Finding a creative job in Portland

I end up being asked for my insights from time to time, so here they are, in my official jobhunting in PDX post. I'll edit this post periodically as I think of new things.

Firstly, tweet tweet tweet. Portland is one of the epicenters of Twitter use, and every interactive agency, ad agency, creative company in town is on Twitter. So get yourself a twitter account and follow anyone at any company that looks remotely connected to what you want to be doing. Participate in the community: ask questions, share insights and information, and help people out. There are a bunch of good blog posts on Twitter use and etiquette, I'll edit them in here as I find them. Short answer: Get on Twitter. Lazy answer: search twitter for "jobs Portland" Better answer: Get on Twitter and participate.

Which leads me to: blog. Twitter is a great place to share your blog, so you can keep a blog about your personal and professional work/insights/challenges, and then tweet your posts. Keeping a blog creates a larger context around your resume (which you will also have on your blog) and your reel (which you will also have on your blog), and gives people some sense of you as a person. Portland is a small town, so personality matters (see participate in the community above).

I guess before you do any of these things, get interested in the kind of work that's being done here. There are a ton of interactive and advertising agencies in town, so get familiar with who's here and what they do, which means doing some research. Also, because it's a small town, sending out your reel and waiting is a poor strategy. Be proactive, be visible, be accessible.

Also: PDX mindshare is a great job posting and networking resource. LinkedIn is a great place to form and maintain professional connections.

That's all I have for now. :-)

incredible!

This was going around twitter a couple days ago and I just finally watched it. Incredible. I need to watch it a few more times.

It's been a while

Going to iSite's anniversary party on Monday. The people I've met from there have made a great impression on me at cre8 camp and on Twitter, so I'm looking forward to it. They have a handy RSVP form on their website where you not only say that you're coming, but can tell them if there's any expert you'd like to talk to, and then adds the date to your Outlook calendar. Nice!

Also coming up- Science Pub and Interesting PDX.

I'm taking a couple days off in early April and really looking forward to it. It always seems like a person should take vacation when they have somewhere to go, but I never can afford to go anywhere. So I try to remember to take vacation anyway and just relax. I have to admit that I worry a bit about everything when I'm gone, but that's just because I take it seriously and feel a personal commitment to our projects- it's good that I worry, and good that I leave anyway.

Tomorrow we start putting together the baby board for the Portland chapter of Women in Animation- that should be exciting!

Also on Twitter, I'm late to the party, but Christopher Walken is my current favorite tweeter. He's hilarious. Someone really needs to put together an audio set, though, so you can hear him saying this stuff.

Also, shout out to some ex-Laikans who are staying in town and taking a shot at their own studio. I wish them all the best.

Drinking and Drawing

Turnout wasn't as high as I had hoped, but everyone had a really good time. It's funny, because the group of people who ended up doing the bulk of the drawing really took ownership of the final product. I hadn't seen that happen before, but I think it's because at prior events there were so many people drawing that they only got to go once or twice.
I had a really good time and saw a lot of people I wanted to see, and finally met some people I had only met on Twitter.

My use of Twitter on this event was really interesting to me. I created a Twitter account for DrinknDrawPDX, and specifically sought out people on Twitter that I thought would be interested. Over time, DrinknDraw developed a social network that only slightly overlaps my own, and introduced me to people I wouldn't have met otherwise. And I'm still not sure that all those people know that I'm DrinknDraw and DrinknDraw is me. Funny.
So DrinknDraw developed a small social network on Twitter, and I spammed the hell out of everyone from my own Twitter account, and Facebook, and the Oregon Media Network, each of which had a slightly different result from a different but overlapping group of people.
The DrinknDraw account ended up being followed by some local art and media outlets, and had people volunteer to post press releases, as well as volunteer for the event itself.
That was pretty cool, actually- normally the process of getting volunteers for chapter events involves sending an email to a massive distribution list and then having interested people contact a coordinator who tries to coordinate them- in this instance, I called for volunteers from both Twitter accounts and within minutes I had one confirmed volunteer for each account. I love the speed and ease of tweeting those kinds of requests, and how quickly the community passed on the info. It's really cool.

At the event, someone I had never met before showed up and took the lovely photos posted here. Her name is Heather Zinger, and I think there's a wonderful artistic sensibility in her photography. And lo, she's interested in animation, so will show up to our WIA meeting.

On a different note, I think I need to set aside Don Quixote for now- it's a huge time sink, and I have some library books I'm dying to get to. It's a strange book- I spent a long time expecting a Decameron/Canterbury Tales kind of thing, and then just when I had accepted that it was going to take on the novel form, it switched over and seems to have become that. Which makes it easier to set down, actually.

