NC State Goal for 2010: Improve adoption of the Brand
Last year, our campus adopted a brand book. This is a guideline for how NC State media (web, print, etc) is to be published. It was something that our campus SORELY needed, and a great step in the right direction. In 2010, I'd like to help NC State improve the adoption of that brand with respect to the web, and be better organized along the way.
To accomplish this goal, I believe it starts with developers and designers. Our campus has an awesome community of web developers and designers. I have been the key organizer for the group for the past year, and my continuance with that will be a focus in 2010.
More Meetups, More Topics
The plan for 2010 is to have monthly meetups that are a bit more structured than years past. The goal is to come up with a few presentations about web-like stuff, and have the community vote on what presentations they want to hear for the next month (similar to how IgniteRaleigh selects talks). The idea would be, after a while, people would start submitting their own talks so that a few of us don't have to do them every month. Every meetup, we'd have one or two topics, then use the rest of the time for socializing and general Q&A. We are also going to be trying to give equal representation to the designers among us. The better informed our developers and designers can be, the better they will be able to execute the goals of the brand book. And an active community, is (hopefully) a productive, happy one.
Social Media Push
Last year, we launched http://twitter.ncsu.edu and it was a massive hit. I have no facts to back it up, but we HAVE to be the most actively tweeting campus around. We have 74 official NC State accounts for goodness sake! I also helped teach a class last year on "Tweeting for NC State University", which made it to the home page of slideshare.net (way cool). In 2010, I'd like to continue our momentum and tap the Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, whatever-social-media-outlet-you-want-to-name markets as well. I'd like to see us expand on the NCSU twitter site to also pull feeds from other social media outlets. I think it would provide a great resource to incoming students, allowing them ways to connect with new people on campus. I'd also like to organize some additional training for people on how to effectively use social media on behalf of the University. This will help us spread the brand to new and prospective students.
Certified Developer/Designer Program
This one is something that I have been thinking about for a while, and it may seem a little bit out of left field, but hear me out. I'd like to setup a system where designers and developers are rewarded for knowing and executing the brand book the way it should be. It would involve a bit of work on behalf of the employee, but the rewards could be tremendous for them and for the department or college they work for, especially in our resource-starved environment.
Here's the gist. We setup a curriculum which involves classes on the brand book, effective design principles, Photoshop, accessibility, usability, etc. This would be a lot of work to get started, but we already have a lot of good people who are already doing most of these classes already. As an employee completes the curriculum, they are accepted as a certified developer or designer for NC State. Part of them keeping this designation would be for them to turn around and help teach others. Blog, teach workshops, answer questions on the forums and mailing lists. It is a communal-like approach which may or may not work, but it would give employees the chance to add "teacher" to their toolbox of skills.
That sounds like a lot of work, right? So what's in it for the employee or department? Here is where I need to secure funding, but I do have a vision. First off, free software. Adobe Creative Suite, Zend Studio, Dreamweaver, whatever. Right now, colleges and departments have to purchase individual licenses for each employee that wants to use it. If you are a certified developer or designer, we will give you a license to use for free. Secondly, access to pre-made templates, logos, fonts, layouts, and all sorts of brand-related goodies. It will make the employees job easier, and they will have more time to focus on other things. Third, a conference lottery. Conferences are great ways to improve on your profession, but the sad thing is that we have very little funding to send people to conferences. All certified developers and designers would be put in a lottery once a year to win a "scholarship" to the conference of their choice. It will give people who don't typically have the opportunity the chance to branch out and attend events like An Event Apart, DrupalCon, ZendCon, or whatever they want.
Right now, this is all a dream with no real push behind it. But I think it would a great rewards program for our 100+ developers on campus. I know this will involve the efforts of lots of people and myself. But what do you folks think? Is it crazy to expect already busy people to do even more, even though it is for the betterment of NC State? Are the requirements too big? Are the rewards too small? What kind of challenges do you see?
Heavy stuff, but I will leave you with a bit of Dilbert humor about certifications...
DISCLAIMER: These are my personal goals for NC State in 2010. None of this has been signed off on or anything like that, it is just what I hope to accomplish in the new year.
NC State Goal for 2010: More Mobile
2009 got NC State started on a great foot when it came to providing content to users on mobile devices. We launched http://m.ncsu.edu in September with no initiative, no funding, no nothing. The only thing we had was a group of passionate people interested in doing something powerful and beneficial to the University ("Passion Rules!" as our new Chief Communication Officer Joe Hice likes to say). And the project was a great success! We got a lot of excellent press and nothing but praise from the higher ups.
