Category: Technology

Mother of Invention

If there has ever been a necessity, it was 2020.

We all have lots of stories, ours includes knee surgeries, burglary and our need to quickly help our clients with some technologies they never thought they would need, but had become their new paradigm.

Technology brought us many great things in 2020. And it was more than medical-related items – although medical technologists made so many things possible.

Looking closer to our own work, zoom expanded capacity and improved its security quickly.   Desktop and web streaming technologies, and services bloomed and became a life saver.  Over ten months ago, we did an article LinkedIn about an interesting read on a new technology that was saving live symphonic music. The article referred to Dan Tepfer and Michael Dessen who had worked with a decade-old open-source software – JackTrip – which due to necessity was coming to its own.

To quote NPR, “[…] when it comes to playing music online with any kind of rhythmic integrity, latency quickly becomes a total dealbreaker […] The solution: an open-source software called JackTrip, developed by Stanford University researchers Chris Chafe and Juan-Pablo Cáceres over a decade ago, that can transfer high quality audio data across the Internet at low enough latencies, within a geographic radius, to mimic someone playing music roughly 30 feet away […]”

Full circle I just read a series of new articles about the  JackTrip Foundation which was helping singers and musicians collaborate online.  The little engine that could has proven mighty and is going strong.

This was only one of the many stories of technological accomplishments in face of the dreaded 2020.  During the same period, we worked with Clients and friends to bring quality live performance to the public: from simplicity of using DaCast, to the more complex Kaltura, to Isadora or OBS with zoom, and for many others using OBS with Youtube or Vimeo and even a couple of other very esoteric combinations that proved themselves.

And while we helping clients with their web streaming, we had to jump on the bandwagon and build up and expand on the technology behind our systems.  Stay tuned for the next release of ARTdynamix™ which will knock your socks off.

-LaMae

Breaking up or Together Forever?

I (LaMae) have probably advised you on vendors, set-ups or other miscellaneous curiosities.  I’m always happy to chat and advocate for you.

One of the things we talk about most often is how to determine vendors and whether to use a vendor with packaged services or purchase the services individually.  My answer still remains -keep them separate.  But when you consider how to make that decision, think about control, integration, and cost.  I’ll offer some examples that may help.

Credit Card Processing:  As you know, you will need a Merchant Account, a Gateway, Bank Account, and a form/cart/shopping tool.  You have the option to use an integrated service such as Stripe and quickly add your bank account and that can work great.  Or you can put things together on your own, work a bit more upfront and pay less over time.  I have selected our gateway provider and merchant processor separately and then linked them together.  Why?  So if one doesn’t work out, I can quickly find a replacement to connect in and I have not lost a minute.  If I purchase everything together, I feel a bit at the other’s mercy.  If an all-in processor turns out not to work as expected,  you have to start all over.

Domains:   Always own and keep access to your own domain — end of the story.  (I’ve spent hours and hours helping folks untangle domain ownership)

So with these examples in mind, here are my general guidelines

  • Make sure control is key — you should own what is yours and have an understanding of what an exit path may be.
  • How much work is it to change…both from figuring it out and the actual changes needed.
  • Read reviews
  • Ask an expert

And for the cost decision — that will probably become clear when you review the above items.  Technology is becoming more flexible, interchangeable, and cost-effective.

Compare apples to apples and do your homework.

Timing is Everything

I’ve written before about making sure there is human intervention in data.  As much as I love AI (Artificial Intelligence) and MA (Marketing Automation), our eyes are still needed.  If you’ve ever ‘fought’ with a undeveloped chatbot,  you know exactly what I mean.

Last week, GoDaddy experienced a server outage for about two hours and as I understand it was a network disruption.  That disruption kept us on our toes monitoring well into the night.  So as you can imagine, we were on alert for GoDaddy communications.

Here’s what I received the next morning:

It would not surprise me if this was automated or scheduled far in advance – and indeed that’s how it should work.  But here is where the human eye (I just liked the cat-eye picture) comes in to play – let’s keep things in mind and double check marketing tasks if something significant happens – that may be in the news or internally.

Important Note:  This is not in any way meant to disparage GoDaddy – we use them often and indeed resell at Silver Lining Host.  And, for the most part, their media communications are a model that any of us could use.

Jake’s Precious Journey

This heartfelt project is about Jake’s story – his Journey that includes parents, family, loved ones and friends.  DWG is honored to be part of Jake’s Journey even in a little way.

DWG worked with Jake’s parents to create a website to preserve his legacy and support other families experiencing the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal death.  Their support groups, special events, and newly published book are selflessly managed by Jake’s parents, John and Tani.

This project impacted our hearts as well as our technology.

Festival Mozaic is Dynamic!

Festival Mozaic is dynamic in more ways than one!. Their new site on ARTdynamix™ leads with a home page dominated by compelling videos that tell the story of their offerings including the world-renowned Festival in San Luis Obispo County.  Like the rest of us, they are adapting to the changing world with exciting options online.

Since the Festival occurs in multiple locations, ARdy has added an adaptive map to help visitors navigate the various Festival venues (and an easy way for the Festival Mozaic team to manage).  Take a peek here. Click on a pin and you’ll see the venue information and weather.  Makes you want to spend some time on the California coast I bet.

About Festival Mozaic:

Festival Mozaic is an annual celebration of music that takes place on California’s beautiful Central Coast in San Luis Obispo County. The Festival consists of chamber music concerts, orchestra performances, crossover and popular artists, Notable Encounter educational events, and free community events including mini-concerts, family concerts, master classes, lectures, and open rehearsals. Festival artists are the best in their field and come to San Luis Obispo from all over the world.