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Stop SOPA/PIPA

This post will be visible at the top of this blog through the end of January.

I believe in protection of rights in authorship for people who create or own rights to original content in any media, and I also believe in the openness of the Internet that allows appropriate sharing of that information. Copyright law is already in place, but the protections offered by the current law aren’t always sufficient to prevent financial losses or dilution of value in intellectual property.

Nevertheless, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261 and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) take the wrong approach to supporting copyright owners, and offer solutions that can potentially cripple the Internet as we know it today. Even though SOPA has been delayed, PIPA will be considered tomorrow and I’m sure that this issue is not dead. Online piracy is a real issue that affects all content producers, including this site, and as an author of content, I’m concerned not only that someone may steal and benefit from my work but that I may inadvertently misuse the content of others. As stated on the U.S. Copyright Office site:

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Contemplating Templates

January 17, 2012 / C. Blaise Mitsutama / Comments Off

Have you ever seen a child about to put something in his mouth? His mother rushes to stop him and says, “Don’t put that in your mouth. You don’t know where it’s been.”

I feel the same way about using old documents as the starting point for new projects. It’s tempting to use a document with existing text, formatting, images, and other components to reduce the work required to create a document from scratch. But no matter how clean a document looks, it can contain hidden problems that add time and cost to a project. Similar problems can occur when multiple authors work on the same file because each author may have different, possibly incompatible, ways of achieving a desired look-and-feel.

You can, and should, still use templates for efficient document production, and here are some suggestions to help you decide what works best.
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Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 16, 2012 / C. Blaise Mitsutama / Comments Off

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is a simple post in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He worked tirelessly for civil rights. The battle is not over. It starts again every day, and will continue until justice and equality apply everywhere. We honor Dr. King today in celebration of his birth, but we celebrate his life’s work in action to ensure the rights of all Americans, not merely protecting the rights of a few.

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet . . . .

January 12, 2012 / C. Blaise Mitsutama / Comments Off

When creating templates or dummy samples of print or electronic documents, you may find that using text from previous documents raises distracting issues. Copied text may contain confidential information or information that may be misinterpreted as being relevant to the current document.

For hundreds of years, printers have used the nonsense text, “lorem ipsum dolor sit amet . . . ” to solve the problem of what to print when meaning is less important than form. This filler text is based on Latin but is not intended to be read.

However, it’s frequently difficult to find a sufficient amount of nonsense text to fill all of the blank space in a template or sample document, and it’s harder to create nonsense text than you might imagine. You also need to be careful when you copy this model text from other sources because over the years, people have added hidden jokes or strings of letters that can detract from the focus of your work.

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To Meet Your Deadlines, Begin at the End

January 10, 2012 / C. Blaise Mitsutama / Comments Off

The information in this article may be old news for some readers, but every now and then it’s a good idea to refresh the fundamentals. Experienced professionals are familiar with the practice of planning backwards, but I’m constantly surprised at how rarely this very useful method is used. I frequently use this process to inform project managers how many days before the final deadline I need to receive files, and/or to negotiate with them what can be done within the available time.

If you want to add this skill to your toolkit, here’s how . . .

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New Year, New Projects

January 7, 2012 / C. Blaise Mitsutama / Comments Off

Today is the launch of my new website: TechFleur. I am SO excited about this new venture.

TechFleur is my playground and portfolio. It’s a place where I can share examples, tips, resources, and tools that I’ve either developed or discovered. I was inspired to create this site by years of frustration. When I look for solutions on the Internet, there seem to be very few in-depth examples that put those solutions in context. When I found or developed best practices or solutions while creating business or technical material for print or electronic distribution, the information would be scattered across different computers or would be lost.

This site will reflect my technical interest in data management and presentation, software development, and environmental risk assessment, as well as my professional interest in communication design, clarity, and innovation.

Please read the About, Terms and Conditions, Copyright, and Privacy Policy pages if you want to know more about the site. Feel free to contact me if you have specific questions.

C. Blaise Mitsutama
Founder