One of the great things about Orlando is the fact that so many conferences take place here at our Convention Center. Sure, there’s a downside (who likes the traffic or struggling with parking on I-Drive?), but that pales in comparison to seeing the latest and greatest that a variety of industries have to offer. One of the conferences that happens here yearly is the Florida Educators’ Technology Conference (http://www.fetc.org/) which took place just last week from January 21st to the 24th.

The keynote address given by Jim Brazell, President of ventureRAMP.com, was titled “Video Games for Learning and Human Development. For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that this is a topic very near and dear to me—I am convinced that people learn best when they play. (I’m not your typical educator, right?) Mr. Brazell’s presentation told the story of how video games snuck up on us as a culture, coming from pretty straightforward entertainment roots and finding their way into the high-stakes training worlds of the military and health care industries. Now, in addition to play, video games are gaining ground as foundation media for our learning and social interactions in society—they’ve come a long way from the days of Pong and Space Invaders.

It’s clear that as far as video games has come in today’s society, there’s a future that we’ve only begun to understand. Virtual worlds (such as Second Life) started out as game platforms only to find that having a more open-ended structure actually worked as a better model. Video games clearly are no longer about how people play, but they are becoming about how people conduct their lives on a daily basis. Let’s have a dialog about the future: tell me where you think we are headed!

- Hap Aziz

The commercial that launched the Mac aired only once, during Super Bowl XVIII, and it is credited for starting the Super Bowl creative commercial competition among ad agencies. It is considered to be one of the most innovative commercials of all time, on a number of levels. Advertising Age selected it as the "Commercial of the Decade."

It has its own Wikipedia entry here. Wired Magazine online gives an interesting history of it here.

But you really need to watch it here.

- Hap

Demand for illustrators who work on a computer will increase as Web sites use more detailed images and backgrounds in their designs. Many cartoonists, in particular, opt to post their work on political Web sites and online publications. Cartoonists often create animated or interactive images to satisfy readers’ demands for more sophisticated images. The small number of medical illustrators will also be in greater demand as medical research continues to grow.

Demand for multimedia artists and animators will increase as consumers continue to demand more realistic video games, movie and television special effects, and 3D animated movies. Additional job openings will arise from an increasing demand for Web site development and for computer graphics adaptation from the growing number of mobile technologies. Animators are also increasingly finding work in alternative areas such as scientific research or design services.

Employment for Multimedia Artists and Animators from 2006 to 2016 is expected to grow by 26%, faster than average for all occupations.

This is where Rasmussen's Multimedia Technologies Associate’s and Digital Design and Animation Bachelor’s degrees take our students. It's definitely a great place to be--certainly now, as much as it ever has been!

- Hap

... is without a doubt one of the finest hours on television.  There are only nine episodes left of this final season.  Watch them.

- Hap