Working with non-profit organizations can be a challenging venture, you're the "Member at Large", for Mama's Kitchen. How have you helped steer the site into a larger picture?

Well my role there has been "trustworthy technical geek." I was at the kitchen for 4 years as a board member (my term limit was just reached this month) and a lot was accomplished during that time. We revamped the website three separate times, added a CMS, added client and donor management software, added e-Commerce for ticket sales and donations. All of this is basic e-Commerce and e-Business stuff, but in non-profit terms it may seem like rocket science to some. It's been fun being there and being trusted for this kind of thing.

How did you originally become involved?

I love telling this story. I got involved because I'm cheap. When I moved to San Diego 4 years ago, I didn't have a place to get my hair cut yet, so a buddy brought me along to his salon. As a walk-in I didn't want to pay their normal hair cutting fee which was $45. So the manager overheard me telling the clerk this and asked me how much I wanted to pay. He bargained with me and on the way out of the salon that day, I had a new hair cut and a new friend -- Odie. While I was getting my hair cut, I mentioned that I was interested in doing some volunteer work. He mentioned Mama's Kitchen because his partner was on the board. Two days later I'd received three separate phone calls from three separate board members asking if I would join the board and help them with their specific technological needs. And, yes, since then Odie has been cutting my hair.

Will you become involved with any further charities in the future?

Actually, yes. I have a few ideas brewing for a charity of my own. It's based on the lessons I learned at the Kitchen and those I'm learning on the job here at Red Door Interactive.

Brent's mom goes to play at 3ones.com, could you tell us a bit about the site, will it ever be more than a landing page?

3ones is distribution list more than a site. There are about thirty of us on the list-a nice small group of designers and photographers and writers and geeks. We're "artists at work." And we use the list to keep up to speed on the worlds we travel in. The group has members in South America, Europe and North America and is pretty diverse in both skill and interests too. Brent's mom is the butt of our ongoing jokes. We have two Brent's in the group and we love torturing them.

You're classically trained in Liberal Arts, how important would you say a formal background influences the success of a career? Especially in a technology related field.

Man, I really don't know. I mean, I've never really had to rely on my education per se, to get or keep a job. I'm an entrepreneur though, so we follow more than a few of the unwritten rules. For the people we've been hiring at Red Door Interactive, education is important, but experience in the industry is much more important. Certainly when we're hiring young people without much real-world experience we look at their education and portfolio foremost. Being well-rounded is essential to just being helpful to the company too--which is to say, all else being equal, if you have the same grades and same portfolio of someone coming out of a technical school, we'll probably opt for the liberal arts student. So much of our business requires you to break the rules.

In what direction has the community of Airshare.org grown recently, is the dirty word "fad" still uttered by onlookers in regards to WiFi?

The community of Airshare.org has been something I'd love to spend more time cultivating. Right now, it's basically a cadre of loyal listeners some of whom contribute content. I'm no Zeldman though - I'm not nearly single-minded enough, nor eloquent, nor tireless - so taking Arishare.org to the next level probably won't happen. What the next level is, I don't know. But it seems to be valuable as a resource at the level it is. You want to know how to set up a wireless network in your house or small business? We've got that covered. You want to learn more about security and not be confounded by a bunch of tech jargon? Airshare.org! We would like to think of it as where Wi-Fi newbies lose the training wheels.

Now as for Wi-Fi being a fad, I have to politely disagree. I think of Wi-Fi as here to stay. I think most onlookers have seen the light. And if you think of your life without, for example, that extra body piercing in twenty years time, you're not missing out on much. But if you think of not having wireless broadband in twenty years... That's a future that sends anyone with a laptop into cold sweats. Wi-Fi is here to stay.

Are there any new technologies currently seducing you and making you fall in love again?

I love the Nintendo DS. Fellow 3oner, Brett Jackson has turned me on to it at his site http://www.themodgods.com I think the prospect of designing and deploying your own games in the real world is immensely attractive.

I'm in love with data visualization these days too. I think there will be a renaissance for information visualization in the coming years. I'm learning SVG and Flex to ensure my due participation in those fateful days.

As the man behind Spoke and Axle, you began first with contacts Nosepilot and k10k, are you still close to the prolific side of the graphic design community?

Actually, I've distanced myself considerably. Not by choice though. I've been pouring as much energy as I can into Red Door Interactive. We've grown from 7 to 30 people in 2004. That has a way of creating some necessary distractions.

How do you find the time to be involved in so many projects? Is it a bit of a struggle with your time?

Yeah, it's a struggle. But it's also a blessing. You find out what you're really capable of when you overbook yourself. You also find out what you love and what you hate, which for a guy like me, is something that's tougher than it sounds.

You've briefly spoken about your love for photography; you've been a member of iStock since February 2002 - why haven't you uploaded anything? Will you?

I know, I feel really bad that I haven't been photographing as much the past two years. I'm addicted to digital photography. My fiancé's family bought us a Canon 300S digital Elph two years ago. I've clocked something like 10,000 photos since then. While none of them are photos I consider artistic in nature, I've grown accustomed to the liberty of digital photography. Expect to see some iStock uploads in 2005. I have a feeling there's a digital SLR in my future.

What inspires your photography?

It used to be isolation. I love the Urban dichotomy: being surrounded by millions and yet feeling so alone. I love capturing bits of that mentality. It's a noir, dirt, and ashes kind of mentality. At the bottom of your pile of worries and pessimism and isolation is a glowing nugget of beauty. My artistic thoughts are very definitely born east of Eden.

I love grain. I love cross-processing film. I love the darkroom. Another 3oner, John, has been shooting lomo and black and white photos of overpasses that are stunning. I hope he puts them on display soon.

With an appreciation for technology and art, do you find it a hard balance between appreciating and incorporating the two?

I find it very difficult to bring Art-with-a-capital-A into my work as director of information strategy. I can't handle the critiquing process with design and art in the commercial world. I take graphics much too personally, so I leave that up to the creative director here, Jeannie; she's got much thicker skin than I have. But that doesn't mean that I don't use the right side of my brain. Being artistic means being willing to tip things on their heads from time to time. It also means being able to read abstractions well. Clients are full of abstractions. And so are businesses. And come to think of it, so's technology. Technology is applied science, which itself always takes sleight of hand and keen perception.

Related Links:
Red Door Interactive
Spoke + Axle
airshare.org
3ones.com