Palm Beach Post: Moving Up Feature
Posts Tagged ‘startups’
Building a Tri-County Tech Community
I wrote a guest post on the Miami Herald’s Starting Gate blog about some of the challenges that entrepreneurs not living in Miami face. Thank you to the other Broward and Palm Beach based entrepreneurs that commented on the article. View the original post here.
View from a Road Warrior: Building a tri-county tech community
Tech entrepreneurs scattered throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties face challenges to establish and expand support services outside of the metropolitan Miami locale. I have firsthand experience as an involved participant in the tech community, while living in central Palm Beach County. This post explores the genesis of the tri-county tech support system presently emerging outside of Miami.
There is considerable momentum in the tri-county S FL tech scene, including updates about new accelerators/incubators, constant news about Florida tech companies on this blog, and events such as the recent “Great Debate”. The subject of location percolates at each event and meeting, focusing on the one thing that is theoretically essential to a growing tech community: Is there a central location for South Florida tech?
One Single Hub?
Most discussions identify Miami as the purported central hub; however, the Miami organizations and events are likewise scattered throughout the greater Miami area (Downtown, Midtown, Grove, etc.). The variety of scattered locations throughout Miami-Dade is more diffused than in Palm Beach and Broward. A variety of locations have sprung up in Palm Beach and Broward, such as the FAU Campus area, which houses the Enterprise Development Corporation, and upcoming Caffeine Spaces, proving that we are far from designating a central tech hub in South Florida.
The geographic layout of South Florida simply does not emulate the high concentration of tech companies and services that exist in San Francisco, Boston or Seattle. Tech entrepreneurs and professionals will benefit by a realistic and honest solution that results in successful events and necessary introductions. Stonly Baptiste of IndependenceIT agrees, saying that “Miami has the best shot at being a major tech hub than most of the other areas of South Florida. Those of us in Fort Lauderdale can benefit from that growth and focus our energies in helping a growing community instead of the uphill battle of firing up a Fort Lauderdale tech hub.”
The State of the Creative Union
Note: This article was a collaborative effort between Jessica Kupferman of Pretty and Outgoing and myself. Thanks, Jessica!
We are all very fortunate to be living in a time that allows us all to witness huge breakthroughs in technology and ways we access the web. From the iPad, to the social media boom, to greater mobile and video functionality, our world is a world of web accessibility.
We wanted to survey some professionals in our field – web and graphic and motion designers, to find out their thoughts on how these changes in both technology and the economy have affected the work we do, our outlook, and what’s to come. With changes coming at us all so rapidly, we thought it would be prudent to take a “state of the union” of sorts: if for no other reason than to check current trends and thoughts of our colleagues.
1. What trends and advancements in technology do you see as the most exciting and how will those affect your work?
Almost every designer that took the survey had mobile as part of their answer to this question. As mobile access becomes more popular, general consensus is that the web designer’s job will indeed become different and much more exciting.
“I’d say for web development it would be the rise of mobile as a real player. As phones & other mobile devices advance, clean, usable sites across platforms will be more in demand.” – Mike Conaty
“Mobile… I think we’re going to continue to see development in a broad variety of mobile devices. Once more organizations realize that content is being accessed and consumed in so many different ways, I believe there will be a push to deliver content based more on context than it is now.” – Michael Guill
Many designers also mentioned new and different types of web accessibility, such as the iPad, replacing desktops and even laptops. With breakthroughs in the ways consumers view the internet, not only will the technology change, but the sites and their accessibility will have to change as well.
“Computer as [an] appliance [is] finally here (and getting pretty cheap) – lots more people access services without all the hassles of a personal computer (use smart-phones, set-top-boxes, tablets etc. etc.)” – Martin Luff
Reminding yourself that you love what you do
Reminding yourself that you love what you do is an important part of keeping your mind and your work fresh. As creative professionals, it’s easy to get caught up in the business end of things and not actually spending much time doing anything for ourselves. If you are freelancing or working at an agency, it’s important to have something in your pipeline that’s done just for the fun of it.
Click here to read the whole article on sixrevisions.com
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