professional statement

Having performed work for non-profits, student organizations, universities, professional sport teams, politicians, and exotic dancers, and having worked side-by-side with large design firms such as Razorfish, I have refined my workflow process so that it can be used for various clients with numerous stakeholders. I have also had the unique opportunity to see first-hand where lessons learned from one industry can be applied to another.

The ability to amalgamate these lessons and experiences to the tangible benefit of a web project is ultimately enhanced by adhering to a design philosophy that embraces standards such as XHTML, XSLT and XML, and building upon open-source solutions. In taking such an approach to designing and developing for the web the final work product is assured to be both sustainable and extensible.

As a university webmaster for two of the larger campuses in the California State University system, it became quite apparent that one can not take lessons learned from e-commerce and web services in the private sector and apply them directly to higher ed. When it comes to web sites for institutes of higher education many in this niche of the industry are shooting into the dark. Although they may have a good idea of what is needed, how can they be sure that they are on the right track. When you consider the digital divide that exists between administrators and the millennials (net generation), this question becomes even more daunting. Of course they can look at general web trends and infer where they should go, but how smart, in terms of a business model, is this approach?

My primary objective as a web technology strategist is to address not only this technical divide, but to also leverage the power of the Internet. By designing with web standards, solutions can be developed that allow data to be pulled from authoritative sources, ownership to remain distributed, and content used by all. Additionally, integrating web services (not the same as centralizing) should allow an institute to streamline business processes, enhance customer service, and result in on-going cost-savings.

This may seem logical, but surprisingly my approach to web-based services is a new model for most institutes. By following a structured process that focuses on the entire user-experience a product will not only be simple and intuitive to use, but will also meet the identified business objectives and exceed overall expectations.

Technology can not be used only as a tool. Rather it needs to be part of our lifestyle. Once we arrive at this point it will no longer be "technology."