Pro-tip: Despite popular belief, you don't need an official initiative or bloated requirements to do something worthwhile at NC State. This mobile project is proof that with a little imagination, a lot of hard work, a community-driven attitude and the RIGHT people in the RIGHT place, you can make a HUGE impact. Being willing to take a risk doesn't hurt either.
Later on in the year, the library launched their own mobile site at http://m.lib.ncsu.edu. They have a lot of very interesting apps that help out library patrons and are using the same code and design principles that the main mobile site is using. And because I am the coordinator for the project, I get to hear from lots of other people who are wanting to do mobile sites. Those voices have gotten much louder towards the end of 2009 and subsequently into 2010. And while what we have done already is important, this post is about what we will do in the future, so on to the goals!
Acquire an iPhone Developer License for NC State University
I worked really hard to get this goal realized in 2009, but Apple and NC State couldn't seem to come to terms with the contract. It sounds so simple. Just pay your $99 and you get to put apps in the app store, right? Nope, not when you are a state organization with some (in my opinion) overly cautious laws and lawyers. Then you have Apple who was unwilling to modify any language in the contract to get us on board (thanks Cupertino...really? You guys dropped the ball on this one). While both sides failed to connect in 2009, we have a new plan for 2010 and are moving forward with it. We WILL get this done in 2010!
Complete our Mobile Best Practices Guide
My vision is to have a resource that developers can use when they want to make their site or web application mobile friendly. Part of this will also be a guide for administrators to consider when dedicating resources (people and money) to mobile projects. The University is desperately in need of some continuity and consistency in branding, and since the mobile presence is very small so far, I think this is an excellent place to start. Best practices, user-interface design, approval procedures, etc. can really help NC State becoming a leader in mobile resources for higher education. Of course I am not going to do this by myself, but if I can continue to be a catalyst for this, I will work hard to see this goal realized.
Collect Mobile Apps and Sites
It's always good to know what kind of resources you currently have. If you don't know what you have, you don't know what you need. I'd like to see us collect the existing (and future) mobile applications and websites into a great, accessible resource that our current students, alumni, faculty, staff, and future students can use to get the info they need about NC State. This includes collecting our future iPhone apps, Android apps, mobile-friendly websites, everything. A one-stop shop for mobile at NC State.
Launch the new version of m.ncsu.edu
By trade, I am a programmer. I see a problem, envision a solution in my head, and can sit down and write the code to solve the problem. In this case, the problem is that we need a mobile framework so that people all across our campus (and others like, UNC) can develop code that can be specific to them, but also be maintained and re-used. It would include much of what the current website does, including device detection, but would also entail much much more. It would give us an awesome foundation to build something really special, and I am totally pumped about it! And of course, it will be Open Source, freely available to anyone and everyone that wants it (cause that's how I roll).
Funding and Acknowledgment
The mobile project from 2009 was really just an interested group of people that wanted to accomplish the same thing. While we accomplished A LOT, in 2010, we are going to need to solidify the group and be acknowledged by the University as a working committee. For anyone in higher ed, you probably hate that "committee" word, but it is a necessary evil to move the project where we want to. We need to secure funding for employees, training, and resources. To get that funding, we have to be more than "a group of people". The make-up of the group will probably be very similar to what we have now, we will just be more official 
Features, Features, Features
NC State needs more of it's tools to be mobile friendly. In 2009, we started building a foundation to get the NCSU Dining menus on the mobile site. We need to make that a reality in 2010. We also planted the seed of innovation into a lot of people's minds as to what was possible on a mobile platform. Gym hours and equipment availability, access to student's schedules, classes and grades. The possibilities are endless, and we need to follow through. A lot of these features will be easier with an official committee in place. The mobile presence of the University will only be as good as the resources we provide, so we need to provide more stuff.
With all that said, what are your thoughts on this project? Anything you would like to see NC State work on with the mobile presence? So far, the community has driven the project, and I doubt it will be much different in 2010. So let's have it, what do you folks wanna see?
DISCLAIMER: These are my personal goals for NC State in 2010. None of this has been signed off on or anything like that, it is just what I hope to accomplish in the new year.
Looking ahead to 2010
I typically suck at making and keeping new years resolutions. I've never felt that making resolutions really changed anything, except for the first month or so of the year. As a perfect example, check out your local gym during the month of January...then go back in March. There will maybe be a quarter of the people there.
