Have You Met … Jay and Dean?

Meet Jay Runham and Dean Vigoren — members of the digital team who worked on the new look of UAlberta.ca

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Have you met Jay Runham and Dean Vigoren — members of the digital team who’ve worked on the new look of UAlberta.ca? Spend the next few minutes getting to know the two of them a little better.

Dean: [To Jay] Do you have notes prepared?

Jay: I do have notes prepared, because otherwise I’ll be like “uhhh” and it will be a great [interview]. Alright. So my favourite place is the CCIS Observatory. The feeling of being up there is kind of like that part in The Lion King with Pumba and Timon — where they’re all laying there and looking up at the stars — that’s what I like about it.

Dean: I’m going pretty generic, and saying that I really like the quad.

Jay: Yeah, we do spend a lot of time there.

Dean: Yeah, I spend a lot of time walking around on the quad.

Jay: See, I was going to say that, but then I figured saying “the quad” in “The Quad” — is that weird?

Dean: No, it’s just the next level.

Jay: It’s just meta.

Dean: Tablet.

Jay: Yeah, one-hundred percent.

Dean: I don’t use paper for anything anymore.

Jay: Plus, I feel like our kids — like the next generation’s going be like “you did what with trees? What did you guys do with trees?” And we’ll go “we used them to write things on. What’s wrong with that?”

Jay: So I’ve got a little basketball hoop that I’ve put — it’s kind of behind Vic’s desk. Kinda. I haven’t really used it in a while, but shoot hoops every once in a while.

Dean: I have an X-Box controller.

Both: [Laugh and chuckle]

Dean: Honestly, I need my caffeine.

Jay: Oh, I thought you were going to go super literal and be like “I need air.”

Dean: No. God, no. I get kind of grumpy without my caffeine in the morning.

Jay: That’s true. [Laughs] I agree. [Laughs] For mine, I’m going super mushy! I’m saying time spent with my wife. Natalie works just down the street at the hospital, so we get lucky and we can spend time together. Go for walks down Saskatchewan Drive there — especially during the Fall. With all the beautiful leaves and stuff. So, I’ve got to get some brownie points. [Laughter]

Dean: That’s in the interview, man.

Both: [More laughter!]

Dean: She doesn’t get a copy of The Quad, does she?

Jay: Oh yeah, she’ll see it.

Dean: Netherlands. Apparently that’s where my heritage is from, so, I’d go see that.

Jay: I have a nice long list of places, but I think, currently, my second or third is Indonesia. There’s a ton of islands there — volcanoes. It’s just next up on the list.

[Interviewer]: Then what’s number one?

Jay: Right now, it’s Japan. But it’s really expensive, so.

Dean: But free airfare?

Jay: Yeah if it was free airfare — well, but I’m already planning that trip — that trip’s like half planned already. So, I would move on to the next one [for this scenario]. Or maybe do both, because you could go to Japan and then go to Indonesia.

Jay: Oh, I overthought this one. I was like “this is such a good question!” So, I have a nice party — like a rounded out party. I have Nicola Tesla, because he’s a genius and it would be interesting to ask him “what inventions didn’t you make?” All the stuff he did make is revolutionary, but “what were you, Nicola Tesla, thinking, ah no, that’s too far out there, I can’t even work on that one, because it’s too weird?” Also, I’d like to talk to — there’s an artist over in B.C. — his name is Roy Henry Vickers. He and I share a commonality in that we’re both partly colour blind. But he’s still an artist, and I’m still a designer. I think we would have a very interesting conversation — like “how do you accomplish this challenge?” So, that would be fun. And then, Michelle Obama is my last one. Because she’s Michelle. Obama. It would be an easy conversation — to ask “how did you do it? How? You raised kids while being the First Lady.” She didn’t get paid to be the First Lady — b-t-dubs. [translation = btw = by the way] She’d also ask questions that I just wouldn’t think of either. She’d ask cool questions to Nicola Tesla.

Dean: Man, you really put a lot of thought into that.

Jay: I like that question so much! I love that question. [To Dean] Have fun following that up.

Dean: Yeah — no, it’s going to be terrible. Ah. I’d probably want to talk to Robert Jordan. Favourite author. I read his books constantly — like, re-read them.

Jay: Is that “The Wheel of Time” series?

