ABOUT THE GROUP

Mission and FAQ

Overview and Mission

The Philadelphia Flash Platform AUG (an official Adobe User Group) was formed in order to provide a common ground for the local Flash design and development community. The group was formerly known as the Philadelphia Flash MMUG prior to Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia in late 2005. In early 2006 the group was re-branded to an Adobe group and the coverage expanded to the entire Flash Platform to allow the focus to include the growing set of tools and applications for working with and creating Flash content such as Flex 2, Flash Lite 2 for mobile devices, as well as many open source tools and projects.
Through the group, members can exchange ideas, knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of interactive technologies. As an informal, member-supported organization, we rely entirely on volunteers to help with meeting content, speakers, meeting locations, equipment and membership recruitment. We also have corporate sponsors such as Adobe and several book publishers like O'Reilly, New Riders and Friends of Ed, that provide software, books, discounts, and other valuable donations to share with members of the group. To become a member, simply use the signup form. Anyone may attend a meeting, there are no fees or dues.

Current Manager

Robert M. Hall - Robert pushes the Flash Platform in unique directions. Over the past 8 years his award winning projects have included integrating Flash into next generation ATM machines, self-service coin-counters, specialty kiosks, secure banking applications and more. Through his company Feasible Impossibilities Robert focuses on leveraging the Flash Platform for web, kiosk, interactive exhibits and desktop applications. His focus on the Flash Platform also includes human-computer interaction on Flash Lite capable devices and handsets. Robert is an official Adobe Community Expert, has contributed to six books on Flash design and development and written articles for online publications including the Adobe Developer Center. He has been a presenter at FlashForward in 2001 and 2004, Macromedia MAX 2005 and Adobe MAX 2006. Robert has managed the group since October of 2003 when former manager Bill Ristine and his cousin Jason Marziani handed over the reigns of the group. A full bio and more information can be found on Roberts personal site - Feasible Impossibilities

Current Co-Manager

Jason Marziani - Jason's bio coming soon!

Contributors

Derek Wischusen - Derek has been developing Flash applications for over 6 years. Over the past few years he also fell in love with both Flex and Ruby on Rails. You can check out his latest musings on his new loves at his blog: www.flexonrails.net. Derek is also the manager of the Philadelphia Flex Adobe User Group - an offshoot of our group focused solely on Adobe Flex. While at CHI Systems in Fort Washington, Derek lead the development of Flash and Zinc based interactive training applications for the government and military. In addition to his responsibilities as Lead Flash Developer, Derek was also involved in a game development effort where he used C# and the Reality Engine (www.artificialstudios.com) to develop a 3D game-based training system for first responders. Derek also spent some time at CHI doing AI (Artificial Intelligence) development. Derek was previously employed at Wolters Kluwer, where he developed productivity enhancing RIAs using Flex and Ruby on Rails. In addition to his own development projects, Derek also manages the development of Flash applications that are bundled with Wolters Kluwers's publications. Derek also worked with Mike Potter from Adobe to develop a Ruby on Rails SDK for Flash/Flex developers. This project is open-source and hosted on Google at http://code.google.com/p/rubyonrails-ria-sdk-by-adobe/ Derek lives with his wife Clair and his dog Eva in Telford, PA.

FAQ