Posts by Tama Easton for UpDate
FLO Engage: A Digital Community Engagement Platform
One of UpShift’s North American clients - FLO Analytics - approached us about building a community engagement platform for their clients. That platform - FLO Engage - recently launched.
Read more →The Bots Know Best: Redux
Recently I’ve been having a few conversations with people concerned about the direction social media is taking.
Read more →Tracking a Decade Old Joke: Part 1
Trying to track the evolution & spread of a decade old online joke opens a can of questions about provenance, privacy & walled off data.
Read more →The NZ Flag Referendum as a Case Study for a Terrible Design Process
From 2015-2016 New Zealand spent $27 million and countless hours on a flag change that didn’t happen.
Read more →UpShift's Approach to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
We often get asked if we “do SEO” and are never quite sure how to answer.
Read more →Digital Transformation with Humanity
The concept of digital transformation has been around for a couple of decades. Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated many plans, or lack of plans towards digital transformation.
Read more →Hedgehogs vs Recessions
New Zealand has just left our Covid-19 lockdown, but is now facing a massive global recession.
Read more →Website Content Architecture 101
One of the most important, yet most overlooked components of a website is its content architecture.
Read more →Being a Digital Agency in Level 4 Lockdown
New Zealand is a month into a Level 4 Lockdown, with almost the entire population staying at home to prevent the spread of (and hopefully eliminate) Covid-19.
Read more →Start Selling Online: Covid-19 Edition
New Zealand is currently in full lockdown to combat Covid-19, with many businesses exploring how they can still serve their customers in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Read more →How to have Friends (Virtually) Over for Dinner
In these strange days of lockdowns & social distancing it’s important we continue to socially connect with each other in quality ways.
Read more →Going Remote
Instead of writing about work we’ve done or technology I’m interested in I thought I’d write about Covid-19 & our business.
Read more →The Perils of Monkey's Paw Development
In the classic short story by W. W. Jacobs a magical monkey’s paw grants three wishes at great cost.
Read more →DiabetesWise: Prototype to Medical Trial
Since 2017 UpShift has been part of a Stanford Medical School project called “DiabetesWise”.
Read more →Building Two Bees - Court Costs Calculator
Two Bees is a great example of taking something complicated & turning it into an accessible online tool.
Read more →Do Something you Love (at least) Once a Day!
Here’s a case study on how I’ve improved my work/life balance by doing something I love (at least) once a day.
Read more →Working for Overseas Clients from New Zealand
Over half of UpShift’s business is with overseas clients.
Read more →Telling the Story of Where Your Food Comes From
UpShift recently worked on “Better Fishing” a web app which gives visitors an intimate view of fisherman Karl Warr as he catches fish off the coast of New Zealand.
Read more →Observations on Kicking my Facebook & Instagram Habits
In July 2019 I kicked my Facebook & Instagram habits. I thought people might be interested in my experiences so far.
Read more →How to Price a Railway Line
Have you ever wondered the most cost effective way to build & maintain a railway line? Probably not, but if you’re in the business of managing railway lines this sort of…
Read more →Plastic Beach: Visualising Ocean Plastics
We’ve been working on a super interesting project with the Cawthron Institute to help people visualise how plastic waste is moved around the oceans.
Read more →Too Many Keywords on the Dance Floor
A long long time ago, web creators used “keywords” as invisible metadata to tell search engines what their websites were about.
Read more →Data Model in a Bottle
Today I’m going to answer the question that’s been on your mind all month “What are data models & can they be used to describe pop songs?“ For this example I’m…
Read more →Futureproofing Digital Architecture
I often find myself using house building analogies when it comes to explaining software development.
Read more →AI: Around the Corner or Down the Road?
Last week I spent two interesting & insightful days at the ITx Rutherford conference.
Read more →Developing Digital Desire Paths
“Desire paths” is the name given to those short-cuts our feet follow, which aren’t part of the planned pathways around us.
Read more →Social Media as Junk Food
I originally wrote this post in October 2013 and thought it was worth a repost as I'm talking about similar issues in 2021.
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