Jim Ray

Experience

Manager, editorial development team

msnbc.com Seattle

June 2009 to present

I currently lead a team of five developers and designers responsible for editorial web development at msnbc.com, a large general interest news website. This includes building generic templates for the editorial staff to use on a daily basis as well as long-term projects. My team also works on high-profile, planned news features such as the upcoming election coverage, often involving custom design, backend and middleware development, data design, and unit testing. The scope of these projects often spans editorial, sales, technology and marketing teams and require meeting the needs of decision makers from each of these groups.

Multimedia producer

msnbc.com Seattle

January 2004 to May 2009

I worked as a writer and developer (Actionscript, HTML, CSS and Javascript) on long-form multimedia storytelling projects. This involved everything from developing new story ideas to writing scripts, editing audio, video and written work, and working with designers and other developers.

Web developer & multimedia producer

Chicago Tribune Chicago

May 2002 to December 2003

I was initially hired to a residency position to research, design, develop and maintain an intranet for the Tribune's newsroom, building tools to help the newsroom and research library better collaborate. I also led the development of a multimedia project memorializing September 11 and was hired full time as a multimedia producer.

Freelance multimedia developer

Durham, NC & Chicago

August 2001 to December 2003

I worked on my own and in collaboration with other developers, designers and photographers to build a variety of web sites using Flash, HTML, Javascript and server-side programming. Projects included corporate web design and development, multimedia storytelling and Flash-based portfolio projects.

Tools

I write valid and standards-based markup, CSS and Javascript using Coda and Textmate. I've used the various suites of Adobe tools for over a decade now, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. Despite lots of training and a long history of using Flash and Actionscript, I've all but given up on Flash and now prefer browser-native projects. I prefer using Mac OS X but can operate Windows without having to ask questions. I can set up, secure and manage a Unix/Apache/SQL-based web stack.

I consider keeping up to date with changing standards such as HTML and CSS a responsibility. I understand and use object-oriented programming techniques and design patterns like MVC. I adore frameworks that make my job easier, particularly jQuery and Django.

I am an avid and enthusiastic social networker, but only for the forces of good and with a healthy dose of skepticism. I prefer to loosely join small pieces across Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr, so don't bother trying to find me on Facebook.

I consider clear, honest communication to be one of the highest virtues. I prefer direct, plainspoken language.

Education

University of North Carolina, School of Journalism & Mass Communications

Bachelor of Arts, Visual Communications

1997 to 2001

Digital Library Fellowship

ibiblio.org & webslingerz Chapel Hill, NC

March 2000 to May 2001

Learned about the web, database design and digital librarianship at one of the oldest web directories in the world.

Contact

Email is the best way to get in touch.