End to my calendar woes?

Today on Twitter, @turoczy turned me on to Calagator, an open-source, totally awesome Portland Tech event calendar. It doesn't have all the events I'd like to see on it, but that's okay because I can add them. They're pretty flexible on how "tech" the events need to be, and I love the "export to google calendar" feature- it's pretty much just what I've been looking for.

Hopefully someday I can persuade them to make a widget for blogs, but in the meantime, head on over to Calagator and check it out.

Great Portland Interview Experiment

Started here, I participated with Adron Hall. I'll publish the results of my interview with Liz Grover when that's done. This has been really fun to do- great idea!

A: How goes the efforts for the animation festival?

R: Firstly, I'd like to have coffee with Steve Gehlen, because he has more experience putting such a thing together than I do, and I'll need some guidance. I really need a fiscal agent, and he's got one. Secondly, I'd like to put together a brainstorming meeting with people who are interested and see what we'd like the event to look like and what it should include. From there, Marten and I can create a tentative plan, and start working on logistics.


A: So Twitter, the speed at which news is relayed and information spread, how or do you ever feel a bit overwhelmed?

R: This is probably a bad week to ask me that question- I usually try to balance my life so that there is plenty of time for activity, but then also plenty of time for introspection/reflection. I've got a lot going on lately, and haven't had much time for mental processing, which can lead me to feel overwhelmed. I've also just crossed the line in Twitter where I follow so many people that I can't read all their tweets.

I am trying to have a relationship with information/communication where I consume it mindfully and with attention. Unlike, say, the TV, which once it's on just stays on for hours in the background, or a radio station. Video watched on-demand gets watched deliberately and with my attention. I do the same thing with social media- I only participate in a few sites, and try to do it well. And subscribe to podcasts, and then listen to them mindfully. So as I mentioned, I feel like I have all these things- books, movies, shows, podcasts, clamoring for my attention, and I don't have enough time to mindfully consume all this stuff. I feel like I should only follow enough people on Twitter as I can read and correspond with and give attention to- I don't like feeling like I'm "behind" all the time.

I think there is a tipping point- as I mentioned, I love how fast things happen on Twitter, and it is really fun for news and events. However, I'm bordering on either having to use it very differently than I have been, or trimming back the number of people I follow.


A: The value of Twitter, at least in my humble opinion, is the people that tweet & twit all day long. Have you ever thought about how the connections are made, and what draws people to follow each other on Twitter?

R: This dovetails nicely into the above question, because the issue really is the paradigm of using Twitter. I like following people who tweet real content- good blog posts or news articles, tweetups, events, knowledge. And I try to respond with thanks or commentary on that content, and not clog up the bandwidth with my own chatter.

I do think that Twitter is evolving into a whole unique thing- people tweet as themselves (rather than creating handles and the personalities that go with them). People who interact on Twitter also generally interact in real life- again, this isn't some persona that is being created, and that prevents some common online drama, where, say, "WizardKing_027" is the most powerful poster on a game forum, which has it's own private set of memes and social hierarchy, etc. If I can't make a good impression on real people, I can't make a good impression on Twitter. What's also weird is that people go around at events with their Twitter IDs on their nametags, and the two are sort of interchangeable. Anyway, Twitter for me bridges the online social experience and the real world social experience in a totally unique way, and I think everyone is still figuring out how that's going to develop over time. Very soon, the community will be overrun with spammers and scammers and people's usage habits will change accordingly, and they'll either migrate to a different thing (like Shizzow, maybe), or the technology will evolve to somehow exclude those users/that type of content. It’s still changing, we’re still changing it.


A: Steampunk Fan? What's characteristics do you like about these story themes? What do you like about the ideology?

R: The easy answer is that in Steampunk, technology is beautiful and valuable, unique, and invented by the person who uses it. Currently, technology has really streamlined visuals, is mass-produced in plastic and aluminum, and is developed by someone else- you have to learn how to use it. Victorian technology belonged to everyone (of a certain social class); anyone could get a chemistry set or a telescope and proceed to make discoveries or do experiments- it wasn't the realm of specialists. Today, knowledge belongs to specialists who study something extensively, and they are viewed as being the only people who can make meaningful contributions to the body of knowledge on that subject.

Incidentally, I do think that's changing, and it's one thing I just freakin' love about open source software, and other... let's call it the democratization of the sciences.

Also, I generally like alternate histories. It isn't always done well, but that's true of every genre of literature. :-)


A: You appear per your blog to have read the Declaration of Independence. What is your opinion of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution? Any particular thoughts that stand out?

