Pemaquid Communications

Bumped into a link today that provided good food for thought: It’s about the Not-just-for-profit Company.

Sure, money is the oxygen of business, but even more importantly, you have to be working to create a life worth living – both for yourself, your employees and your Clients.

As we grow, I want to make sure Pemaquid is about generating great ideas. If we do that, I’m sure the money (at least enough of it to live off of) will take care of itself.

I don’t know why it took me so long, but it finally hit me – Twitter is the new blogging.

I remember when blogging first came on the scene – it took me awhile to ‘get it’. Why, I thought, would someone take the time to post their musings about the everyday, and who would care? I couldn’t see the point of most of it initially, though now the Web is full of thoughtful, colorful and amazingly informative blogs on every topic, and you don’t have to look hard to find detailed information about something that’s of interest to you.

Now, we have Twitter and everyone, it seems, is tweeting. For the most part, these tweets are pretty mundane (“…heading out for a bikeride…”, ” Trying to finish up several key deliverables so I can get out on the boat today ” and even simply “Baseball”) are samples of the <140 character slices-of-life you'll find when you follow someone's twitterings.

You could call all this 'micro-blogging'.

I'm not sure how meaningful all of this is, where it's all going or even what any of it means, but I do know one thing - it's an exploding cultural phenomenon. Just like blogging was a few years back.

I've learned my lesson. This time, I'm going to pay attention to the cultural changes wrought by the Web and work harder to understand what it all means.

Follow me on Twitter

We are hard pressed to do all the work ourselves these days, but are willing to do so until we find just the right person. Are you up to the task?

We are looking for the next Front-End Superstar to join our team. We are in Startup Mode. The ideal candidate for this position thrives in an idea-driven culture, is “always on” and in tune with teammates, is as resourceful as 007 and has a will to win like Mean Joe Greene.

In this position, you’ll be creating the graphic design, xHTML and CSS for some of the biggest and best-known companies in Maine and beyond.

Requirements

• You have solid experience w/W3C compliant, cross-browser compatible xHTML and CSS-based layouts
• When it comes to graphic design, you are Fully Loaded (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) and use those tools creatively
• You possess a strong knowledge of design basics and principles
• You understand the WAI Accessibility Guidelines and Section 508 compliance
• You understand what Progressive Enhancement means w/o googling it before the interview
• You can spot a 1px difference at a glance (and it makes you twitch)
• You suck down new technologies like Gatorade

Extra Credit

• Flash
• PHP
• You know the difference between YUI, jQuery, Prototype, Ext, and Moo Tools, and you know X is better than Y and Z is terrible.
• You know your way around a server control panel (not just FTP)
• You have an inner calling to program for the iPhone.

About Us
Pemaquid Communications, LLC combines great visual design w/easy-to-use content management systems to create solid interactive Web sites that provide a great user experience. We a leading designer of sites that meet W3C Accessibility guidelines, adhere to Web Standards, are cross-browser compatible and produce valid xHTML and CSS. We are not graphic designers or programmers (though we do those things) – we are Interaction Designers.

Our goal is to create joyful, useful online experiences for our Clients and their customers.

Pemaquid Communications has scored three nominations for techMaine‘s annual Best of the Web Awards. Pemaquid tied for the most nominations of any Maine Web design studio. The nominees are…

annie|catherine.com
Best e-Commerce Site

The site features exquisite stationery for any occasion, along with fine art prints, calendars and something racy called Go-Go Wrap! The company manages over 200 product listings in more than a dozen categories, along with order tracking and fulfillment, through a custom version of Pemaquid’s Commerce Manager.

More about annie|catherine »

MidcoastMaine.com
(Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber)
Best Non-Profit Site

This site draws out the visually appealing nature of this part of the Maine Coast. For many Internet searchers, the site is a tourist gateway to the region and it was very important to the Chamber that the site, through its look and feel, compare favorably to similar sites for more well-known Downeast destinations.

More about MidcoastMaine.com »

The Big Easy – www.bigeasyportland.com
Best Arts & Entertainment Site

The Big Easy is Portland, Maine’s premier night spot. The club wanted a new Web site that rocks as loud as they do. The Content Manager allows easy-self-publishing of upcoming events as well as multiple Photo Galleries of local bands in action on its stage. The design really makes you want to be there!

More about The Big Easy »

Best of the Web award winners will be announced at techMaine’s Gala, taking place May 20th @ the Eastland Park Hotel Ballroom.

Last weekend marked a milestone for those of us involved in the online world here in Maine. Joe Michaud, who had led MaineToday.com for the last dozen years, stepped down at the end of April, and many MaineToday “alumni” were on hand at Ri Ra last Friday to wish Joe well (Ellen Kanner, an old co-worker who now is a Web designer at Dartmouth, even came down from Hanover).

Folks who spent time working under Joe’s leadership have gone on to form successful, influential Web businesses in the area: Franklin McMahon (former MaineToday.com Creative Services Manager) now has a well-known photography and podcasting company; Justin Davis now heads Portland Web Works, a Pemaquid competitor whose Clients include the Maine Office of Tourism; and (because I like to enumerate things like this in groups of three) I’ll throw myself in there as well.

Way back in the mid ’90′s, when we barely knew what a “browser” was, Joe and a small team at the Portland Press Herald created a skunkworks to try to figure out this “Internet thing”. What developed was a series of Web sites that coalesced to form MaineToday.com. Under Joe’s leadership, MaineToday won many awards, often against larger competitors, and became known as a standard-setting creative force in the mostly bland world of online newspaper publishing.

We were always testing boundaries. I remember covering the 2000 election from the studios of our television partner, WMTW. My job was to post up-to-the-minute blurbs to the MaineToday site about the local, regional and national returns coming in that night. It was pretty radical for a newspaper to have someone publishing on the spot with very little editorial oversight. We didn’t call it blogging back then, but that’s exactly what we were doing.

Now Joe is hanging out a shingle as a consultant to said newspaper industry – and they really need to hear from someone like him. Newspaper ad revenue continues to erode, and those dollars are not migrating to publishers’ digital facsimiles of the printed word. Newspapers’ core revenue centers have continued to lose out to online competitors like Craig’s List (want ads), Cars.com (automotive ads) and Zillow (real estate ads).

My take is that it won’t be long before the creative destruction precipitated by the Internet drives newspapers to the same fate as encyclopedia salesmen. However, if there’s anyone who can help smart publishers figure out how to best take advantage of their remaining assets – strong brands, relatively large audiences and strong advertiser relationships – it’s Joe Michaud.