On February 26, 2001, I stepped into my office at 3219A Weimer Hall in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida as the College’s first full-time Web Administrator. 25 years later, I’m still the primary Web Developer in the College. The job has grown and taken me along for the ride, or vice-versa.
Looking back on some things:
- My cell phone was a Nokia 5120.
- I didn’t personally own a digital camera. That happened later that year.
- My home computer was a Power Mac 8500.
- My home Internet service was dial-up.
- My personal website was a /~username account at my ISP.
- Similarly, my personal email address was with my ISP.
- 9/11 hadn’t happened yet.
Some milestones:
- My first refresh of the College site launched for Fall 2001.
- 2003 – Met Jeffrey Zeldman for the first time at a work conference at Indiana University.
- 2004 – First live video webcast of a conference.
- 2005 – First trip to SXSWi and first WordPress sites (this is one of them).
- 2009 – Added WUFT.org to my work responsibilities.
- 2011 – Shifted from being a “gang of one plus student assistants” to the newly-formed communications group.
Check back, I may add some more memoirs and milestones.