Digital identity & networks - Auckland

We ran our last student workshop on Wednesday at Media Design School in Auckland.

Marie Young from iJump spoke about her life learning experiences, since being employed as a production worker she has changed job over 20 times and is now working as a social media consultant. She drew examples from her own life as she presented helpful tips for students entering the workforce. She discussed how blogging can be an effective way to intiate dialogue on common interests. Marie finished with a class discussion around the pros and cons of putting personal information on to social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Nigel Parker from Microsoft NZ introduced Silverlight technology and showed us a demo of Seadragon. One of the cool projects that use Silverlight and Deep Zoom is the Hard Rock Memorabilia collection. Nigel's exciting journey into what is now possible with new web technologies will have given this year's yMedia Challenge participants exciting ideas for their own projects. Keep up to date with new technology on Nigel's blog!

Red Nicholson from Saatchi & Saatchi and winner of the yMedia Challenge 2007, spoke about his experiences during the Challenge and his internship at Saatchi & Saatchi. Red and Nathan worked with YouthLaw in the yMedia Challenge 2007. Red talked about the incredible people he met at YouthLaw and described both the awesome times and stressful times he had during the two week Challenge. He spoke his internship at Saatchi & Saatchi which has resulted in him working there part-time while he continues studying Communications at AUT. He concluded with some key learnings: that people don't necessarily respect you for the degree you have - it's all about what you bring to the picnic table, that it's all about what you do with what you know, and that it's important to be likeable - just smile! See his presentation below!

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Thanks to everyone who made the workshop possible and thanks to the students from Auckland University of Technology, Media Design School, Unitec New Zealand and University of Auckland who attended.

Technology and Social Change - Auckland

Last Thursday yMedia ran the first Auckland based student workshop for 2008 at Media Design School on Queen Street.


Our first speaker was Steve Martin, Creative Director at Terabyte who gave students an insight into the web industry - a place no longer just for "coders", but for Project Managers, Copywriters, Communicators, User Experience experts and Designers. He talked about how websites should be designed to be accessible by a wide audience.


Next, Bon Virata, Web Programmer at gardyneHOLT and 2007 yMedia Challenge participant spoke about his experience bridging the gap between tertiary studies and working in the industry. Students listened to Bon's inspiring story about how he worked with Te Waipuna Puawai Mercy Oasis and helped them to develop their own website during the yMedia Challenge, before graduating and being offered a full-time position at gardyneHOLT. He demonstrated that success can be achieved by following your passion and understanding one another. His moving conclusion asked the audience "what's your story?" See his presentation below!

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Lastly, Brendan Jarvis, General Manager at Chrometoaster and blogger for BusinessDay presented the 9 things he has learnt in the industry. Students were encouraged to choose their respective workplaces carefully - a creative and supportive workplace will do wonders for graduates in their first job. Brendan succinctly explained the importance of "knowing your audience" and "becoming part of the conversation" with reference to his experience in the web industry. See his presentation below!

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Thank you to everyone who helped to make the workshop possible and to everyone who attended!