Robyn Overstreet

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be teaching a Google Maps API course April 1-2 in New York through Marakana. This is a new course for Marakana; they’ve recently partnered with Google to do “official” trainings on various Google technologies. (The Android classes are a big hit, I hear.) This is part of Google’s initiative to certify (or qualify, as they call it) developers skilled in the Maps API.

The Maps course is a great jumpstart to using Google Maps in your web projects. It’s designed for people who know a little javascript already, but mapping knowledge is optional. We start with the basics and then get into Geocoding, Street View, event-handling, and a little KML. It’s a lab format, where in addition to hearing me talk, you’ll get to try out code and make stuff as we go.

I’ve just rolled out a CMS-driven Flash site for photographer Michael Sugrue. He gave me a preliminary Flash design, and I worked with Actionscript, XML, and PHP to get things working on the backend. I’m always so excited to be able to give people control of their own websites, especially when they’re making good work. Mike’s photos are stunning: check them out at sugrue.com.

[actionscript, cms, flash, php, xml]

Sasha Cagen, author of Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics and the recently-released To-Do List, is a writer, entrepreneur, and person full of good ideas. I built her a WordPress-based website, using a custom design that she brought me. This site is a great example of how well WordPress can work as a Content Management System. For me, it was a great exercise in WordPress-wrangling. The site, of course, is at SashaCagen.com.

[php, wordpress]

A custom content management system built in PHP and MySQL with an Ajax interface, designed to support Flash sites which use an XML back end. Built for Knowawall Design.

See the Wieldy demo CMS at wieldy.org/demo and the corresponding Flash front end at wieldy.org/demo_site.

[actionscript, cms, flash, mysql, php, xml]

An email announcement tool developed specifically for the needs of artists, art galleries, and architects. Built for Knowawall Design. Demo available on request.

[email, mysql, php, ui]

LibraryThing.com is a social book cataloging site. I worked with the staff to develop a system for users to interact with each other around specific interests. We worked collaboratively to develop the user interface for the Groups section, and I coded much of the initial PHP and Ajax. View it at www.librarything.com/groups.

[ajax, mysql, php, ui]

I worked with a designer and other developers to produce a Web Resource Center for issues of Disarmament, Demilitarization, and Reintegration (DDR), a multi-agency project of the United Nations. I built the Country Programmes, Documents, Directory, Photo, and Resources sections and intialized the development of a content management backend for UN administrators. View this site at unddr.org

[ia, mysql, php]

Master’s thesis project for NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. The Data Booth is a interactive multimedia installation which asks visitors to anonymously enter personal secrets and seeks to engage people with a database as a storage medium for intimate, non-quantitative information. Full documentation, including photos, here.

[actionscript, carpentry, flash, itp, java, mysql, php]

A social networking site for activists which I developed as a grad student in NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. This was a solo project for which I was the designer and programmer. More infomation and a demo are available here.

[itp, mysql, php]

Developed for Clay Shirky’s Social Software class at ITP, Brain is a Flash-based social networking site designed to connect NYU students with students at London’s Royal College of Art. This was a collaborative project for which I was the primary Actionscript, PHP, and MySQL developer.

[actionscript, flash, itp, mysql, php]

This is a website I designed for up-and-coming singer/songwriter Rebecca Pronsky. The news section is updated with blogger. Rebecca has made lots of updates to the site since we rolled it out, but the original design is still going strong. rebeccapronsky.com

[blogger, css, design]

Website design for photographer Beth Riemer. The site uses PHP to pull photos from the file system, so that Beth can update her photo galleries by adding and removing image files in FTP. The fade transitions between photographs is acheived with Javascript. bethriemer.com

[ajax, design, javascript, php]

Amy Fix is a fabulous, fun queer folk singer. We worked closely together to come up with the look and functionality of her site. I came up with the color palate and created a logo based on the cover art for her album “Spoon”. Amy’s blog is powered by the blog software WordPress, and the events section uses a PHP program that I built just for this site. amyfix.com

[design, wordpress]

Site design for outdoor adventure and ecotourism company, Extremely Patagonia Adventures. Their current site has changed, but my original html designs are here and here.

[css, design]