I’ve always been a fascinated by the Internet’s ability to facilitate social relationships. No other medium has the power to bring distant people together as easily as the Internet. It has even changed the way we think about the meaning of community — from a bond of common location to a bond of common interest. I’m particularly impressed with the latest generation of social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Nowadays, you can find Adobe-related user groups and professional connections on these and other social networking sites. (I’m a member of both, by the way.) Never to be outdone, ProVideo Coalition has built a community section upon the Ning platform. Very cool.
What’s more, your Adobe tools are evolving to reflect the power of personal digital connections. Within Acrobat, you can start a virtual meeting centered around the document you’re reading. Adobe Kuler has been attracting designers in an amazing way. I like to think of Kuler as the Flickr of color schemes. And Adobe Soundbooth CS3 has a cool new built-in feature called Resource Central, which allows audio editors to keep in touch with fresh content, musical goodies and just the right kind of news. I think it’s safe to say we’re just scratching the surface about how we see the power of digital connections making you as creative and productive as possible.
Good stuff, but what about networking the old fashioned way? You know — in person. It’s alive and well; thanks for asking. I have a three part update from the world of Adobe-related user groups those who want to get away from their computer and meet people in real life (sacrebleu!):
First, the gold standard of user groups evolves. The famous and long-lived MGLA (Motion Graphics Los Angeles) has been thriving under the leadership of Chris & Trish Meyer since 1997. The organization has recently transitioned to new organizers (Ko Maruyama and Warren Heaton) and has a new name: DMA LA (Digital Media Artists Los Angeles). At over 2000 members, it’s monthly meetings are always excellent. Find out more at http://www.mgla2.org.
Second, a vibrant community celebrates a one year anniversary. Drawing from the rich broadcast and design communities of New York City, AENY (After Effects New York) has regular meetings now drawing hundreds of participants — amazing considering the group has formed just one year ago. Way to go and thanks to Aharon Rabinowitz, Jim Geduldik & Dennis Radeke for their fantastic support of the Adobe community! Check them out at http://www.aeny.org.
Lastly, a hotbed of design forms a new group. This Thursday, March 20th marks the first meeting of a brand new user group, San Francisco Motion Graphics and VFX User Group, also known as SFMOGRAPH. Thanks to the hard work of Matt Silverman, Brandon Grande and Marcello Grande, this surely promises to be a veritable cornucopia of state-of-the-art presentations. Among other activities, the inaugural SFmograph meeting features at several visitors from the Adobe After Effects team. Stop by and introduce yourself! The first meeting will be held at the Adobe office in San Francisco. Get the details at http://www.sfmograph.com.
As you can see, there’s never been a better time to connect with other video professionals — either virtually or in the real world. And there’s a pretty good chance you’ll run into one of us Adobe folks in one of these places. See you around, both in the real world and the virtual one!
Michael Coleman
Product Manager, Adobe After Effects