While I don't like resolutions, I do find that with a new year, it is good to reflect back on the previous one and evaluate where you are and what you want to accomplish in the new one. In an effort to keep myself honest, I figured I would record my goals for the new year here, in no particular order.
Grow My Business
2009 was an interesting year for AmberCube. We had a few clients, made a little money (enough to buy Garrison and I new computers), and joined some new ventures. The economy certainly affected our profitability, but I believe our focus wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be. My hope for the new year is that we can increase our client base and grow the business. Hopefully that means additional income too.
Advance Professionally
I accomplished a good bit at NC State in 2009. I lead the initiative to get the NC State Mobile Web up and going, helped a lot with the social media identity of the university, and started managing some part-time employees. I got more involved with the tech and social media communities in the Raleigh-Durham area, participated in BarCampRDU, and met a lot of great people. While all that is great, it's not enough for me. I'd like to establish myself more at the University and get to a level where I can feel like I make an impact. I'm not sure I can do that in my current position, but that doesn't keep me from trying. I already know that 2010 will bring an increased responsibility for me as I will be participating on the Campus Communication Committee, focusing on web and social media communications. And we are working on some really exciting projects for the mobile web presence. 2010 will certainly be busy, but my goal is to make it pay off professionally.
Travel More
Erin and I have talked about it a lot, but this year is the year. We have gone a few places since we got married (San Francisco, Memphis, Jamaica for our Honeymoon), but we have always wanted to go bigger. Our plan is to try to make it to Europe this year. I really want to go to Italy and Paris, so we are going to make it happen. We have been saving up money for 2+ years to go, so this is the year we are going to do it. Planning has already started Oh yeah, and on the back of traveling, I am planning on buying a Digital SLR camera before making any big trips. That means I'll need to learn how to use the thing properly too.
Lose some bad habits
This is the obligatory "I want to eat out less, work out more, be healthier" one, but I need to add it to the list. We got into a bad habit of eating out several times a week, which is not only expensive, but un-healthy too. I worked really hard a few years ago to lose a lot of weight, and I don't want all that hard work to go to waste. To help me, I found a great website/iPhone app to help me called dailyburn. It will help me track my food and workouts, set goals for myself, and accomplish what I want to in 2010.
Explore more
Erin and I love to try new things, so 2010 will hopefully be a year to explore new things. Food, wine, beer, places, things to do. I want us to live while the living is good. Part of this is travel, but a lot of it has to do with what we typically do on the weekends. Lately, it has been sitting around in front of a computer, which is pretty lame. I hope the new year provides us with a kick in the butt to get out, experience all the great things Raleigh has to offer, and spend more quality time together.
Get more involved with the PHP Community
Warning...Geek speak to follow! I really love the PHP community. I swear, it is the greatest thing since sliced bread for a developer like me who has to operate on no budget and a tiny staff. I have recently joined the Zend Framework project, finally signing my contributor license agreement! That means I can start helping with documentation and the monthly bug fixes. I have also been invited to speak at TEK-X in Chicago in May. I am really excited about the opportunity to speak at my first professional PHP conference as an on-the-agenda speaker. I have done un-conference sessions before, but this is the first for-real one. I am nervous and excited, all at the same time. There are a few more conferences that I will be submitting papers to as well, so we'll see where that takes me...
I think that is enough stuff for the new year. Hope everyone has a wonderful, productive and exciting 2010.
Tailgate/Game of the Year
For anyone that knows me even just a little bit, you know that I love Wolfpack football. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year and with fall comes football and tailgating.
At NC State, tailgating is an art form. We don't just bring out the hibachi grill and a pack of hot dogs. We do it big time, and our tailgate this past weekend for the NC State/Pitt game was no exception. In fact, it was probably the biggest/best tailgate that we have ever had and we've been doing this for 10 years.
By my (slightly hazy) count, we had about 26-30 people, 5 coolers, 2 grills, 2 tents, and a myriad of food and drink. We also unveiled our latest addition to our tailgate supplies, the newly complete cornhole set. It still needs to be painted and clear-coated but it will be awesome to have that for future tailgates.
And what could make a tailgate even better? The Wolfpack pulling out a come-from-behind, 38-31 win! Even though the weather was nasty all day, Wolfpack fans brought the noise and the team showed up in force. It was a great day, and thanks to everyone who came out to our tailgate.
