TRAVIS F. SMITH Phone: +1 (604) 408 5722 Email: nep@hopstudios.com Web: http://www.hopstudios.com/nep/resume/ AIM: NepSmith Skype: TravisSmith SUMMARY I am an experienced blend of technology, editorial and management skills in a personable package. I have planned and built Web operations from scratch in companies that needed fast-paced but well-planned Internet development. I have managed sites with massive editorial content, and developed community around that content. I have created web-based services that users recommended to people they had just met. EMPLOYMENT April 2004 - Present PARTNER, http://www.hopstudios.com/ Hop Studios Web Design Since 1996, I have been doing freelance Web design and Internet consulting as Hop Studios. In 2002, my wife started full time with Hop Studios, and after 18 months, I joined her. I wear the hats of Web developer, information architect and new business developer. Hop Studios develops sites with the latest appropriate technologies, including cascading style sheets and Flash MX. I also handle search engine optimization. March 2000 - April 2004 EDITOR, VARIETY.COM, http://www.variety.com/ Variety. Los Angeles, CA Full time. Directed the editorial development and production of the Web site of Variety, the "bible of show business." During my tenure, Variety undertook intra-day news updates, developed original content (blogs), began streaming video and won awards for its interactive special projects. Paid subscriptions increased from 1,000 to 16,000 (compared to a print subscription base of 55,000), and page views grew 170% to 3,700,000+ per month. I oversaw 11 producers, copy editors, designers, web developers and other staff, managing hirings, salaries and regular performance reviews. Created new database tools for readers and more efficient administrative interfaces for the staff that allowed double the number of articles posted without requiring new editors. Shepherded site through a complete redesign, a hardware migration, and regular necessary software updates. Co-ordinated user testing that resulted in significant design improvements. May 1997 - Present ONLINE JOURNALISM LECTURER University of Southern California Los Angeles, California Part time. Taught graduate and undergraduate classes on New Media Technology and Online Journalism, to classes of 7-16 students. Discussed new technologies, online ethics, marketing, advertising, new media growth, user trends, as well as advanced web site and web page design. Top course rating given by students: 4.86 out of 5. June 1999 - March 2000 VICE PRESIDENT, CLIENT RELATIONS, http://www.pressflex.com/ Pressflex. Budapest, Hungary; Paris, France; and Pasadena, CA Full time. Pressflex, an ASP, provides web publishing tools to clients in North America and Europe. Supervised and coordinated feature development, user interface design, internationalization efforts, customer support, documentation, internal and external training, and quality assurance testing. Developed marketing and intranet sites for Pressflex. Work performed in English and French. Aug 1994 - Sep 1998 DEPUTY EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, http://www.latimes.com/ Los Angeles Times Web site Los Angeles, California Full time. Supervised a staff of 12 editors for the Los Angeles Times and Calendar Live! (a local entertainment database). Project manager for major rollouts such as a newsroom workflow system (Teamsite). Coordinated redesign -- met schedule and budget goals for relaunch, which required modification of 50,000 pages and dozens of CGI applications. Negotiated partnerships with national and local information providers. Coordinated staff training. Created all site page templates using HTML and JavaScript. Planned and developed Web site features including major traffic drivers such as Business section and Times Pick, e-commerce Archives and groundbreaking personalized Custom News Service, the first web-based personal news service by a major newspaper. Feb 1998 - June 1999 PARIS BUREAU CHIEF, http://www.ojr.org/ Online Journalism Review, Annenberg Center for Communication Los Angeles, California Part time. From Paris, covered the French online media industry. Developed network of contacts and freelancers. Produced, edited and coded stories. Dec 1996 - Present CURATOR, http://www.hopstudios.com/dtlink/ Daily Trojan Alumni Link Pro bono. Founded and maintain a database-driven web site for 2,000+ alumni of the Daily Trojan. Design, write all HTML, text, graphics and coding. Created and moderate an alumni mailing list. Organize reunion events. Raise funds for the current organization. SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS November 2003 Panel: "Careers in News" JOUR 201, History of News in Modern America USC School of Journalism, Los Angeles, CA August 2003 Presentation: "Tips from Hollywood" Demonstrate successes and misses by entertainment industry Web sites attempting to use new technologies effectively. Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, Los Angeles, CA March 2003 Speech: "Variety.com - How to Mix the Ad Sales & Subscription Sales Models" Case study of Variety's discoveries about how to sell content online while still driving traffic. ContentBiz's 3rd Annual Summit, New York, NY November 2002 Featured Speaker: "Digital Revenue Shock Tour" Presented Variety.com's business model to a national group of online newspaper executives as part of a three-day seminar. American Press Institute, San Francisco, CA October 2002 Panel Organizer / Moderator: "Beyond the Web" Arranged for speakers to discuss new technologies that newspapers may want to investigate. Online News Association annual conference, New York, NY April 2002 Presentation: "Breaking News in the Internet Age" Led a special discussion of how to handle breaking news with the reporters and editors of Variety and Daily Variety. Variety, Los Angeles, CA March 2002 Trainer: Web technology Developed curriculum and taught editors in the European bureau on how to integrate Web site tasks into their print operation. Variety (Reed Business), London, U.K. October 2001 Panelist: "Paid Content: Will the Public Buy It?" Online News Association annual conference, San Francisco, CA. September 2001 Presenter: "Web newsroom design; Wireless technologies" Conference: Highway Africa 2001: The Digital Renaissance, Rhodes University School of Journalism, Grahamstown, South Africa. August 2001 Lecturer: Web Publishing Foundations Discussion of web usability standards, editorial best practices, revenue models, ethical and legal issues. Los Angeles, CA. April 2001 Moderator: Panel on Revenue Models in Online Publishing New Media Conference presented by the UC Berkeley and the USC School of Journalism, Berkeley, CA. March 2001 Speaker: Panel on Entertainment News Sites Panel presented by the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society, Beverly Hills, CA MEMBERSHIPS - American Society of Business Publication Editors - Online News Association - Pho - Society of Professional Journalists EDUCATION Sept 1990 - Aug 1994 Bachelor of Arts, University of Southern California Los Angeles, California Major: Print Journalism Minor: Law and Society Spring 1992 Semester Abroad: Studied at La Sorbonne and La Cite Universitaire, Paris, France. SKILLS Computer - Programming: JavaScript, Perl (CGI), shell script (ksh), PHP, HTML, XHTML, MSSQL, MySQL, ASP, RSS, XML - Web tools: Dreamweaver, HomeSite, Cold Fusion, BBEdit, Textpad, Apache, IIS, search engine optimization techniques, Movable Type - Multimedia: Macromedia Director, Fireworks and Flash, Adobe Premiere, iMovie, Acrobat and Distiller, Sound Edit Pro - Mac: OS 9 and OS X, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, QuarkXpress, Adobe Photoshop, Freehand, Illustrator, FileMaker Pro, Safari, Camino - PC: Windows95/98/NT/2000/XP, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Eudora, Outlook, Visio, MSProject, Mozilla, Firefox - Unix/Linux: vi, emacs, pine, pico, ssh - Newspaper systems: Coyote, ATEX, ACT/APT, wire service feeds Language - Fluent in English and French (bilingual education) - Functional in German, also studied Latin, Spanish, Hungarian Construction - Fork lift and front end loader experience - Working knowledge of acetylene cutter Other - Black and white photography - St. John Ambulance Association, Standard First Aid Certificate - Alberta Heart Foundation, CPR Basic Rescuer Certificate - PADI Open Water SCUBA Diver Certificate AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS Professional "Premium Site," 2003 and 2004, MIN's Best of the Web Awards. "Uses of Interactivity," 2004, MIN's Best of the Web Awards. Honorable mention, "Design" and "Email Newsletters," 2004, MIN's. Finalist, "Best Overall Newspaper Site with less than 1,000,000 monthly visitors," 2003, EPpy Awards Gold award for "Best Overall Web Publication," 2003, American Society of Business Publication Editors. Silver award for "Best Original Web Database," 2003, ASBPE. "Creative Excellence Award," 2002, International Web Page Awards. "Top of The Times," Los Angeles Times Special Recognition. - May 1997 for the redesign of the Los Angeles Times Web site - Feb 1998 for the Web package of the Getty Museum opening Personal Gold Standard, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, presented by HRH The Prince Edward, 1991. Chief Scout's Award, Scouts Canada. Highest award in Scouting (ages 11-14). National Merit Scholarship, American national academic merit competition award, 1990-1994 William Randolph Hearst Scholarship, Univ. of So. Cal., School of Journalism. For academic honours, 1990-1994 References available on request. Thanks for reading this far {END OF FILE}