January 12, 2012

Where to Go When You Need to Know

Blogs

With the new year underway I have no doubt that many of you have resolved to do more in the world of 3D imaging this year. As we all know, to do more you have to know a bit more. Specifically, how to do more. When it comes to education in the various disciplines that make up 3D imaging there are not that many traditional options. The vetting process necessary to develop a university level course is sufficiently time consuming as to render the course work outdated by the time it is approved. Many vendors offer courses and for the novice they can be very valuable. However, you do not have to do field work for very long to rack up more real world experience than a lot of dealer and manufacturer representatives. It is not that their advice or instruction is incorrect, it’s just limited by their experience.

So, what is one to do? I suggest getting involved in 3D imaging groups worldwide. The web in general and social media sites offer a lot of opportunities to network with like-minded professionals. If you want a straight answer (or a plethora of opinions) this is the only way to go. I’m sure that I will miss some very useful groups once I start listing them so I’ll apologize now to anyone I miss. Send me a message with the details of the group in question and I’ll be happy to add it as long as it’s not straight up sales propaganda! I will say that while you see some people ask open questions about problems or concerns to everyone, it doesn’t take long to notice that are lot more people are listening than talking in most of these groups. However, I suspect that a lot of us are sending private messages to people that we have met through these online forums and conferences like SPAR. Hopefully, we can share a bit more and realize that while we are all looking for an advantage in the marketplace, the better we all are at performing our work the better the market will be as a whole. A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say.

Without further ado, here are some places to go when you have a need to know: