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2014 Intermountain GIS Conference - April 7-11 - Billings, MT

Keys To Getting Involved Spatially


Keynote Speaker
   Tim Urbaniak

Tim Urbaniak has led projects that explore archaeology and history through applications of technology for about 20 years. As the Director of the Montana State University Billings Archaeological Field Team, he has led students and volunteers in projects that have included 3D reconstructions of historic sites, digital imaging applications, surveying technologies, desktop virtual reality, three-dimensional scanning, photogrammetry and applications of multimedia. He is currently teaching in his 27th year at MSUB in the Drafting and Design Program and is also a student in the University of Montana Historical Anthropology PhD program where he is studying historic inscriptions and their role as a form of residual cultural communication.


"It's -16 below last night and I am out in the cold paying for my art. The aluminum tripod is stinging to the touch, but I keep adjusting the camera and snapping more. Not long before, I was sitting at our house. Warm. Cozy. Content. Last night was supposed to be the coldest of this recent spell and I couldn't stop thinking about photography and how you have to be out in it, to be out in it. If you want a picture of the Moss Mansion with Christmas lights on it, you might have to go there to get one. Seems like a simple idea, but it is one that is lost on many. The image of the overly-decorated house if just a couple blocks away. Them's is cold light bulbs. My feet crunch in the snow. I should have worn warmer shoes, but my mind is not on my feet, it's on my manual settings. Spin the dial, snap an image, poke some buttons, snap another image. In multimedia class I lecture about knowing your camera well enough to be able to adjust the settings on the fly. Tonight I am seeing if I believe my own digital theology, and the data sprites are shining. Even if no pictures turn out, I have. I am here, with the faint breeze stinging, I am here, now, doing this, paying for my art - and the cold feels good.
There's a lot of people taking pictures these days, and there are many great images around, but then - there are a lot of people with cameras, many more than - say - 1970. Or 1960. Or anything before about 2000. You'd think that somebody would have gotten a clean image of bigfoot by now. I think about things like this sometimes when I send out the MMW, about whether or not I need to keep clogging the Internet with images. Then I think - oh, hell...I'm in this deep - might as well keep going."

Write to Tim at turbaniak@bresnan.net to sign up for his Monday Morning Wallpaper. Great photography and deep thoughts!


Featured Speaker
   LtGen D Hejik

Based on a profession of arms spanning forty four years of service to our country I have developed leadership traits and skills that have proved to work during periods that span the spectrum of relative calm, sustained stress, controlled chaos, complacency, boredom, wartime, and peacetime in organizations consisting of forty to sixty thousand personnel. People are the center of gravity in the work place; leading a diverse work force from all sections of the country with varying cultures based on race, religion, gender, education, learned values, demographics and geographical considerations demand active leaders who are thoughtful in their approach. Good leaders balance the personal and professional aspects of their organization through experience, judgment, responsibility, accountability, humor, discipline, compassion and empathy. Knowing your people and working WITH them will result in an organization that consistently produces exceptional results while maintaining a work force that feels they are a part of family and not merely a tool to be used to make you successful.

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