Building the Future of Our Industry
Education Week at WhatTheyThink.com
November 17 - 21 2008
During the week of November 17, 2008, WhatTheyThink will feature a week-long series of articles and videos related to education. In publishing this series, WhatTheyThink is partnering with various organizations to raise awareness about the important work these organizations do in attracting new talent to our industry.
November 21, 2008
The new printing workforce - Fridays with Frank Romano
The printing industry bemoans its inability to attract workers. It ain’t seen nothing yet.
Many of the job positions printers claim are unfilled are for operators of legacy equipment. This equipment tends to be older, where a trained worker has retired or moved to another company where their experience on that equipment might be better rewarded because they already have the requisite skills. Read more
November 20, 2008
Brenda Kai Recaps First Year as EDSF Executive Director - Exclusive Interview by Cary Sherburne
Brenda Kai took over as Executive Director of EDSF in October 2007. Now that she has a year under her belt, WhatTheyThink spoke with Brenda to learn what is new at EDSF, discuss her plans for the future, and gain insight into how EDSF programs and services are helping students and educators alike.
The Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF) is the only Foundation dedicated to enhancing the value and relevance of document communications worldwide. Founded more than a decade ago, its goals are to be a catalyst for education and research initiatives and to bring the industry together to resolve document communications issues that impact society. Read more
Video: Ryerson's Abhay Sharma talks about their programs and quality of graduates
November 19, 2008
Building Your Own "Self University" - Commentary by Barb Pellow
In our high-tech graphic communications world, it can often be difficult to find the time to learn anything that isn’t essential. Yet with today’s challenging economy and advances in technology, graphic communications service providers continually need to reassess what they are doing and how they are doing it. Think about all that has happened in our industry over the past 20 years (sometimes I am reticent to admit that I have witnessed it all). We saw the introduction of Xerox’s DocuTech product in 1990, direct imaging and computer-to-plate technologies emerged, digital color became a reality at quality levels that rivaled offset, standards like JDF evolved to automate print manufacturing plants, concepts like “green” and “sustainability” became important driving forces, one in two individuals in the world now have a mobile phone, and Internet usage across the Americas and Europe has surpassed 40%. Read more.
Video: Harvey Levenson of Cal Poly talks about their program
November 18, 2008
From “Education Alley” at Graph Expo, Lessons To Be Learned - Commentary by Patrick Henry
When printers and trade shops “cluster” in factory buildings and industrial parks, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Clustering also is the ideal way for colleges and universities to exhibit at printing trade shows. In “Education Alley” at Graph Expo 2008, schools with graphic studies programs powerfully leveraged their common message about the urgency of training the industry’s next generation of professionals. Read more.
Video: EDSF Grant and Patrick Henry Help Pittsburg State Students with Research Project
November 17, 2008
Education and the Graphic Arts: What's Next? - Mondays with Dr. Joe Webb
Graphic arts education is at a crossroads. It was in the thick of the creative destruction in the 1970s and 1980s that our industry changed from craft to digital, leading to the shift to desktop production in the 1980s and 1990s,. Now that model is challenged itself by new media. New government occupational data show declines in graphic arts employment ahead. Dr. Joe sorts it out, offering suggestions for coping with the purgatory of the techno-economic shift, and a firm path forward for the new media business in a world of business communications that still needs print.
Read more.
Video: Trevor Haworth of CGS on their College Outreach Program
PGSF is a not-for-profit, private, industry-directed organization, housed under the same roof as PIA/GATF, that dispenses undergraduate college scholarships and graduate fellowship assistance to talented men and women interested in graphic communications careers.
The mission of PGSF is "To strengthen the print and graphics industry by providing scholarship assistance." PGSF has coordinated the printing industry's largest scholarship program since its inception in 1956. We hope our readers will consider supporting the work PGSF does to attract the best and brightest to our industry. Our future depends on it!
Visit PGSF's Web Site
Contact PGSF - (412) 259-1740, toll free at (800) 910-4283, or email pgsf@piagatf.org.
The Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF) is the only Foundation dedicated to enhancing the value and relevance of document communications worldwide. Our goals are to be a catalyst for education and research initiatives and to bring the industry together to resolve document communications issues that impact society. The Foundation helps the industry and the public benefit from paper and electronic documents, which are continually being transformed by emerging technologies. By fostering education, promoting research, recognizing leaders, encouraging innovation, and garnering and disseminating knowledge, we are building a community of mutual interest and support for document communication.
Visit the EDSF Web Site - Contact EDSF - (310) 265-5510
The mission of Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF) is to advance knowledge and education in the field of graphic communications by supporting programs that prepares the workforce of the future. Since its founding in 1983 by the National Association for Printing Leadership, NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies and the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, GAERF has supported projects that strive toward guaranteeing a strong future for the industry.
Visit GAERF's Web Site - Contact GAERF - Phone: (703) 264-7200
