New Thread for the Web

Happy to announce joshuaholland.co is now live! As explained in “Adding Another Thread to the Web,” the site will serve as a central hub for me on the web and is an updated version of a childhood dream.

It’s not perfect but after hacking it together from scratch I've learned a website shares a lot of similarities to crafting a blog post. There is no perfect. At some point you have to let it go and make improvements along the way by creating additional content through other posts or in this instance, website updates.

Big thanks to the School of Visual Concepts for a crash course in HTML and CSS and Rich Kim for hosting the site. Take a look around and let me know what you think! 

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user jamesrbowe]

Returning to the Hunt After a Week of Seattle Sunshine

Unemployment finally caught up with me last week. After a few months of adventures around Seattle and a number of freelance projects, I found myself with a rather empty schedule and inbox. At first I was thrilled by the thought. It seemed almost too perfect. My to-do list had run out of boxes to check just as the sunny spring weather arrived in Seattle.

In honor of the sun I kicked off my shoes, lost my shirt, and planted myself in the yard to catch some rays and finish a few good books. This sense of calm didn’t last long however. With my natural state being mobile and fluid, I quickly became uneasy with this stationary life style. It’s safe to say that I have a hard time relaxing.

Sun kissed and mentally refreshed, I’m returning to the hunting trail reenergized for a new round. Opportunities don’t come knocking after all. It’s more of a hunt. You need to be at the right place at the right time to make things happen.

A bit about what I’m looking for below.

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Digital Strategist and Storyteller Seeking Organization Interested in Digital Media and Collaboration

Smart and versatile communications professional with a passion for cultivating authentic relationships and stories for brands. I’m industrious, eager to learn, and filled with optimism.

I have over three years of experience helping organizations communicate effectively via traditional and new media. I love cuisine, travel, technology, trains, and urban environments. For a complete download about my history visit my resume here

I’m looking to create a long lasting relationship with an organization that has similar values and interests. If interested, please feel free to ping me on twitter at @jholland218.

[Photo Courtesy of waggingtales]

Discovering Sparks of Brilliance - Ignite Seattle 19 Recap

Presentations are an art form. When done well presenters can captivate an audience and inspire action. On the flipside however, poorly executed presentations often bore and frustrate those within earshot. This past Wednesday I had the pleasure of checking out  Ignite  – a Seattle born educational event focused on highlighting stellar presentations. Ignite prides itself in harnessing “condensed creativity.” The organization accomplishes this goal by implementing a five-minute stage rule for all of its presenters and limiting them to only 20 slides, which automatically rotate after 15 seconds. For anyone who has sat through a dry and long drawn out slide presentation, these rules seem like a gift from God.

Topics at the event ranged from motivational speeches about overcoming life challenges to acquiring new skills. There were also a few quirky ones such as “Mapping the United States of Starbucks” and “How I got seriously hurt at summer camp, and ended up meeting Donnie and Marie instead.” While there was not an official grand narrative that connected the presentations, most of the talks centered on the importance of human connectivity and discovering your passion. A few of my favorites included:

Jonathon Colman - Surviving as an Introvert in an Extroverted World
Wendy Hinman - We’re Gonna Die
Lindsay Sharma -What do Swaziland, Papua New Guinea and the United States have in common?
Adam Philipp - NETWORKING, the RPG
Forest Gibson - How to make a viral video (and why it’s not easy)
Kate Bergstrom - Online Dating Tips I Have Learned After Meeting Over 100 Men
Andrew Dumont - Projects: From Idea to Launch and Beyond
Sara McNally - How the downturn made me a small business owner (and why it was a good idea)
James Davenport - Mapping the United States of Starbucks
Geraldine DeRuiter - Sharing Personal News Online

Overall the event was outstanding. It showcased some of the region’s brightest talent and highlighted the essence of great storytelling. To relive the magic, check out some of the  tweets I curated from the event. Videos of the presentations will also be available online in the coming weeks on Ignite’s video page.

For all the latest info about Ignite Seattle, visit www.igniteseattle.com and follow them on Twitter at  @ignitesea. The next Ignite Seattle is May 16th. See you there!

[Photo courtesy of Ignite Seattle]

Adding Another Thread to the Web

Call it silly but I'm a believer in fulfilling childhood dreams. Unjaded by constraints of the real world, they often offer up a true look at the person we're meant to be and contain a grand narrative which helps inform the person we become as adults. Looking back at my own dreams, a few main themes emerge including technology, communications, storytelling, and helping others. This post explores my love for the web.

My fascination with the internet started in the 90s when my mom got our first computer. The amount of information available and ability to connect with others to exchange ideas resonated with me instantly. Shortly after discovering the web I began collecting Dragon Ball Z (DBZ) photos from sites and dreamed of creating a website to share my collection with friends and fellow DBZ enthusiasts around the world.

Like many things of the 90s, my full-time devotion to DBZ fizzled out in the 00s. After I entered Orting High School, my passions changed. I became interested in new activities like track, cross country, driving fast cars (see part 2 about my Maxima), and choir. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a HUGE DBZ fan; I could talk to you for days about the deep history and mythology of the series but given the year, I decided to reconfigure my dream to fit contemporary interests.

Thinking about my dream of creating a website through the lens of 2013, I decided it would be good to focus on my love for social media, networking, and photography. The site will serve as a central hub for me on the web and be an additional platform to share my thoughts about digital life and the vast world of communication. To accomplish this goal, I enrolled at the School of Visual Concepts (SVC) where I learned about copy writing in 2012. What drew me back to the school was its commitment to practical education and gritty real world vibe which made it feel accessible.

Despite not having touched HTML since I was an 8th grader at Sagahlie Middle School – formally Sagahlie Jr. High School, the language felt oddly familiar and was easy to pick up. After a month of developing the site, I'm excited to hit publish later this week! I'm also looking forward to continuing to learn more about HTML and other coding languages.

I never imagined myself wanting to learn more about computer languages but I'm slowly finding I actually enjoy the challenge of connecting the various pieces of code and appreciate the way it connects people with information. It's not the path I'd envisioned taking but like most things in life, it's sometimes better to take the long way around and enjoy the sights.



[Photo courtesy of Flickr user johnkay ]