In this video interview, Ohio-born Mikey Burton speaks with AIGA’s Craig Schlanser about finding creative inspiration in the Rust Belt, how he manages tight deadlines, and what his goals are for the future.

See it on the AIGA Philly website: http://aigaphilly.org/features/interviews/2013/aiga-philly-interview-designy-illustrator-mikey-burton

Thanks to our friends at AIGA Philly for allowing us to share the story. Find out more about AIGA at http://aigaphilly.org/about.

The talk is titled “Useful, Usable & Desirable: Designing for Users.” It will explore the fundamentals of user experience, including exploring industry best practices and examples of websites that solve real problems for real people. There are many tools and disciplines within user experience, from content strategy to information architecture to user research. By understanding these tools and when to use them, and by understanding the context of each design problem we are faced with, we can begin to understand how to utilize design thinking and creating user experiences that are useful, usable, and desirable.

Get the details and register on PANMA’s website: www.panma.org/organization/news.

Thanks to the good folks at PANMA for putting this on. Find out more about PANMA at www.panma.org/organization.

The Greater Philadelphia region is home to more than 80 accredited colleges and universities. That is the highest concentration of institutions of higher learning in the country. This is a listing of colleges and universities with Media Arts, Film & Video Production Programs.

It’s on the Greater PhiladelphiaFilm Office website: www.film.org/Philadelphia/Public/StaticPages.aspx?j=32.

Thanks to our friends at the Film Office for compiling this list. Find out more about GPFO at www.film.org/Philadelphia/Public/StaticPages.aspx?j=1

Join the Philly Ad Club regional community in honoring three “Movers and Shakers” on April 25th at Loews, Millennium Ballroom (12th and Market Streets). Registration will be at 11:30 a.m. and the luncheon will end around 2 p.m.

This year’s recipients are:

• Sharon Pinkenson, Executive Director, Greater Philadelphia Film Office
• Berny Brownstein, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Brownstein Group
• Mike Gillespie, President and CEO, Gillespie Group

The Movers and Shakers program was established to honor outstanding achievers in the Greater Philadelphia Communications Industry who, through their personal efforts and leadership, have had a very significant, positive, memorable and profound impact on our professional community. Over the last four years, the Philly Ad Club has honored: Joanne Harmelin, Jerry Lee, Brian Tierney, Gerry Lenfest, Brian Roberts, Lew Klein, Mary Austen, George Beach, Steve Sabol, Rebecca Campbell, David Cohen and Robert Bogle.

Get the details and register on the Philly Ad Club website: www.phillyadclub.com/movers-shakers-pinnacle-award-program.html.

Thanks to our friends at the Philly Ad Club for hosting the event. Find out more about PAC at www.phillyadclub.com/about-us.html.

• Digital Beginnings
• Composition Crash Course
• RAW Photos
• DSLR: Advanced Techniques
• Flash Photo!
• Event Photography: Make the Most of What You Have
• Wedding Photography
• On Location: Philly Streets
• iPhone Photography
• Artistic Renderings
• Combining Landscapes: Panoramas & HDR
• Film to File: Scanning
• The Studio: Portraiture
• Capturing Time: A time-lapse photography workshop
• Intro to Studio Lighting

Get the details and register on the Philadelphia Photo Arts website: www.philaphotoarts.org/education/workshops/

Thanks to our friends at Philadelphia Photo Arts for making these workshops possible. Find out more about PPA at www.philaphotoarts.org/about/.

By Ron Strobel

Though my wife and I both grew up in this area we moved to Southern California in 1971. We lived there until our house came down in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. IT was then that we moved back here to Malvern and started VideoNet, Inc. I called it VideoNet because it kind of sounded like Internet, and the internet was this little thing starting up back then, way before websites! For the next 17 years we’ve been providing companies, both large and small, with video solutions to certain business challenges.

We bring a distinct advantage to the table, because prior to founding VideoNet I was the CEO of a thriving west coast corporation and took a leap to pursue his passion for movie making. After receiving several national awards for excellence, I leveraged television successes with ESPN, CNN, Disney and others, into now helping corporate America. I understand the challenges business executives face every day and how we can fit into any company’s overall marketing strategy.

Once we gain an understanding of your business, we identify where video might provide a true competitive advantage; then, if we determine a business fit, we will take you from concept to finished product in a headache-free, well-paced manner. We bring a baked-in realism to the 21st century business world, responsible for more than 100 video shoots per year for 16 years, satisfying more than 250 clients worldwide with all aspects of corporate video production. I have also authored the book, Video Makes Cents.