R: I'm going to be elitist here and say that I think the Constitution is the crowning achievement of the Enlightenment. It's an absolutely amazing document, written by brilliant men, emerging from an untested, unstructured, collaborative process. I could go on and on about the tremendous challenges of inventing a system of government that is cogent enough to work logically, and yet flexible enough to evolve over time, to meet the needs of the people over the course of centuries. It’s so difficult to think long-term, and the founding fathers could have just been reactionary- could have just invented something that redressed their grievances with the monarchy, but instead they invented something that went far beyond that.

The dream of America (all men are created equally, life liberty pursuit of happiness, government of the people by the people for the people) is never, of course, the reality of America. The reality of America is, just like everyone everywhere, the wealthy have tremendous political advantages, and a small number of people have control over the actual living conditions of everyone else... but the dream of America is real and tangible and worth living and fighting for. It’s such a compelling dream that we keep dreaming it, that we keep on striving, generation after generation, to make it true, to make it true for all of us, and then to make it true not just for us, but for everyone all over the world. It keeps speaking to us, calling to us, forcing us to take action.

And, of course, it makes me sick that we have political leaders who don’t believe in this dream, who undermine it and sabotage it, or say that this is a dream that only citizens get to have, who don’t GET it, what we’re doing here, what the experiment actually is that the Constitution set in motion and then entrusted to us.


A: You wrote "I've spent a lot of my life trying to get to this moment, to reach these goals, to be sitting here. And the past year or so I've been asking myself what comes next, what's the next goal?" Have you come up with some new goals, plans, or ideas of accomplishments you'd like to achieve?

R: Actually, I haven't. And I'm getting busy with Drinking and Drawing and all the various camps and this potential animation festival... I get mentally stimulated by these things, and that stimulation is part of what I am looking for. I need a certain level of challenge in my life, and so I like to feel like I'm working toward something. But I'm not sure right now what that "something" is.


A: You also wrote "Instead, I keep finding that when I'm ready, I become the master." What are your thoughts when you reach this level; alone, accomplished, scared, brave, brash?

R: Now I'm embarrassed to read that post- it sounds really narcissistic. What I meant is that when I go out there somewhere and struggle along, I'm fearful and unsure of myself. I wish there was support or guidance, and there never is- I just have to stumble along alone, feeling my way as I go. And invariably, after the fact, people ask me how I did that or learned that. That's what I mean by "becoming the master"- now people look to me for guidance and support.

I guess what I first feel after I've accomplished something major is relief- I was bluffing along the whole time, and can't believe that it actually came true/worked out. I kept expecting someone to come along and stop me, and I'm always surprised when no one has. So I gather my breath for a while and take in the new view, and in that period there is a sense of being proud of myself. Then, of course, I get bored and set myself the next challenge.


A: So what are your ideas for a reorganization for a new superstruct?

R: Well, the superstruct was a device that the people running the game thought would be the thing that saves the world- collections of people with the same goals who bring their disparate experience to the table and work together. I suppose it's a legitimate theory- how else are we going to save the world? But I myself didn't start a superstruct, and barely participated in any. I wanted, like I always want, to bridge them together. I saw so many superstructs that were similar in goals or processes, and wanted them to connect and work together. I know that was part of the intent of the game, but I didn't see it happening much while I was playing.


A: I find you are one of the few people in the country who understands short selling, naked short selling, and even credit default swaps. Does it leave you ok with the idea of these moves in the market or do you believe they should be banned? If they are banned, how could they do so effectively? If they aren't banned, what would the reason be?

R: That's an interesting question. I think that if bankers remembered what their actual business was, then none of this would have happened. Bankers are supposed to make prudent, low risk investments, and protect their solvency at all costs. What happens, bizarrely enough, is that people look at a stock portfolio and think "I'm a millionaire!" rather than thinking "I own stocks that are worth a million dollars today, but might be valued differently tomorrow". Then, the next level of bizarre behavior, they don't start selling stocks to buy things, they start borrowing against the value of their stocks. I mean, they don't sell some stocks and buy a new car- they finance a new car against the value of the portfolio. Eventually they are sleeping in the car.