And a quick note about the game. For those of you who aren't obsessed with Wolfpack football like I am, you may have missed a chat transcript that was posted this past week where a Pitt beat writer stated "from what I understand there is a good crowd expected but, perhaps I am wrong about this, when has anyone ever talked about N.C. State being one of the tough or most hostile road venues around? .... So I don't think the crowd will be that much of a factor, no more than a normal road game." I recorded the game on ESPNU and Pitt had at least 2 false starts that can be directly related to crowd noise. The announcers even commented about how loud the stadium was. Despite the horrible weather, Wolfpack fans brought the noise and it made a difference.
Our hearts ever hold you, N.C. State
When I walked on the campus of NC State University for the first time in 1997, I knew I was home. I can't explain it, but I knew that NCSU was a special place, and the place for me. At that point in my life, I decided to entrust to NCSU my education, my formidable years, my future. In the once-capable hands of a fine land grant institution, I placed my life to be shaped by educators who, at the time, assumed had my best interest at heart.
I guess lately, it's been proven that those same people had a much different agenda. This whole Mary Easley nonsense has really messed up my University. Lies, cover-ups, dishonesty. This is not what NC State is about. I sincerely hope that all those involved come clean, and dealt the appropriate consequences. I'm certainly not sold on allowing those individuals to return to faculty positions where they are responsible for shaping the education of our future students. To me, that doesn't set a very good example. If the people involved have done things so bad that they are resigning, then they shouldn't represent my University anymore.
I guess what gets me is that I have a deep love for NC State. It helped me find my best friends, my wife, my career. I hate Hate HATE to see my University drug through the media this way, and I take it very personally.
I sincerely hope that our new chancellor, whoever they may be, understands the level of trust they are assuming by being in that role. You are the head of an organization of 50,000+ people, all looking to you for leadership. We do not expect to be lied to. We do not expect you to lookout for yourself and your friends first. We do not expect perfection, but we expect you to STRIVE for perfection. We expect you to put the University and it's people FIRST. We expect honor. We expect vision. We expect to be making news for the good things going on in the University, not the nonsense that has been in the papers lately. We expect you and those you manage to live up to a higher set of morals, and to be leaders by example. We are trusting you with our lives, our careers, our tax dollars...be good stewards of all of those.
And this doesn't just go for our new chancellor, but for everyone in a position of leadership at NC State. I expect a whole lot from you, and I have been disappointed lately. Remember, the University is more than a job to a lot of us. We are personally attached to it, and want to protect whenever and wherever possible. We don't need to settle for sub-par services or people or rankings. We're better than that. We have to do better. Otherwise, NC State is going to be left with an apathetic, dis-interested, disloyal community that couldn't give a crap about it, and that would be a tragedy.
So my challenge to anyone at the University is this. If you see something that needs to be fixed, get off your collective butts and fix it. It is time that we stop settling and start excelling, and that is going to have to come from everyone in the NCSU community. We owe it to every single person in the state of North Carolina to challenge spending that doesn't make sense, to call people to the carpet for their actions, and to work as hard as we can to make NC State better. Every young person that sets foot on this campus for the first time deserves our best, it's high time we started giving it to them.
Pathways Graduation 2009
If you follow my blog, you may know that I have been in a leadership development class for the last year. The course has about 15 workshop days where you study leadership principles and strategies. We also have to be the "leader" for a project, and be on a team of other members in our class for a "team project".
The class is a lot of work...more than I had thought it would be. And the most challenging part was that all of our assignments were sort of grouped together at the end. This made the last month+ pretty stressful.
Last week, we had our final workshop, which was a day of presentations (both individual and group). My individual presentation was about my work with the NCSU Web Developers, and I think the presentation went off pretty well. I was told that I was the only one who ever quoted Vanilla Ice in a presentation, so I was proud Here are my slides if anyone is interested:
After the presentation day was over, we had a graduation ceremony. We had 37 people graduate the program, which was a pretty big class. Along with my "diploma", I also won an award for "Inspiring a Shared Vision" for the work with my project. That made me feel pretty good.
The class as a whole was a learning experience. Going in, I thought I knew everything there was to know about leadership, but I learned alot of valuable tools along the way. Assuming you have the time and can work it into your schedule, doing Pathways at NC State is beneficial. I would just warn anyone that it is time intensive.
Update Mashup
None of the following warranted an entire post to itself, so here is a little recap of the Jason Awesome happenings of late...