I have directed six independent films and worked with many celebrities including Bruce Willis, Colin Powell, George W. Bush and Tim McGraw, to name a few. I have won six Bronze Telly Awards for excellence including cinematography and Art Direction, been a winner at numerous film festivals including: The Millennium Competition, U.S. International Film & Video Festival, 2003,/2001/1999 &1995 Philadelphia Int. Film Festival, and Vision Fest Independent Video Competition. Also the Philly First Glance 6, Santa Barbara Int. Film Festival, Palms Springs Film Festival, Summit Creative Silver Award, and finalist at the Int. Media New York Festival.

As a mountain climber, I am driven to conquer serious challenges. I take the time necessary to understand a client’s challenges and then provide an intelligent video solution that will produce the outcome they want.

But the enormous popularity of Apple mobile devices has delivered a perhaps mortal blow to Flash in the long run. Several contenders have emerged to provide Flash-like animation in an HTML5 setting, notably Adobe Edge and Google Swiffy. The writing’s on the wall: Adobe has begun repositioning Flash as a tool for 3D gaming development. It announced in November that it has abandoned development of Flash on mobile devices.

The incredible outpouring of emotion over Steve Jobs’ death projected our collective angst not just about the future of Apple and our beloved gadgets, but perhaps about the future of innovation in America. We need mythic heroes like Jobs to reassure us that our nation need not be in decline, that we can innovate ourselves back to greatness. The next chapter is being written and the stakes could not be higher — for you and me, but more so for our kids. Sermon over.

If you don’t have a mobile version of your website, 2012 is the year you need to get one. Did you know that mobile access to the Internet exceeded desktop access for the first time … in 2008? Up to now, mobile websites have been their own special animal, but an emerging concept called One Web enables a single set of code to deliver the proper user experience to any device, from the largest desktop browser down to the tiniest mobile screen.

Social media is always fun to talk about, especially if you want to start an argument. We’ve seen some novel applications recently, such as the Twitter-based hedge fund that beat the stock market. Speaking of Twitter, a new record was set during the women’s world cup soccer finals — over 7,000 tweets per second. That’s a lot of tweeting. Location based services have really taken off too; Foursquare now has over 10 million users. And of course, much has been said about Google and its latest attempt to break into the social networking world, Google +. Early adopters love the technology but Google + has a long way to go before developing a critical mass that can challenge Facebook. Even more interesting is the recently-disclosed Google X, a clandestine lab that is working on 100 long-shot ideas, including an elevator to outer space.  You gotta love those guys.

Streaming video  is changing the face of TV, and it’s being driven by youngsters.  Boxee’s Andrew Kippen put it this way: “I think there is this generational shift of people who’ve had the Internet before they had sex.” They’d rather pay for premium online content a la carte than be forced to buy a bundle from the cable company. So now we’re seeing headlines like “Will Netflix and Hulu kill cable TV?” On the other hand, Netflix learned the hard way how to lose 800,000 customers almost overnight with the ill-fated decision to split their DVD and streaming services. Meanwhile, Amazon and NBC Universal have announced a streaming deal. So it’s really about convenience, and serving the customer how they liked to be served. The plethora of delivery options is only going to increase.

Speaking of streaming video, live webcasting has seen some interesting applications lately, like the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ “virtual visits.” A somewhat more joyous event, the Royal Wedding, was 2011′s biggest live webcast. YouTube generated 72 million live streams to 188 countries around the world. On the corporate level, it’s now possible to deliver a network-level experience to webcast viewers around the globe.

And it’s not just video that’s being streamed. Pandora is available as an option this year from ten car makers. If you have a smartphone with 3G and Bluetooth, you already have all you need. Good luck with that, SiriusXM!

So you love that 55″ HD beauty sitting in your living room? You may or may not be pleased to know that Sharp is developing an LCD with sixteen times the resolution of HDTV: A whopping 7,680 x 4,320 pixels.  The new broadcast standard is called Super Hi-Vision and it’s being pioneered by NHK, the Japanese public broadcast company. Don’t worry, your HDTV won’t be obsolete any time soon. But the day will certainly come when HD looks … so SD.

ARRI, Panavision and Aaton all ceased production of film cameras last year. And with the impending demise of Kodak,  history books may declare 2011 the year that film officially died. I miss film, but I love digital more than I miss film. A new generation of large, single sensor cameras is raising the bar on image acquisition. Two new 4k cinema cameras from Canon were inspired by the hugely successful 5D Mark II still camera, and RED unveiled the 4k Scarlet.