Do I think there's a legislative solution? Yes and no- firstly, there is a reason we have anti-monopoly laws designed to prevent a given company from dominating a market. People think that legislation is designed to protect the consumer from collusion and price fixing, and that's part of it. but the other reason (and the more important reason) is that in a free market economy, there is no such thing as a company that is "too big to fail". To have too much capital concentrated in too few companies means, literally, that if those companies fail, our economy fails. So, yes, we should much more stringently enforce anti-monopoly laws and encourage a business environment with a lot more real competition. Good lord, if people don't want to finance the auto companies by buying their products, we shouldn't have to finance them with taxpayer money. That's ridiculous. And there are a ton of tiny car companies out there, making alternative vehicles, that would gladly step in and sell cars in a competitive marketplace, and, given the opportunity, would probably be able to absorb a number of employees laid off by the Big 3.

As for banning credit default swaps, I don't think it's necessary. Bankers are learning that if they want insurance, they should buy insurance, not spread their bad debt around. They'll forget in another 50 or 70 years and need to be reminded, but... you know, it's like Enron (another company the government allowed to get too big, with a paper value that could evaporate overnight). If someone is out to find a sneaky loophole that allows them to rip off people, the rules and laws are convoluted enough that they will find a way. Making something illegal after the fact doesn't really solve anything, and just adds more complex legislation to an already insane business. Banning naked shortselling (which they did a few weeks ago) doesn't get rid of the people who want to make money unethically.

Twitter

So, I know I was skeptical about Twitter six weeks ago, but now I'm really excited about it.

Firstly, I had no idea that so many cool things were happening every night in this city. I follow some really interesting people, and they are always inviting everyone to these amazing events and screenings and lectures, and if you aren't there, they tweet the event and let you in on what you missed. Same for people who aren't in this city- I can find out what's happening at a design lecture, a steampunk convention, an open-source seminar, and a political rally all at the same time, all in real time.

Secondly, it is staggering how fast things happen. Twitter knows about current events faster than Google does, and the moment something happens it spreads throughout the twitterverse, and everyone knows about it. It's funny, because I'll read something on Twitter, turn around and mention it to a coworker, and a couple minutes later it will have been retweeted to them- if it's good, or funny, or important, it makes it all the way through the community in record time. The community talks about things that are of tremendous local impact or interest that don't show up in the mainstream media, or show up hours or days later. I've always liked the speed of the transfer of information on the internet, but twitter is exponentially faster.

Finally, I appreciate being able to connect with people either actually (like all the Legion of Tech folks), or passively (like I follow Hodgman or WarrenEllis). I get insights into who they are, what they think, how they live- it's very cool.

So come find me on twitter (@rvillon), if you haven't already. I'll try to keep my updates funny or important or both.

Tweets and stuff

If anyone wants to tweet with me, I'm @rvillon. I should have created a separate twitter ID for superstruct, but I'm just mixing it up because I can multi-task like that.

I'm a little discouraged with superstruct. The site is glitchy, which makes it hard to follow up on discussions, and then suddenly today we went from 02060 all the way back down to 02044 for no reason that I could see. One of the things I've been thinking about a lot today (but can't really communicate to other players) is that I feel like art is a pretty low priority, in a Maslow's-hierarchy-of-needs kind of way. How can my work as an animation producer speak to the needs of people who are hungry, and cold, and sick? Particularly if there is a technological barrier to them even seeing the work I produce? In the face of human suffering, entertainment media seems pretty trivial.
So I've been looking instead to the 3D design/CAD engineering aspect of the work, particularly as it pertains to rapid prototyping. If we assume that that technology decreases in price and increases in functionality over the next ten years (which is a reasonable assumption, given the rate of change in technology), then we can envision a future in which designs can be transmitted to various machines globally, and devices can be "printed" locally, on demand, saving the energy consumption of moving consumer goods around the planet. So what kinds of things can be made from resins and plastics, that have a minimum of moving parts, that people really need, that can improve the human condition?

Finally, I just found out today that the Evil League of Evil is accepting applicants, but the deadline is Saturday. I would LOVE to do this, but don't have enough time. So for the record, I am the villainous Kat Nipp*, controller of cats! I've placed my minions in millions of homes. Even now they are asleep on your comfy chairs, consuming your treats, and yet ignoring everything you say, waiting for my command to leap into action, honing their skills on small prey. Soon my henchmen will be incorporated into key households, with full access to world governments and economic systems, and then the world will come to know the full evil of Kat NIPP! What I need: crazy costume (check!), video facilities (check!), and a whole lot of borrowed cats (?). Also, I'd like an effects shot of me walking down the street being followed by hundreds of cats.



*Kat Nipp character copyright Rebekah Villon, 2008.

Twitter

Okay, so I've created a Twitter account. I suspect it might be one of those things that I join and check out and then lose interest in (hello Tribe, MySpace, Yahoo Groups, Okcupid, Facebook, Friendster), but some of them stick. If anyone wants to tweet with me, let me know.