Vegetarian Update
We've made it this far...only 13 days left. I have found that I am OK without eating meat, but I am currently incredibly bored with my food choices. I don't think I can eat anymore cheese pizza or pasta without freaking out. We have found some good places to eat vegetarian (Red Robin, Flying Biscuit, Moe's FTW!) and some places that FAIL like none other (Village Draft House, anywhere Chinese, Chili's). In case anyone was wondering about my health over the last month+, I have lost a few pounds, but nothing significant. We actually ate much healthier when we ate meat than we do now. Also my energy level has been sustained by eating almonds, taking vitamins, and keeping my protein up. Only a few more days and we will have done it!
Disconnected Sundays
While neither Erin nor I have completely unplugged on Sunday's, we have made a more conscience effort to. We have gone to the grocery store together, gone to the movies, done some shopping, cleaned house, etc. It has been really nice, and I have enjoyed the time we have spent together. Needless to say, we are going to keep disconnected Sundays around.
OIT Award for Excellence
I was nominated by my friend Nick for an OIT Award for Excellence. They had a reception for those of us who were nominated (there were 9 total) where they announced the winners. My friend Jen did my introduction and said some really nice things about what I have been doing at work. I didn't win, but that was OK. It is just nice to be recognized.
Objective-C and iPhone Development
I have been reading an Objective-C book and trying to work my way through the syntax of the language. It is pretty straight forward and I am almost done reading the book. This will help me with my iPhone application development. The best part about learning Objective-C was how I came to own the book that I am reading. Erin and I were at Southpoint because I had to get a new power adapter for my MacBook. Erin didn't want to wait with me, so she went next door to Barnes and Noble. When I got done, I texted her and we met out front. She handed me a bad and said "I got you something". I looked inside and there was the Objective-C book that I had been eyeing. True love is when your wife gets you a programming book when you don't even ask her to
Awesome iPhone Dev Class
On Thursday of this past week, Steve Hayman, the CE of Apple Mobility, came to campus to do an iPhone development class for our campus web developers group. If you've been following my posts lately, you know that I have been looking forward to this for a while, and that I have gotten totally into iPhone development lately.
Steve had a great class. We learned a good bit about the capabilities of the iPhone, he demoed a few apps, and we even built a flashlight app. But the best part of the class was not during the class, but after it.
My co-workers (Jen and Nick) and I went to lunch after and the possibilities for development dominated our lunchtime conversation. While this is totally NOT unusual, the excitement was unprecedented. We probably had 4 or 5 implementable ideas by the time we left lunch, so it was really cool.
In the next few weeks I am going to get some folks on campus together to start a community-developed NC State app for the iPhone. It should be an awesome experience, and really give value to the University.
And as a side note, AmberCube (the company that Garrison and I own) have taken the plunge and dropped the $99/year on an iPhone development license. Expect to see some great things coming from us in the future
Remembering Coach Kay Yow
Kay Yow was a true inspiration to us all. It breaks my heart that she is gone, but I am glad she no longer is in pain. She will always have a special place in my heart. NC State has lost a great member of its family, but we are all better for having Coach Yow in our lives. She may have passed, but her passion and spirit will live on through those whose lives she touched.
Big Willy Style
Today, our 42nd President of these United States, William Jefferson Clinton (or Big Willy to his friends), came to speak at NCSU. The title of his talk was "The Way Forward", but it wasn't just a talk...it was a call to action.
President Clinton is such an eloquent guy. He had a few notes, but he mostly spoke from his heart. His message was simple. Get off your butt and do something to help the world (I said he was eloquent, not me).
The figures are staggering really. He spoke of world hunger, of the continued epidemic of AIDS in poor countries. He spoke some about his presidency and the fact that the ecomony was booming during his second term. He praised President Obama for his efforts towards healthcare and the environment, but he said that to really have a lasting change, it has to start with regular Americans.
During my parents generation, being a good American embodied working hard, paying your taxes, voting, being a good person, etc. President Clinton challenged my generation that being that kind of American is no longer enough. We have to take action to help our planet get past some of these issues.
Maybe it's sappy or whatever, but something in his talk spoke loud and clear to me. I don't know how much of a "doer" I have been, but I'm going to try had to be "in the game" more than "on the sidelines". Let this post be a reminder to me to actually do it to.
On another note, I have now seen 2 Presidents in the last few months, as I was at Barack Obama's victory celebration when he won NC in the primary. Darn good year so far!
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