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This is a journal that tries to record the numerous non-sequiturs in my life into one stream-of-consciousness mess. Enjoy.

Ephemera

Capellan is an old Provincal form of the word Chaplain: A clergyman who conducts religious service [attached to, in charge of a chapel] in a chapel of a sovereign, lord, or high official, of a castle, garrison, embassy, college, school, workhouse, prison, cemetery, or other institution, or in the household of a person of rank or quality, in a legislative chamber, regiment, ship, etc.

[from: Precious Heart]

Why yes, I do use Blogger.

Believe it or not, I'm a Web Developer

You know what they say: The children of the cobbler have no shoes.

So far this site is a repository for stuff - occasional weblog posts and images - that I want to make available to people. You'll find some examples of my work, mostly older portfolio items at present, at my other site: Hipster Doofus Designs. I also collaborate with my wife at Bertellan.net. In time I'll impose some logic to all this. For now, have fun exploring my mess. Any deeper meaning is purely coincidental.

Monday, May 26, 2008

WebVisions Recap

4:33 PM

This past week I had an inspiring experience attending the WebVisions 2008 conference that was here in Portland. WebVisions has been around for eight years now and though I've attended before, this is the first time that I've felt it was directly applicable to my career. Though I've been working on web sites for several years this is the first time I've gone in thinking of myself as a web developer. As such, I felt an acute interest in understanding where the industry is going. Previous WebVisions have always conveyed a large amount of conceptual information about trends in web design and directions that it might be headed. Looking back at information I gleaned from previous conferences, I'm struck by how much of what was talked about years ago is now accepted practice. I'd like to do a more comprehensive review of my experience but for now a short summary will have to suffice. Below are the sessions I attended over the two days:

Best Practices for Permission-Based Email Communication, Speaker: Mark Wyner - The seminar most applicable to my current projects at work. I learned afterwards that Mark is a former colleague of one of my other friends which is an interesting tidbit for future networking.
The Experience Economy and Hybrid Desktop-Internet Applications, Speaker: Kevin Hoyt
WORKSHOP: Type Class, Speaker: Roger Black - I had hoped for a more structured curriculum in this workshop and was disappointed that it didn't cover more general concepts of typography for either print or the web. I think I might've benefited with a broader knowledge-base going in as it didn't seem oriented to a novice.
KEYNOTE: Is Print Dead? How Digital Media is Changing the Face of Publishing, Speaker: Lynne d Johnson (FastCompany.com) - Lynne was an engaging moderator for what turned into a facilitated discussion among the attendants but I was hoping for more of a considered presentation of her views of how digital media was changing publishing.
Data Portability, Privacy and Identity: Welcome to the Open Web, Speaker: Scott Kveton
PANEL: Open Source, Speakers: Deborah Bryant, Ward Cunningham, Brian Jamison, Josh Bancroft - This was way over my head. I cut out midway to catch the end of...
The Language of Interaction, Speaker: Bill DeRouchey - I'd seen a similar presentation a few years previous and it's absolutely engaging.
From Idea to Implementation and Beyond: Getting Started with Rails, Speaker: Jim Meyer
Convergence 2.0: The Seamless User Experience, Speaker: Tjeerd Hoek
KEYNOTE: Overcoming Chaos: Designing the Future Web, Speaker: Jeffrey Veen

Labels: "Web Development", WebVisions