Josh Williams

CalPress is a WordPress teaching and publication theme I created for our Web design and production-oriented classes at UC Berkeley, and our Ford Foundation-sponsored hyper-local sites, including: Mission Local, Oakland North and Richmond Confidential. CalPress adds media-centric functionality on top of WordPress, allowing for the rapid development of media sites and class projects. Visit Site

Conceived by a former student, CityLab is a proof-of-concept data exploration site I built in Django that allows users to compare 65 Bay Area cities using a mix of demographic and esoteric data. Aimed at reporters, city planners, researchers and the like, users can see if demographically alike places share similar cultural and lifestyle traits.

As the Operations Manager for Greenspun Interactive, I oversaw the design and integration of two television studios; a control room; a multi-building, SAN-based HD video storage, editing and asset management system; and video delivery to our Web sites and a local television station for over-the-air and cable broadcast of two shows. The sets and production system were flexible in look and use, allowing for quick turns on a variety of studio and field-based content.

In mid-2007, the Las Vegas Sun -- an eight page, magazine-style daily newspaper - brought in a small team to re-envision their Web site. I was the glue between editors, designers and software engineers. We transformed a lackluster site into a multimedia-rich destination packed with breaking news, entertainment and evergreen projects. Very soon after the launch, traffic soared and the site started winning major industry awards.Visit Site

Working with a small, in-house team of editors and Web developers, and an outside design firm, I managed the launch of a state-of-the-art entertainment and news site to complement an existing print brand. The Weekly took home the "Best Entertainment Web Site" in its category from Editor & Publisher shortly after I left Greenspun Interactive. Visit Site

Want to know the best times to fly in and out of Las Vegas? How about which airlines and cities tend to have the fewest delays? Conceived on a Friday, a geek, a designer and a computer-assisted reporter visualized FAA data for Sunday publication. In addition to the Flash work for the project, I wireframed the interactive and worked with the reporter to wrangle his data into the feed.Visit Site

The two banks of "Decision Station" kiosks on the Asia Trail exhibit at the Smithsonian National Zoo illustrate a very import message: conservation is hard. Working with a team of designers, architects, scientists and editors, I reported, shot and edited photos and video, co-wrote, oversaw the front and back-end development, and specified the hardware for the Zoo's five indoor and outdoor "Decision Stations."

Two huge, vertically mounted screens invite visitors behind the scenes with three Giant Panda-based stories of Zoo science: veterinary medicine, reproductive science and animal management. Working with vets, keepers, researchers, designers and editors, I built the Flash-based exhibit, shot and edited video, and specified the hardware for the two indoor kiosks.

Curiosity Stations are a chance for visitors to take the National Zoo home with them. The kiosks, which collect a visitor's name, email address and topics of interest, sends a customized email to visitors packed full of animal, science and conservation information to explore in depth at home. I built the three-tier application with Flash, Coldfusion and SQL Server.