My name is Luke. I'm 27 and work as a creative director for a marketing and communications firm in Bangor, Maine. A 2003 graduate of Clarkson University, I received a Bachelors in Science and majored in Technical Communications with concentrations in Psychology and Digital Media. Personally, I have a great appreciation for Nature and the Great Outdoors -- a few of my outdoor hobbies include hiking, fly fishing, and photography. I also love technology and gadgets which, at best, could probably only be narrowed down to "all things that use electricity."I first learned about the Polar City initiative on Gizmodo.com (a popular news / gadget site). I contacted the project about volunteering myself and my fiance (a nurse here in Bangor) to be residents of the first Model Polar City, and in the meantime to volunteer in anyway that I could. The project director and I are currently discussing the development on an online community to help drive public interest and raise awareness of the project as well as seek out future "tenants".
My immediate hopes for the future are a better understanding of the impact that we all have on the environment, and a recognition worldwide of how the actions we take today shape the world of tomorrow. Long-term hopes for the future of mankind are simple; that we are able to create what we need to survive in harmony with the environment, taking only what we need to live and support all people, with as little negative impact on the world around us as possible. A further goal would be that these resources are available to everyone and that we all share a standard quality of life.
There are many contributions to be made to the community, the project and to the future. Some of the qualities that I want to bring to table are leadership, creativity and a well rounded and useful skill set. I make my living being creative on a daily basis, both as a personal hobby and for clients. I provide leadership for a team of young professionals, designing projects and following them through to their completion, best utilizing the skills of those that work with me while fostering an environment that encourages the exploration of new ideas and methods for better and more efficient ways of meeting our goals. For over a decade I've been leading and working with such teams on projects of a relatively straight-forward nature (building custom computers, computer repair and technical support, wired and wireless networking deployment and repair, carpentry, construction and general maintenance and lastly and most recently, conceptual interior design) as well as unique projects that often require an unconventional approach (internet application development, custom content management systems, marketing campaigns and public relations strategies). I draw great confidence that I will be an asset to this project from my past experiences, opportunities, and accumulated knowledge. All of which I hope to share with a team dedicated to the seeing the same goals become a reality.
My goals for this project are many, its success being at the top of the list. That being said, there are many steps that will need to be taken early on in the project to help get it started. Once the gears of reality have been put into motion there are internal pieces that will need to designed and implemented to help insure success.
An immediate milestone is the creation of an online community of individuals helping to drive awareness, brainstorm ideas and create the foundations of this project. This 'forum' will at it's base functions help us spread information about the project, and at it's more advanced phase allow the creation of "qualified" users and leaders, in designated categories, and set the basis for teams that will eventually collaborate and work together on the various aspects of the Model Polar City.
An example of a future milestone for the project is the creation of a "smart kiosk" system for use in the Model Polar City, a computer system readily available to the residents; used to preform daily tasks, communicate internally and externally and in general facilitate life within a closed-environment society. Such a system could identify it's users automatically allowing them to "login" to a kiosk simply by walking up to it, with all their personal preferences and tools available immediately. Tie in everything from tablet computers to medical monitoring to entertainment and you have the basis for a fluid environment that helps it's residents accomplish a common goal.
This may all sound a little sci-fi or even utopian, but this is the type of thinking that's needed to drive the ideas that will build this futuristic Model Polar City, and in turn provide potentially huge benefits for the future. After all, if even the small successes achieved within the city can be translated to a useful and beneficial reality for the rest of the world, we will have accomplished our goal.