Dean: Yeah, “Wheel of Time.” It would be nice to sit down with him and just talk about that and some of his earlier works too, which were weird one-off random stories. Pretty fun. Like he’d be an alright dude.

Jay: Didn’t he also not finish a bunch of books?

Dean: Well, he died before he finished them, but then somebody else picked them up — he left enough notes that another author could pick them up and finish it.

Jay: So you could ask him “did that guy finish it properly?”

Dean: Yeah.

Jay: [laughs] “Did he do a good job?”

Dean: “Did that get the stamp of approval from you?”

Jay: [Pointing to his notes] This one’s blank. I don’t feel like I’m qualified for any other jobs on campus. My first thought was “film professor,” but that’s a lot of work. You have to figure out a class schedule — lesson plans all the time. You don’t get to just watch movies. Even as the student, you don’t really. Maybe a film librarian — but even the librarians who get all the films — I don’t think I’d have that knowledge. I’d go there and be like “I don’t know what I’m doing!”

Dean: Somehow burn down the Library.

Jay: And just run away. “You were only here for a week — what happened?”

Dean: I think I would go — what building is that? [To Jay] You know where we go for a walk and they have all those 3D printers and machining labs?

Jay: Yeah — the Engineering building?

[Note: Mechanical Engineering]

Dean: I’d probably go over there and print things and make cool stuff — or at least try to. Probably trying and failing. But it would be fun for a week.

Jay: You could make some cool stuff over there. We walk through there sometimes when it’s really, really cold outside. They were making mini golf things one time. It was with a robot or something?

Dean: I think it was a robot obstacle course. They had things on the course and the robot had to push the golf ball.

Jay: That makes more sense. I thought it was just –

Dean: The easiest mini-putt in the world?

Jay: Yeah.

Jay: For me, the emphasis there is on “whole people.” So it’s very much about everyone; about inclusivity, about diversity — it’s about everybody. Especially with the design job here, it’s very much like trying to incorporate that. Trying to make sure everybody can access the different web pages and everybody can sign up for a course, or [apply] for a job, or whatever. It’s the whole people — everybody.

Dean: Yeah, that’s kind of the same thing I was thinking, there. It’s making sure everybody has access to the same level of education, should they wish to go down that route. No barriers.

Jay: It’s like, “all users.”

Dean: Yeah. Anyone can come to the university and learn. It’s not limited to the rich or [based] on who you know.

Jay: Uplifting “all users” [laughs] — that’s so nerdy.

Jay: Okay, so mine is access to information — or education, rather.

Dean: I thought you were going to make a joke and say “wifi.”

Jay: [Laughs] Yeah, access to education. Especially working here, where we get the discounted classes. I like to take the occasional class. It’s kind of mind opening and mind expanding to be able to go try out different things and to test out different classes. So [education] being open and literally available to everyone in the world would be good.

Dean: To end global warming. Because I would like to have a planet.

Jay: Make sure we have a place to live.

Dean: I was going to say “it’s okay” but that’s two.

Jay: Technically.

Dean: Three words…

Jay: Mine is “green and gold.” Mostly because those are the colours I have to deal with every single day. Those are my colours; they have to be. But also because of the campus, right? Those are where the colours actually come from. It’s about working in a nice space, and we can take it for granted sometimes.

Dean: Umm…

Jay: “I don’t need notes — notes are dumb”

Dean: Yeah, notes are dumb. I just don’t know how to say it in three words. I’ve always enjoyed just the culture.

Jay: “A great culture?” That’s three.

Dean: Yeah — let’s go with that. A great culture.

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Jay Runham

Jay Runham is an English actor who was once a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and made a name for himself in Hollywood on TV… no wait, that’s Jay’s style icon, Patrick Stewart. Jay is actually one of the Product Designers with University Relations and has been working here for almost 7 years. When he’s not trying to sneak a Star Trek reference into a new Homepage Feature, he’s most likely helping someone build their faculty or department’s new website. He’s probably tweeting about this interview as you read this.

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Dean Vigoren

Dean Vigoren has been a web developer at the University of Alberta for 6 years under the digital section of University Relations. He has a Bachelors of Applied Information Systems Technology and a diploma in Computer Engineering Technology from NAIT. Dean is primarily responsible for updating, maintaining and adding features to the content management system that powers the university’s web site.