn off comments on the site. I am prepared for anything you can think up!

Also, you owe me $60 for food. K thxs.

What a sweet way to wake up on this Monday morning! I sleepily browse through the list of blogs I read and find that Derek Powazek’s 8020 Publishing has launched a new version of JPG Magazine. I spent a good 30 minutes reviewing the site and reading the new programs that they have implimented into their already excellent magazine and am now convinced that this is a magazine that is essential to any photographer’s reading list as Flickr is to storing your photos.

JPG has also reduced the cover cost for the magazine from $20 to about $6 a price that just about anyone can afford. I believe I would have bought it at $20 but I’m not going to pretend that I want them to change their mind.

From the looks of it the general plan is to have people upload their photos which are voted on by the community. The pictures that make it through the voting process are then reviewed by the JPG staff which pick the best to be displayed in the actual Magazine.

One of the coolest things about this version of JPG is the ability to interact with other photographers and maybe even get your work featured in the magazine itself. Imagine that, pictures you take could end up published in a honest to goodness magazine… on purpose.

On a serious note, I think this is a smart decision on their part as there is so much untapped talent in young photographers who just need a chance to get their work shown in order to break into the field of Photography.

For a more in-depth, serious review of the new JPG, visit Derek’s Website for a great review. Best of luck with your endevors Derek!