The NZiPhone.com and NZMac.com News iPhone app launched in the iTunes App Store on 12 February 2010. This free app was built using the TapLynx iPhone development framework, and not only kept you up to date with all that was happening on NZiPhone.com and NZMac.com, but had the inbuilt ability to let you share what you were reading with friends via email and Twitter. I have now sold the two sites and the iPhone app is no longer available.
I have a background in eLearning, Instructional Design, training and teaching, having taught in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. I hold a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science and completed my Master of Education in Online and Distance Education (with Honours) in 2010, researching the perceptions of staff and students in the use of asynchronous and synchronous tools.
In 2009 I was appointed New Zealand's first Higher Education Adobe Education Leader in recognition of my work in the area of web-conferencing. In 2004 I was appointed as one of 15 inaugural Flexible Learning Leaders in New Zealand, recognising my innovative use of technology in teaching and learning.
I have experience in a number of multimedia and web-authoring products, as well as an absolute passion for all Apple products, notably the Macintosh. From 2002-2007, I wrote the multimedia section of New Zealand's only Macintosh magazine "NZ Macguide". In 2003, I launched NZMac.com, a website dedicated to supporting the New Zealand Macintosh community, and a sister site (NZiPhone.com) in 2008, before selling the sites in 2011.
NZMac.com was the largest Macintosh web site in New Zealand and ran on an open source content management system called Joomla. I am an experienced Joomla user (this site runs on Joomla) and NZMac.com was featured as a case study in a published Joomla book, as well as being mentioned briefly in another.
New Zealand Macguide was a bi-monthly magazine that launched at the beginning of 2002 and published through until its demise in August of 2007. I wrote the multimedia section of the magazine from beginning to end, as well as an occasional review of other products.
It was a fantastic experience and I got to review a lot of great software. At the same time, Macguide sponsored my NZMac.com website for a year soon after it launched, and it was great to have that sponsorship early on in the life of the website.
My expertise and enthusiasm for Apple products lead me to establish the NZMac.com website in 2003, as well as its sister site NZiPhone.com in 2008. At the time of the launch of NZMac.com I was writing for New Zealand Macguide Magazine, which now sadly is no longer published. Writing for the magazine was a great opportunity to review a lot of fantastic Mac software, and the establishment of NZMac.com allowed that to continue, as well as provide a focal point for the vibrant Mac community within New Zealand. The focus of NZMac.com was on community, and I ran both sites in such a way as to involve as many of the users of the sites in reviews and other events as possible. I am exceptionally proud of the work that I did establishing and running the sites, and of the community that the sites built up.