Apple ruffled a lot of feathers in the professional post community with its latest update to Final Cut Pro, FCP X. In some ways it was a step backward. A quick 10.1 update addressed some of the biggest issues but there are still a lot of folks now reconsidering Avid and Adobe Premiere. Meanwhile online editing is becoming a reality, with Quantel’s QTube leading the way. Take a look at those old Beta SP tape decks in your edit suite. Chances are they need a good dusting off. The transition to a tapeless world is essentially complete. The production workflow is IT-based these days, and that’s a really good thing.

I’ve said this before, but maybe it’s time to find a new term for “new media,” since that was coined back in the waning days of analog, when you were rocking out to Milli Vanilli. No doubt many of the things in this story would have seemed like science fiction back then. So now you have a bad case of Bieber Fever and “New Media,” or whatever you want to call it, has come an astonishingly long way in a very short time. What does it all mean? As Dan Coughlin put it, “The world has evolved from the Stone Age to the Agricultural Age to the Industrial Age to the Information Age to the Creativity Age.” Your creative palette have never been more vibrant, and your horizons are limited not so much by the tools you use, but by your aspirations and the limits of your imagination. Hallelujah!

Entrance is free, and all ages are welcome to attend. The festival is designed to help support and encourage youth to explore their creativity through youth media, film, and video. The festival was created to honor the memory of Derek Freese, a graduate of the Temple film program, who passed away two days after arriving in Hollywood, California. His family decided to keep his love of film alive by founding the Derek Freese Foundation in 1997.

In previous years the Derek Freese Youth Media Film Festivals had accepted submissions from nationwide. This year’s festival will be focused on local filmmakers in the Mid-Atlantic region. In this effort we hope to support local youth filmmakers and their creative efforts. The categories for this year’s festival entries include fiction, documentary, experimental, animation, cinematography, editing, female filmmaker, and audience’s choice. Screenings of films in each category will take place during the festival.

Submitted by Tim Day

Thursday, January 19, 2012
Counting Up to 12 by PRSA Philadelphia Chapter

We are about to count down to the start of 2012, and soon it will be time to count back up to the exciting year ahead! Join us for our PRSA Philadelphia Chapter kick-off event to meet our members, see what’s in store for the 12 months ahead and get to know this year’s 12 committees. See how our chapter can help advance your career through educational programming and events, and provide opportunities to build your skills and expand your network. Whether you’re a seasoned chapter member, new to the chapter, or attending your first PRSA event, this event has something for everyone! Come learn about the many member benefits the Philadelphia chapter has to offer while networking with industry peers in a fun atmosphere (right off of 12th Street, of course!) – and stick around for a chance to win special prizes! COST: $10 for members/$15 for non-members. Sign up to become a member at the event, and your admission fee will be reimbursed! Price includes light hors d’oeuvres and one free drink. Happy hour drink specials will also be available. Location: Field House, 1150 Filbert Street, Philadelphia 19107. 6-8 p.m.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Benefits of Blogging for Businessby PPRA (Philadelphia Public Relations Association)

According to Technorati’s “2011 State of the Blogosphere” report, blogging has allowed businesses to increase visibility in their industry, acquire new customers and build thought leadership. Join us for an engaging discussion on how PR and Marketing professionals can avoid a one-size-fits approach and instead help their organizations create a unique online voice. By the end of the evening, you’ll learn how to develop meaningful content and speak to the perfect audience to drive results. Location: Estia, 1405 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102. 5:30 – 6:00 PM Registration & Cocktail Reception/ 6:00 – 6:45 PM Panel Discussion/ 6:45 – 7:30 PM Q&A. Light hors d’ouevres, beer, wine and soft drinks included for the first hour. Contact Information: Denise Downing, ppra@comcast.net, 215-557-9865.

Thursday, January 26, 2011
PACT Thursday Networking Seriesby PACT (Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies)

Get back to basics and make new connections as PACT rings in the New Year. PACT invites its fellow members and guests from Technology and Life Science Corporations, Entrepreneurs, Investors and Professional Advisors for a networking social. Come learn more about each others businesses and exchange business cards while enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. For more information, contact Kim Tuski. Location: Manuyunk Brewery & Restaurant, 4120 Main Street, Philadelphia, PA 19127. 5:30p.m. – 7:30p.m.

