Congrats to my good friend and colleague Eric Patel and all of the team at the DJ Mix Academy in Boston for their mention in this Sunday’s New York Times! They were mentioned in the article, Mix, Scratch and Spin: You, Too, Can Become a D.J.

DJ Mix Academy is the only school in New England where you can, in an interactive classroom setting, learn to DJ. Most DJs out there learned in college or on their own. The instructors are all accomplished DJs who not only share techniques but their stories, which are usually worth more than the tuition price! They have extended their programs with the Global DJ Mix Academy, where you can receive CDs, DVDs and instructional manuals and self-study. To extend this virtual campus, I am proud to be still involved with DMA as “interactive media director” and consult them on the Internet, all the while listening in on those DJ stories.

Business • (0) Comments • Permalink

Am I a nerd? Isolating my technical knowledge, I would consider myself a moderate nerd. My guess is that friends and clients would rate it much higher. I have always considered myself a generalist, balancing both technical and business knowledge, and making me the Internet professional I am today!

So I could not resist taking a Nerd Test that I read about on Cshel’s blog. And how did I do? I got a 67. I attribute the score to my lack of knowledge of the periodic table, owning a simple calculator and not having a biohazard logo in my bedroom (hey, it doesn’t really match my wife’s décor!).

Give the short survey a try – how did you do?

Technology • (3) Comments • Permalink

Just as I was pondering how I should categorize all of my blog feeds into folders in Google Reader, I got tagged by Cartoon Barry on how I use Google Reader for reading and managing RSS feeds.

As I mentioned before, I have only used Google Reader for managing feeds, and tried to keep that number to around 200 – and it is at 217 today, with a few added and deleted over the last several weeks. The opening message on the Trends page of the Reader states, “From your 217 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 2,862 items, starred 1 items, and shared 0 items.” Wow, that many?

Here’s what my reading looks like over the last 30 days:

Trying to maintain a balance of work and life, I don’t read feeds as much on the weekends, and if I do it is using the Reader on my Treo, which by its nature and design is much slower than reading in a browser.

The times of the day that I read most often did not surprise me:

For those who know me, I am not a morning person, so I rise early, get caffeinated and catch up on email and feeds prior to the start of the work day.

For the days of the week that I read, this also was not surprising:

Some days it seems like there are more feeds than others, but that is just a gut feel. I know recently my postings have been on a less regular schedule, and that has been more related to the projects I have been working on.

This is the first time I have been tagged, so now I really feel like a blogger! To keep this going, I will tag the following people – Daniel Sitter, Matt Maldre and David Dalka. I’m not sure what readers they use, but neither did Cartoon Barry.

Technology • (12) Comments • Permalink

While taking a break from the keyboard over the holiday weekend, I went for a walk and saw this object and took a photo of it.

It is a barrier in the parking lot of the University of Wisconsin – Fox Valley in Menasha, WI. There were several of these barriers that were comprised of what appeared to be a planter with a large PVC pipe with quotations.

The quotation reads, “The biggest obstacle to change is a successful past. Unknown”

Unfortunately this person is unknown, as I would like to know what experiences in life drew them to this conclusion.

Diversions • (0) Comments • Permalink

Have you ever had a hard time using a Web site? That frustration where you feel you should be able to do something a certain way on a Web page? I did not ask for a call of hands as I am sure everyone reading this has experienced it, no matter your level of experience with the Internet. This is compounded when someone else has no problem using the Web page.

My good friend Peter forwarded me an email exchange he had with LinkedIn’s customer support, where he reported about changes made to the presentation of the list of your connections. He is unable to read it… as JAWS is unable to read it. JAWS is screen reader software that Peter uses to not only access the Internet but to use his Windows PC. For example, when he presses the Start button, a voice that sounds a lot like the electronic voice of Stephen Hawking reads every item on the menu, and continues reading as he uses his computer.

This software is essential for him as he has retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, an eye condition that has significantly reduced Peter’s eyesight. RP did not hinder Peter from getting a masters degree from Harvard, travel the world solo to do the research for his masters thesis or run the Boston Marathon. However I have personally witness him, and JAWS, have a hard time find the “buy” button on many eCommerce Web sites.

In his dialogue with LinkedIn, Peter inferred that their changes to the My Connections page were an intentional error on their part. We talked afterwards and I shared with him my take that I was extremely confident that it was not, and most likely they did not even consider people who use screen readers or test for them when they released these changes. I am not bashing fellow Web designers and developers, but merely am pointing out what is a difficult part of this industry – developing Web sites and Web applications that are truly usable by all users on all devices. Getting a Web site to look and function the same across Internet Explorer and Firefox is just scratching the surface on this issue.

It was with Peter in mind that I decided not to use captchas on The Hot Iron and instead use manual moderation of comments. I have had Peter try Web sites with JAWS to test their usability. Where this one issue with LinkedIn has held him back a bit, he is able to use all other functions on the site and is growing his connections. This is something to keep in mind as people define their potential target markets for their Internet-based businesses.

Technology • (5) Comments • Permalink