Pamela V. Brown
Write Path, an L.L.C.
Kauai Business Report August 2004
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Pamela V. Brown Write Path, an L.L.C. |
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Kauai Business Report August 2004 |
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Staying Balanced: Computer Expert produces Fine Art Prints
By Pamela V. Brown
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WAIMEA – Elaine Albertson’s life experience has prepared her for almost every type of profession – a good thing because her two current vocations reside at opposite ends of the spectrum. A computer expert who does everything from designing and building computer systems from scratch to recovering lost data after a customer suffers a hard drive crash, Albertson also operates a full-service fine arts lab, digitizing and producing museum-grade giclees and photographic printing. The workload of her company, Digital Arts of Waimea, is currently half computer consultation and repair, and half art-related, and that’s the way she likes it. “Computer work by itself can be a burnout if you get totally absorbed it in,” she said, and with her understanding of what makes machines tick, total absorption is likely. “Doing the artwork keeps me balanced. I get to work with a lot of very creative, very nice people,” she said. “I get to express my own artistic interests that I don’t always get to do when I’m doing computer work.” With what she believes is currently the highest resolution digital camera on Kauai, Albertson will photograph or scan artists’ work under meticulously-controlled lighting conditions then digitize and color balance the image so it looks exactly like the original. She can create prints up to 13” x 19” size in museum-grade quality. For larger images, she’ll save her digitized work to CD, then job out the printing to Tom Niblick’s Printmaker in Lihue. Because she does all of the work herself from start to finish, artists get personalized service and can be directly involved in the process, she said. “What better way than to sit here with an iced tea and look over my shoulder and say ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ “ Wailua artist Fred Tangalin, who has worked with Albertson for about six months, said Albertson’s personal attention speeds the process along. “With Elaine, I can just step in there,” and watch her work progress on the computer monitor. Tangalin, a painter who Albertson calls probably the most up and coming impressionist on the island, and whose work is shown in Ship Store Galleries, at Kilohana and at Kong Lung Store among others, said he loves Albertson’s quick turn-around. “I get my stuff right that day,” he said, explaining that other businesses he’s worked with have a three-week waiting period before he can even view the first print and make changes. “She does great work. I am very pleased.” Computer
Forensics From her first computer class more than 40 years ago – when she was a 14-year-old wunderkind invited to join an IBM training course for employees of Southern Pacific Railroad – Albertson knew she had an aptitude for computer work. “From that first class, I was hooked.” She was trained on huge mainframe computers that filled rooms the size of her entire Waimea home – personal-size PCs weren’t even yet a twinkle in Bill Gates’ eye. Albertson joked that her wristwatch now probably contains more computing power than the original behemoths. After graduating high school at the age of 15, serving a stint in the military, earning her Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science, her Master’s in Counseling Psychology – each in about half the time it normally takes students – working for the railroad, playing with a rock ‘n’ roll band for a time as drummer, and working as an independent logger in Oregon, Albertson eventually returned to her foundation in computers. Though it seems that social work would be an odd match with computer skills, Albertson said the two disciplines dovetail perfectly into what she calls “computer forensics.” Within her first three months working for a large commercial bank as a junior auditor she uncovered a $500,000 accounting scandal that had eluded three previous auditors, largely because she combined bookkeeping knowledge gleaned from her mother with her computer skills and street smarts. “When you see photocopies of bills of lading and 5 different colors of white out on someone’s desk, those are red flags,” she said. “They were using fairly basic ruses.” The thieves had been difficult for others to catch because in those years, she said, most people had either accounting or computer knowledge, but not both. Years later, the order and predictability of computers still intrigues her – creating the ultimate challenge for someone who enjoys deductive and inductive reasoning. Computers do precisely what they are instructed to do – no more and no less, although “many people think their computer has a personality all its own, and in a way they do,” she said laughing. “But it all boils down to pure logic.” Logic is what Albertson uses to deduce what is wrong with her clients’ computers. When a person calls about a computer system that has been corrupted, she goes into her detective mode to determine “who done it,” or at least how it was done. Thanks to her behavioral science background, she factors in what she thinks the customer may have done – usually inadvertently – to contribute to the problem. Relieved customer Dan Spriggs said Albertson rescued all of his data from his “cracked up” machine and worked nearly six hours on a complicated installation with his new computer. “She was very helpful, very, very knowledgeable and did a good job,” he said. “She was willing to go the extra mile.” Thanks to her social work background, she is careful to always keep an open mind to the possibilities. “You can’t come into a counseling situation with your mind made up of where they’re coming from,” Albertson said. Likewise, “when you’re analyzing an IT (information technology) situation, you have to see if from the computer’s point of view.” By virtue of her own existence, Albertson reminds people to keep their own minds open. Gifted with an IQ in excess of 200 – a fact confirmed by her father Earnie who shares her house and computer lab – Albertson has had many career successes and made many of them look easy. Yet she’s realistic about what it takes to be successful. “An IQ and a buck only gets you a cup of coffee,” she said. “You need common sense.” Many years ago, her common sense told her that her gifted mind had been placed in a body of the wrong gender. Born male, she made the change to female in 1982 and is very forthcoming and open about her journey. “It wasn’t a hard decision at all. It’s just a birth defect,” she said. “It’s not really a choice because you can’t do anything else.” Albertson said she’s felt accepted most everywhere she’s lived, but especially since arriving on Kauai in early 2001, a place she’d visited often since 1966. Shortly after arriving on the island, she began working for Hale Opio Kauai, Inc., serving as both the non-profit firm’s therapeutic foster home coordinator and information systems manager, designing a database that the company still uses. She’s still servicing the company’s database and is in the process of teaching an in-house person some pertinent system details. Dale Sherretz, Hale Opio’s chief financial officer, said Albertson’s work is set apart by the breadth of her past experience and her dedication to see a job through to the end. “I’m delighted that Elaine is offering the services that she is for the people of Kauai.” |
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Please see Computer Calamity for Albertson's suggestions for protecting your computer in these cyber times.
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Contact Information: Pamela V. Brown (808) 651-3533 cell (808) 821-1027 fax |
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"Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Proverbs in Prose |
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© Copyright 2004 Write Path, an L.L.C. and Pamela V. Brown All material, pictures, concepts, intellectual property and rights reserved. |
© Copyright 2004 Magical Concepts §©ª¨ |
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