An Introduction

So, since I've started working at Media Fusion, I've had a great deal of giddy laughter to hide under my desk at the musing that I am actually getting paid to do what I do.

I've done Flash development for a few years, mostly in the E-Learning arena, with strict guidelines and adherence to clients who thought they knew what they wanted (15 revisions ago) who never quite grasp onto the fact that they are working with a collective group of designers and developers who, given the freedom, could very easily create interesting and engaging user experiences without all the frustration. ...But I digress; Now I work for a Multimedia company that has the reputation it needs with clients to get that creative freedom.

Case in point. The project/contract that I work on is for a very well-known organization, maybe you've heard of them? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration? ...No? ..err, NASA? Yeeeaaah, see? Thought so. So, by show of hands, who all wanted to be an astronaut when they were a kid? Yeah, me too. And guess what. I'm totally closer than evar!

So, what's the big deal, you ask? Aside from totally working for NASA (which, categorically, has to put me somewhere close to being a rocket scientist), I'm not here to just create simple websites: I'm here to EXPERIMENT! Oh, yes, my friends. Experimentation. Which, somewhat unfortunately, combined with my close proximity to rocket scientist, shifts me into the category of Mad Scientist. But I'm fine with that.

So what does a person who experiments with web technologies for NASA really do? Well, I've only been here for a few weeks, but so far there has been a pretty positive response to the Augmented Reality experiments I've been working on. I did a really quick one the first week I was here as kind of a proving-grounds sort of experiment. It's actually live on a NASA website now, called MyExploration, hidden behind the guise of 3DV. And in response to the latest LCROSS mission, where we blasted the moon, I'm actually doing a more interactive AR to let people hold the crater, Centaur rocket modules, and the LRO satellite in their hands and possibly see the dusty particles that were kicked up and show some of the delicious insides of the moon that we found.

So, there. My ranting introduction. And all that to say 'Hi, my name is Michael. I'm a Flash Developer for Media Fusion/NASA. I play with Web technologies. I build Augmented Reality. I wrestle with Social Networks. And I want to share my experiences with you.

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