About
John Martin is an independent consultant and technology architect for White Mountain Technology Services. His passion for teaching and learning is borne out of his lifelong love of learning and his desire to share knowledge with others. His current focus is on the use of openly accessible, web-based technologies to facilitate communication and collaboration in a transparent environment.
 
John holds a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from Plymouth State University, a Bachelor’s degree in Experiential Education from the University of New Hampshire and an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts from Chaminade University of Honolulu.
 
Web Design
Some rights reserved by @boetter
Part of my reason for starting my consulting business, White Mountain Technology Services, was to help others to develop successful web presences for themselves, their businesses or their organizations. Note I did not say web sites. My philosophy is that web sites tend to be static, lifeless; while a web presence is dynamic, engaging and talks about building a community rather than focusing on just the business itself. In this, I ascribe to many of the tenets established by Kathy Sierra.
 
Your web presence is not about you, or your company. It is about your readers, your customers, and what you can do to make them better. Design your site around your users.
 

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Photography
An amateur photographer, John's travels have taken him from the wild, untamed jungle of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico to the exotic, chaotic streets of Delhi, India. His pictures can be found in graduate literature for Plymouth State University, and have been featured in an article on winter activities for Northern Indiana Lakes, a regional magazine. Located on Flickr, most of John's images use a Creative Commons, Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike license.
Visit John's PhotoBlog for a view of his portfolio.
Technology
A self-avowed g33k, John enjoys field stripping and rebuilding computers, diving into and hacking code, and helping others streamline their processes and use their technology more effectively.
 
Teaching & Learning
"You got your technology in my teaching!"
"You got your teaching in my technology!"
Two great tastes that taste great together, technology and learning are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
 
Community
Active in my local and regional community, here are some of the things I am currently or have historically been involved in/with:
Cubmaster, Cub Scout Pack 369 serving Moultonborough & Sandwich, New Hampshire
Den Leader, Cub Scout Pack 369 serving Moultonborough & Sandwich, New Hampshire
School Board Member, Inter-Lakes School District
Membership Co-Chair, New Hampshire Society for Technology in Education (NHSTE)
Membership Coordinator, Sandwich Friends of the Library
Assistant Coach, Youth League Soccer
NHIAA certified volleyball official
Chair, Sandwich Education Committee

Why I am “that guy”

by rkclmr on Mar 20th in Who I Am

“I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was someone else to do it, I would let them do it. But there’s not, so I’m doing it. That’s what makes you that guy.”

- John McClane, Live Free or Die Hard

I often wonder how it is that I find myself doing so many things, having so many people ask me to step into leadership roles, or find myself in meetings serving as either mediator, translator or synthesizer. I don’t seek out these situations, and I am not always comfortable putting myself out there, it’s a vulnerable position. There are far more capable and intelligent people than I who would be better suited to this.

And yet, I’ve come to understand that situations don’t wait for the best person, they take the best person at that moment. It just turns out that I’m often “that guy.” I am no action hero, I don’t enjoy politics, I don’t desire power, nor do I seek it. What I believe is that when there is a job to do, someone needs to step up and do it. That is who I am; I am that guy who people have come to know will step up when no else will.

This is also what I hope to build in others through my work. That they too can be “that guy”. That they have skills, talents and passions that can and should be applied to improving not only their lives but the lives of those within their own personal communities and spheres of influence. It is this application of our humanity that will improve our world, not sitting back and hoping someone else will do it for us. It’s time for us to take our lives back.

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New site, new mission

by rkclmr on Mar 13th in Featured, Headline

My goal is to transform this site into a reflection of my personal work. My other blog, EdVentures, will be focused on my professional work.

Some of the things I will be working on here will include:

  • Current projects as broken down by the categories listed above: web design, technology, photography, community and teaching & learning.
  • Participating in the 365 Project, an image a day for the entire year. I will be blogging each image daily (or as near to as I can manage), but the entire collection can be found here.
  • Digital storytelling

I hope that you find this as meaningful as I will, and encourage you to join me on my journey.

Regards,
John

 

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