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Reference: JAMES LEE To Whom It May Concern James has worked since May 1999 for the Wesley College web production team that I co-ordinate, contributing to online teaching and learning websites for the Wesley VCA and the International Baccalaureate curriculum, and - since September 1999 - to a series of websites produced for international co-distribution with the Sausage Group and Encyclopaedia Britannica. These sites have been designed for both internal and external use and have thus been comprehensive and complex, utilising a wide range of media and formats (including interactive Flash animations, original sound-effect and music recordings, digital video, 3D graphics and 2D artwork), and they cover a diverse repertoire of subjects: from Brecht's Mother Courage to Thermal Physics, Creative Writing to Shakespeare's Hamlet, Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits to Economics. Each has had its own specific design and pedagogical brief and each has required that James liaise and work with myself as web designer and learning architect, with the teachers in specific subjects as content providers, with the Wesley College administration, with the rest of the web production team and with outside partners such as Sausage. James has handled the situation of working on contract with several complicated projects at once, all in various stages of production and further development, efficiently and successfully; he had produced work of very high standard in graphics manipulation and complex image construction, in Flash formats (drawing on the full extent of the software's functionality and interactivity while keeping to the parameters of web delivery and usability), in javascripting for additional functions and effects, and in complex html web page construction (including difficult object behaviours and intricate interactive forms). His experience and demonstrable skill with Dream weaver and other web editors, Flash, Director, Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Illustrator, 3DSMax and other graphics programs are combined with a somewhat rarer ability in the aesthetics and design of workable sites, including a clear ability to factor orientation, navigation, transparent structures and user-friendliness into his web work. His attitude to work and his attention to detail have been impeccable throughout, the quality of the finished work across the spectrum of media and formats has been consistent and excellent and his ability to work unsupervised (in many cases essentially remotely, working from briefs sent by email) and to comply with (often erratic and sudden) deadlines has been exceptional and unfailing. He has regularly shown initiative, having also grasped overviews and conceptual outlines for a site, by enthusiastically participating in procuring or sourcing raw materials (images, sound, movies, props, etc.), organising photo-shoots in his own time, experimenting with on-screen effects beyond the confines of draft instructions, and troubleshooting production problems, often before they develop. He is generous in assisting and giving advice and tutorials to other members of the production team, communicates well, is an open, friendly and engaging co-worker, works extremely well under pressure, and is acutely receptive to feedback and design instructions. I would not hesitate to recommend him as a valuable addition to any multimedia production process of any kind, Yours sincerely, Dean Kiley
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