Designing for Climate Change
As we enter 2024, managing the effects of our changing climate continues to become a hot topic among leading architects and engineers worldwide. These experts have to grapple with our new reality of worrying extremes in temperature in climate zones around the world, from snow in Texas to flooding in India. So, what does this […]
Interfacing AV
As you may know, I write a lot about the human aspects of technology and the importance of connecting to people’s emotions or sensibilities while using that technology. I consider these aspects essential “tools of the trade.” Well, the interface — and how humans interact with the systems we design and install — is just […]
Wow Value in the Experience Economy
Have you heard of the experience economy? The term itself was coined in the late 1990s and has roots in books dating back before 1970. The concept is simple: It’s an economy focused on how goods and services can affect people’s lives. Instead of a consumer wanting an object such as a VR headset to […]
Looking to the Future: Standardization May Offer More Wins Than Losses
As AV designers, we naturally want to find ways to standardize things. Whether it’s a process, hardware design, finding IO (input and output) “typicals” or programming and control protocol standards, the goal is to simplify the entire workflow process. It’s like this for our entire industry: Technicians become familiar with the typical deployments and related […]
Artificial Intelligence in AV
Here’s an acronym that has gone from high thinking darkroom nerd zone ether to everyday common lingo and even general conversational fodder over a latte on a sunny afternoon with some friends. Artificial Intelligence or AI, this acronym seems to have evolved into the general public lexicon and is persuasively become a hot selling point […]
PSYCHO!
And by “psycho,” I mean acoustics, of course! Not ringing a bell? It should; psychoacoustics has extreme importance when it comes to studying and pursuing a career in the audiovisual industry, specifically in the discipline of audio. (It can be applied to video too — that’s for another day.) For those who have already been […]
Top 10 Reasons to Work in AV
First, let me say this was an extremely difficult list to narrow down to only 10. Not to mention the struggle for what goes first and what goes last. But, in my experience, these are the top 10 reasons for a career in AV! 1. Job Security I’ve been doing this for 20+ years now. […]
The Farmer and the Porsche
You know, I don’t normally write about sales-related topics. But I’ve always liked this story my dad told me when I first started out in AV/IT/automation over 20 years ago. It’s one of the many awesome #DadAdvice tidbits I got over the years as a second-generation entrepreneur. Though he was a pinstriper and signwriter and […]
Symbiotic Design Theory For AV?
WARNING: Might be best-read with incense burning. Symbiotic relationships. Yep, I’m going to go there. I’d like to talk about symbiotic relationships specifically as a design theory in relation to technology and AV. If that seems like a lot, bear with me, read on. In architecture, this principle already exists, and I truly believe this […]
The Built Environment
Many of us (if not all of us) who work in AV-based technologies have a co-dependent relationship with the built environment. Suppose you’re unclear of what the built environment is, I’ll sum it up quickly. In that case, it references the designed architecture and sculpted living environment that surrounds us and has been built by […]
The Evolution of AV
There’s no doubt the audiovisual industry has progressed a long way since the advent of the gramophone and cathode-ray tube. Innovations over the last 50 to 100 years have turned AV devices into the primary content-delivery system for almost every human on Earth, and definitely a requirement for every human not on Earth. These innovations […]
Where Are All the Mentors?
After 20 years in the audiovisual and control industry, I got to thinking: How did I get here? I’m sure we’ve all wondered that at some point or another in our careers. Let me be clear: I don’t mean in some existential way. More so, I mean who helped along the way, who kept the […]