IA & UX Meetup

I attended the Seattle Information Architecture & User Experience Meetup this week. This was my third time to this monthly event. It's a great group of IA and UX folks, ranging from students in UW's MSIM program to professionals in a variety of related fields. This time I was pleased to meet Andrew of Mastadon Labs, a Seattle website design agency. It wasn't until he mentioned karaoke that it clicked -- I was already following him on Twitter. I remembered the enthusiasm for karaoke that frequently shows up in his Twitter feed. Great to meet you, Andrew!

I also spent some time talking to an MSIM student named Rachel. I'm not sure how we ended up talking about lava and Hawaii's volcanoes, but it was a great conversation! I wish I'd found out more about her site so I could link to it here. Well, next time. Good luck to her and the other students working on their MSIM or MLIS.

If you're an information professional of any kind, I recommend checking out this meetup. As I mentioned, attendees come from quite a variety of fields, and it's interesting to hear different perspectives on information management and user experience. Plus, it's now being held at Piecora's Pizza, so there's plenty of yummy stuff to eat while you chat!

Getting the ball rolling

Things have been a little quiet here lately as I gear up to launch Keyed In Consulting. I'm currently still in the research stage, identifying the metadata needs of local photographers. What challenges do photographers face in keywording/tagging their work? What is exactly the right balance between accessible pricing and the value of metadata expertise? What vocabularies and guidelines do photographers use for cataloging and indexing their own images? What are my best resources for staying at the forefront of current trends, technologies, and practices? These are some of the thoughts running through my head as I lay the groundwork for this venture.

One thing I can say for sure is that I am very pleased to be doing some work with Trendesigns, a fantastic graphic design company in the Seattle area. Thanks, Trendesigns!

Have a happy Valentine's Day!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Keyed In blog! I decided to start a new blog as I begin my journey with Keyed In Consulting. I'm starting a small business to assist photographers with their keywording, captioning, and other metadata needs. I also plan to offer copyright registration service for busy photographers. I have years of experience in keywording, caption writing, and metadata management at both Getty Images and Corbis. Using this expertise, I will provide accurate and relevant search metadata to photographers and other artists and imagery specialists at a reasonable price. Keyed In Consulting will be localized to the Seattle area so that I can get to know my clients, assess their wants and needs, and provide in-person, hands-on assistance.

Stay tuned for additional details!