Stories & Knowledge Integration | Our Story
The tale of GroundWork Design is one of family, service, and imperatives.
It began in 1997 when the firm Intelli-Com was incorporated to assist businesses and consumers make productivity decisions surrounding the use of their computer technology.
In 2001, it took a new form when two entrepreneurlly-minded software developers, Greg Hofbauer and Tom Lawrence, came together on a service project in Ireland … where they decided to work on a project that would define the main function of the firm: to create web applications which embed consulting knowledge in their functioning in order to help clients share their knowledge with advanced rich media and interactivity.
The first of these applications was created in partnership with the University of Richmond (Richmond, VA). This “Active Map Virtual Tour” allows for spatial and topical exploration of the university through inter-panoramic navigation, an interactive map, and detailed information about locations. There was always the intention to offer some applications as templates, low-cost varieties, and in 2002, the “Active Map Virtual Tour” became the “Tour Experience Engine” with the first fully-Flash content management system/engine, which also managed rich content such as video, panoramic images, still photos, interactive maps, and more.
2004 saw the name of the firm change to GroundWork Design. The name better supported the driving intention to create underlying systems of sharing knowledge rather than simply specific passive tools.
In 2005, our experience creating rich media applications for colleges and universities led to a reconstitution of our data structures and application intentions and the release of the Unified Tour Model—a multi-modular rich media application which allowed for unprecedented cross-connection of data and functionality. To date, its features are unequalled by another firm’s serialized offerings (other than our own, of course). The Unified Tour Model will be replaced as our standard templated rich media application in 2009Q4 by the AnyTour.
Continuing the theme of a systematic way to approach all data in a manageable way, the Binding Ubiquitous Discrete Data Holism Architecture (B.U.D.D.H.A.) was concepted in 2006 as a “best of breed” framework and platform for thinking about and implementing multi-industry systems of knowledge. Though it will likely never be implemented in its entirety, it has lead to the specifications of several implemented and in-development applications. Its concept is a solution to the proposed Semantic Web specifications.
Understanding that the reasoning behind the construction of many of our applications is difficult to grasp, we developed a set of Flash Cards in 2008 which helped explain our approach, our applications, and our observations of “human technology.” This set of 25 cards has helped us and our clients to explore the concept of organizational self-discovery and will likely produce future addendums to the pack.
GroundWorkers have had the pleasure of working on research projects, corporate knowledge-storing systems, online orientations, conventional websites, product demonstrations, and a gamut of other creative and technical projects. We continue to pride ourselves on our ability to think systematically and deliver value over time for our clients (and their clients).
Our intentions remain to work with other firms to lend our areas of specialty in order to enhance their projects and services, while simultaneously sharing the “human technology” research we perform with local small businesses and non-profits in a guidance capacity.