Saturday, February 11, 2012
Opening Reception: ONWARD Compé ’12 by Project Basho

Join us for the opening reception of ONWARD Compé ’12, an exhibition of Project Basho’s annual international photography competition. This year’s selection, curated by Todd Hido, features 57 photographs by 50 emerging artists from around the globe. Free and open to the public. Snacks and refreshments will be served. Location: 1417 N. Second St, Philadelphia, PA. 2 – 4 pm.

Saturday, February 11, 2012
ONWARD Summit by Project Basho

This one-night event will bring engaging presentations by established and emerging artists and an intimate party to share current projects and portfolios with fellow members of the photography community. Speakers include Todd Hido, Hiroh Kikai, Zoe Strauss, and Peter Barberie. Location: 1417 N. Second St, Philadelphia, PA. 5 pm.

Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Future of Biofuels: What’s Hot, Hype, and Possible by PACT & CAMA

From Algae to switchgrass and wood waste to sewer grease, many advances in next generation biofuels are being made today. But what is realistic and how do you cut through the hope and hype to get at viable solutions? Join us for an informative and lively dialogue with industry experts, entrepreneurs and investors on the current state and future potential of this emerging growth sector. The US military is one of the largest investors in advanced biofuels development and is in a position to make the market ripe for commercialization on a massive scale. Can it do for biofuels what it did for GPS and the Internet? Location: Morgan Lewis, 1701 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. For more information, contact Jennifer Cohen. 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

March 28, 2012
Philly for Phorum 2012 — Cloud Strategies to Transform Your Business by PACT, DELL & Fairmount Partners

Phorum 2012 is a one-day Cloud computing technology conference for business and technology executives seeking guidance on cloud strategies to transform the way their companies do business, go to market, and compete. Keynotes by Nick Carr, Pulitzer finalist and author of The Big Switch and The Shallows; Peter Coffee, Vice President and Head of Platform Research, Salesforce.com and author of Auditing Cloud Computing: A Security and Privacy Guide; and James Staten, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Inc., named the top cloud computing analyst by Web Hosting Industry Review and Apollo Research. Cloud vendors, enterprises, consumers and analysts round out panelists and session speakers. Networking reception with cocktails and live music concludes the conference. Location: World Café LIVE. Register at www.phorumphilly.com.

1. When did you start out in this business and how?

My “business” is education but I’ve been in publishing, in law, in economic development, and in a range of areas connected to thinking about how we change the world. (Yes, I grew up in the 50s and 60s and saw the power of people to rethink the ways things are done.)

I “published” my first newspaper when I was in the 6th grade, once wrote and published a newspaper in Latin, edited a college newspaper, started an underground newspaper in the 60s, and later worked in Boston and NY publishing. I helped to create a residential theater and experimental press. In the 70s and then later in the 80s, I started grad programs that linked design, writing, business, and technology in the 70s. I have a PhD in English from UConn and a degree in law from UPenn. I’ve been a teacher, senior college/university administrator, writer, and… camp counselor.

You could say I’ve been around.

2. Did you set out to do this or did it just happen? Tell us about that.

The Corzo Center for the Creative Economy has been an idea that has been kicking around for eight or more years. Around 2002 or 2003, a number of us here in Philly in the “creative community” thought that creatives – across the spectrum of media, design, and arts – weren’t getting the recognition they deserved and were leaving town to get it elsewhere. We also came to believe that, with a changing economy, creatives of all types need to begin to understand the economic value of what they produced.

Interaction with Devices

Like any “good” idea, it didn’t die. The idea lay in the streets until it was adopted by the University of the Arts.

When I stepped down as dean of the College of Media and Communication/UArts, I was asked to organize the Corzo Center. Since it was an idea I cared about – something I thought was very important to the community and the students I teach – I couldn’t say “no.” How could I ask someone else to do it if I wouldn’t do it?

3. What were and are the main motivators/influences on you and why?

I am pained by the fact that we’re educating remarkably talented people who don’t have control over their economic futures. It’s not enough to give people a great education in their art without making it possible for them to make a living doing it. To depend upon the kindness of strangers in this economy is to lean against a wall that will collapse. We need to show our students that what they learn empowers them to change the world – to be great artists and media makers at the same time they can become active citizens and economically self-sufficient.

