Vincent Maher

Vincent John Maher (born January 28, 1975) is the portfolio manager for social media at Vodacom, a South African mobile telecommunications operator. Previously he was the strategist at the Mail & Guardian Online, in Johannesburg South Africa and the founder of the political blog Thought Leader and blog aggregator Amatomu.com.

He is currently working on projects that combine location-aware social networks with GIS and mapping data.

After obtaining a B. Journ degree from Rhodes, Maher started his career in 1997 at VWV Interactive, the then leading South African web development company. He pioneered use of several technologies on the South African web, including early versions of Macromedia Flash (then FutureSplash).

During his tenure at VWV, Maher was a co-founder of Slime.co.za, a local take on "The Onion", which won Cool Site of the Day, and made several press and television appearances including a regular slot on a local breakfast TV show.

After leaving VWV in 1999, Maher went on to found Digital Commerce, a dedicated Macromedia ColdFusion development house, which landed several large contracts in its four years, and was a primary driver for the use of ColdFusion in South Africa.

During this period, Maher also contributed articles to the Lifestyle supplement of the Sunday Times newspaper, and several other Websites and print publications. For six weeks he was the host of a TV insert on The Breakfast Club on SABC3 covering new web sites and digital culture.

In early 2004, Maher returned to Grahamstown as the director of the New Media Lab, part of the Journalism School at Rhodes University. He has recently been instrumental in the debate and growth of citizen journalism and blogging, has been a contributor at various local conferences and international, and has been recognised as a leading figure in the new journalism in South Africa.

Among Maher's achievements are the pioneering "99% live" coverage sites meshing blogging and multimedia. These include the coverage for the local launch of Creative Commons and the 2005 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

In December 2006 Maher was appointed as a strategist at the [http://www.mg.co.za Mail & Guardian Online] , South Africa's largest independent newspaper. he currently writes columns for Intelligence Magazine, Enjin Magazine and GEAR Magazine.

His work at the Mail & Guardian Online was fruitful, with the launch of the News in Photos web site and [http://www.amatomu.com Amatomu.com] , South Africa's most popular blog aggregator, [http://www.amagama.com Amagama.com] and [http://www.thoughtleader.co.za ThoughtLeader.co.za] .

Maher won the Highway Africa Award for Innovative Use of New Media in September 2007 and is currently shortlisted for the [http://www.itweb.co.za/events/itpersonalityoftheyear/2007/ IT Personality of the Year Award] .Maher is married and lives in Johannesburg, South Africa with his wife Daniella and son Michael Liam, also known affectionately by the blogging community as Nugget.

External link

* [http://vincentmaher.com/ Maher's blog]