Landscape Architect Articles

LASN Technology January 200901-01-09 | News

Generation Speed: Part 2:e-Networking

Ashley Calabria, LASN Technology Editor

Andrew Spiering and Kevin Gaughan created the site Land8Lounge as a means to provide an open forum for landscape architects to share their work and ideas. Spiering?EUR??,,????'?????<

College students and young professionals have been involved in social e-networking for several years now. The popularity of Facebook and MySpace has given rise to both good and bad methods of communication, but they are undeniably an instrumental part of society today.

As a means of making connections and finding commonalities with others, social networking has crossed cultural differences and geographical boundaries previously squelched by physical and financial resources and time. Members can discuss a variety of topics with people from around the world and instantly upload images. With that said, I was recently at a banquet where a College Dean was giving out student awards and the only information he had on these students was from their Facebook page. As most of the written content he presented was pretty informative on previous education, hobbies, and career goals, he had edited through quite a bit of ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Artists can use the site to post their work in the gallery area to get reviews and critiques of their work from colleagues in the profession.

I was pretty quickly inundated with friend requests most of whom were Landscape Architecture alumni and students. That was great, but since I wasn?EUR??,,????'?????<

This is a sample of the more than 80 groups available on the Land8Lounge site for making social connections.

Started in March of 2008 by Andrew Spiering and Kevin Gaughan the site was meant to provide an open forum for landscape architects to share their work and ideas. Created as a central gathering space for designers, Land8Lounge provides social networking as well as photo and video sharing, discussion forums, groups and events. I contacted Andrew Spiering to ask him some questions about the site and how it was started.

LASN: Aside from reading the About Us page on Land8Lounge, what else can you tell us about how this idea started?

Andrew Spiering: I had wanted to start a website for a while but nothing seemed to click. An article I read on SFgate about a social network for writers based here in San Francisco inspired me. I have always liked connecting people with similar interests. So, after reading the article, I looked around the web a bit and could not find a social network for landscape architects, so I thought, ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Kevin Gaughan contacted me a couple of months after the launch. I could tell by the number of people he was inviting that he was pretty excited about the site. I think he invited everyone on the Eastern seaboard! He has helped a great deal and shares my enthusiasm for encouraging and connecting people within the profession.

LASN: What are some of your favorite features?

Andrew Spiering: The members are what make the site. If it were not for them, the coolest features in the world would not mean much. With that said, I enjoy looking at peoples work in the Gallery. I am fascinated by the various styles people possess from different regions of the world. I also like the different opportunities people have to connect ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Just a sample of the more than 80 groups available for making social connections.

The groups Andrew mentioned are arranged in a variety of categories, including college groups, office groups as well as groups of common landscape architectural interests. Currently translated into 19 languages, input and comments can come from users around the world. The discussions are interesting enough but with little time to blog, twitter or socialize, much of my time is focused on finding inspiration and also trying to find ways to bridge students and professionals. That is why land8lounge is much more than a social network.

If you go to the webpage, land8lounge.com, and click on the ?EUR??,,????'?????<

The site is also unique in that it offers professionals and students a place to create an online portfolio on a site that is guaranteed to be seen by other landscape architects. I send students there to search for jobs on the site?EUR??,,????'?????<

Employers, you can also post jobs. It?EUR??,,????'?????<

Please forward article suggestions or comments to Ashley Calabria at calabria@uga.edu.