I am equally pained that Philadelphia isn’t living up to its past and its promise. It is a city with a great history and great (potential) future. But we spend too much time pointing back at what we have done, rather than forward at what we will do. I don’t want to live in a city that doesn’t have the excitement of possibility. We are, though, at the tipping point, and the creative economy – the ability to link imagination and ideas to innovation and new ways of making urban life rich – is going to be the engine, I think, that is going to make this city a place of leadership and innovation.

4. What experience did you learn the most from?

VizThink Studio Wall

My failures are too many to count. I have started new programs intended to attract students to a new college and no one came. I have tried to persuade educators, lawyers, publishers, and business leaders that the then new media was going to transform the nature of law, art, education, and business, but they laughed. They were all good ideas with lots of truth… I thought then and think now. But they failed. Why?

I didn’t understand my audience and I didn’t understand how hard it is to change human behavior. We are all like frogs. If you put us into boiling water, we’ll jump out. We’ve got to find ways to make change slowly but persistently so we can get used to it. The changes I’ve seen that work best are those that have a persistent push and energy behind them, punctuated with sparks of inspiration, humor, and humility.

5. What projects stand out for you because they were unusual, challenging or fun?

They are all projects that involved changed behavior, changed abilities, and connecting people and skills that didn’t normally connect. Some examples: A program I had helped create graduated designers who were accomplished writers and writers who were accomplished designers. A laboratory that brought non-techies together to learn how to use a then new technology – desktop publishing – to see them use it to write and design. A residential theater in the middle of no where that produced new plays, experimental plays, published poetry, produced electronic music – and we not only survived we prospered.

6. What would we be surprised to know about you?

Although I am tone deaf, I have played the piano and the clarinet and sing to the considerable discomfort of all. And I drink three extra large coffees a day.

7. With constantly and rapidly evolving technology, how do you stay current?

Now a-days, I watch more than I do. But I’m a good watcher. I like, especially, to watch those in their 20s and 30s. Talking with them is like visiting a foreign country – listening to a language I’ve never heard when I see what they are up to. A bit frightening but exciting too.

8. What do you think is the future for ______ in Philly?

I’ll leave the blank in that question blank. The future on a full range of areas – creativity, innovation, new technology and media, art and music, and civic engagement – is what we make it and we can do creative things if we don’t let others tell us we can’t do it and if we don’t let the limits of energy and resources depress us too much.

I’m eager to see what we’re like in 20 years. If we’re not as good as a great city deserves, it will be our fault… individually and collectively.

9. Tell me about what you do.

I teach. I write. I organize. I persuade. I think. I talk. I help. I remember and I hope.

The Corzo Center supports artists and media makers to give them the economic savvy they’ll need to take advantage of their talents as well as provide mentors and limited funding to those with new business ideas.

Whiteboard Working Session

The Center offers workshops, short courses, and lectures, supports a creative incubator, funds new business ideas growing out of the arts and media, offers mentors and advisors, and has open office hours so that artists and media makers can talk through their problems with lawyers, accountants, and marketing, social media, and business strategists. This year, we are launching a funding source for early-stage ideas, called Corzo Create! And we partner with a number of local groups in the arts and entrepreneurship, providing space and support.

Except for a Saturday Workshop, the Creative Incubator funded by Wells Fargo Bank, and Corzo Create!, all of Corzo programs are free and open to the public.

10. How did you get to where you are today?

Showing up. Getting beyond my anxiety about failing. Trying again. And being inordinately curious. Why are things the way they are? Why can’t we change them? What connects this with that?

11. Which projects or experiences in your career stand out, and why?

Career and Life – hard to tell the difference. Seeing my students become better than I am. Helping to build things that last after I’ve left. But, also, being married, having a daughter and watching her grow up.

12. What have you learned along the way?

Making a living and making a life can be the same thing. Showing up especially after a failure is always important. No one is going to be your cheerleader (except perhaps your family) so don’t count on it. Do “it” because it’s what you need to do.

13. What advice do you have for others in your field, and for the Philly creative community in general?

Plan for the worst. Hope for the best. Work until you’re happy with what you’ve accomplished.

14. What do you do in your spare time?

Walk, read, go to movies, look, and talk.

15. Do you have an unrealized goal or aspiration?

To learn Spanish, relearn Latin, write a book preparing young people for creating and making a living in the new economy, start a blog.

16. Who do you admire the most?

W. H. Auden, Leonardo Da Vinci, Ben Franklin, and Bob Dylan. I can’t tell them apart.

17. If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?

I’d be an archeologist or a paleontologist. I like digging in the past.