Vincent Maher
Encyclopedia
Vincent John Maher is the CTO and co-founder of Motribe Mobile Networks. Previously he was 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 University
, 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 blog
ging, 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 Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa's largest independent newspaper and wrote columns for 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 Amatomu.com, South Africa's popular blog aggregator, Amagama.com and ThoughtLeader.co.za. Along with Matthew Buckland he managed a complete rebuild of the newspaper's web site and management system before leaving the newspaper to join Vodacom.
During this time Maher won the Highway Africa Award for Innovative Use of New Media
in September 2007 and is was shortlisted for the IT Personality of the Year Award. In June 2008 Maher joined Vodacom to manage their social networking portfolio. Under his management The Grid grew its user-base by 1.5 million usres and launched in Nigeria and Tanzania. In April 2010 Maher and Nic Haralambous, who would later become his business partner in Motribe, launched Legends of Echo, a massively-multiplayer mobile location-based role-playing game that re-mapped the South African landscape into a mythical game-world called The Echo.
In August 2011 Maher and Haralambous launched Motribe, a mobile social networking platform and relocated to Cape Town, South Africa. Motribe has 1.7 million users and over 6000 mobile tribes built by its members.
Maher is married and lives with his wife Daniella and son Michael Liam, also known affectionately by the blogging community as Nugget.
Vodacom
Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the 1st cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 35 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2008...
, a South African mobile telecommunications operator. Previously he was the strategist at the Mail & Guardian Online, in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
South Africa and the founder of the political blog Thought Leader
Thought Leader
Thought Leader is a collaborative news and opinion platform, owned by the South African newspaper . It was by former GM of the operation in 2006. It was nominated a Webby Award honoree in 2008, won in 2008, and has scored a few firsts, including sending the first South African blogger, Ndumiso...
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 University
Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
, 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
Cool Site of the Day
Cool Site of the Day is an early website created in August 1994 and originally maintained by Glenn Davis. Linking to one single recommended site off its homepage each day, it soon became an arbiter of taste on the Internet....
, 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
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
ColdFusion
ColdFusion
In computing, ColdFusion is the name of a commercial rapid application development platform invented by Jeremy and JJ Allaire in 1995. ColdFusion was originally designed to make it easier to connect simple HTML pages to a database, by version 2 it had...
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
Grahamstown
Grahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...
as the director of the New Media Lab, part of the Journalism School at Rhodes University
Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
. He has recently been instrumental in the debate and growth of citizen journalism
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...
and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ging, 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
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
and the 2005 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
In December 2006 Maher was appointed as a strategist at the Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa's largest independent newspaper and wrote columns for 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 Amatomu.com, South Africa's popular blog aggregator, Amagama.com and ThoughtLeader.co.za. Along with Matthew Buckland he managed a complete rebuild of the newspaper's web site and management system before leaving the newspaper to join Vodacom.
During this time Maher won the Highway Africa Award for Innovative Use of New Media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
in September 2007 and is was shortlisted for the IT Personality of the Year Award. In June 2008 Maher joined Vodacom to manage their social networking portfolio. Under his management The Grid grew its user-base by 1.5 million usres and launched in Nigeria and Tanzania. In April 2010 Maher and Nic Haralambous, who would later become his business partner in Motribe, launched Legends of Echo, a massively-multiplayer mobile location-based role-playing game that re-mapped the South African landscape into a mythical game-world called The Echo.
In August 2011 Maher and Haralambous launched Motribe, a mobile social networking platform and relocated to Cape Town, South Africa. Motribe has 1.7 million users and over 6000 mobile tribes built by its members.
Maher is married and lives with his wife Daniella and son Michael Liam, also known affectionately by the blogging community as Nugget.