CIW Community - Get caught in the Web!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the 2008 CIW Conference! Stephen will be there shortly doing a Faculty Institute (FI). I'll be heading down there Tuesday the 23rd for a Certification Partners Board meeting the following Wednesday. Then we'll get the conference going for Thursday. Can't wait!

- Tangent

Hey, guys. Twitter has been around a while, and is an interesting way to track people's updates. Twitter's unique in that anyone can use SMS messages to send quick blog-style updates. Because Twitter uses SMS, entries are limited to 140 characters, which means you'll have to be succinct!

I've been attending O'Reilly's Open Source Convention, known as OSCON (http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2008). OSCON is in its tenth year, and going strong.

Gay Bryant and Martha Merrill over at Pellissippi State Technical College sure are a class act! They held a reception for the latest graduates of their Web program back on May 4th. We're so pleased to be working with such a fine organization! Thought you'd want to check out some pictures from the reception. Martha is at the far left of the picture, and Gay is to the far right. The students in the middle are proud graduates from Pellissippi!

You can get more information about the event at http://www.ciwcertified.com/news/details/Pellissippi.asp.

Salt Lake City has lots of names. I've made up a few myself over the years (used to live there, but that's another long, long story). One of SLC's nicknames is "The Crossroads of the West." But this week, it has become the "Crossroads of the Web." Let me tell you why.

Remember when it was a real revelation to "pure Web designers" that they'd also better learn some scripting (e.g., PHP) and database knowledge? Remember when even we were told that we'd then better get to know Flash on top of all that?

Well, here's the latest:

If you know what's good for you and your Web career, you'll find a way to merge it with convergence

It's Webcast Thursday!

Whatever that means.

At any rate, below is a Webcast that discusses the new CIW Database Design Specialist exam, why we created it, and how we created it:
http://tinyurl.com/37fbxn (opens new window).

For those who want to see long URLS, here you go: http://breeze74397720.acrobat.com/p37533140.

Yeah, I know there are a lot of entries about this cert in my blog lately, but I've been working on it a lot, lately.

Afternoon, all! We did a Webcast this morning about the (post)modern classroom:

http://tinyurl.com/ypu5xu (opens new window).

Or, for those who prefer staggeringly long URLs:

http://breeze74397720.acrobat.com/p93967851.

We discussed blended learning options, and how CIW fits in.

Enjoy!

- Tangent

Just found a Web site called Obsolete Skills.com. This is almost fun stuff. The site's keepers maintain a list of once-important skills that technology has made obsolete. Here's the URL for those who want to always have them available right from the page:
http://obsoleteskills.com/Skills/Skills.

As far as the Web is concerned, "Nested table Web design" skill is listed." Good for them!

"Watching teality shows" and "Creating lists" is conspicuously absent from their list, though. Who knew!

Hey, guys. If you want to learn more about the CIW Database Design Specialist certification, we've recorded a Webcast. This particular Webcast was conducted for Western Governors University (WGU), but the information in it applies to everyone:
http://tinyurl.com/2a8na6. View the source code if you want to get at the "real" URL.

You'll be hearing my lovely voice (I normally sound like a dope, but it's even worse lately, as I'm recovering from the flu).