For over two years now I’ve been kept an interest in a once-obscure online project to give whistle-blowers a venue to leak classified information to journalists and the whole World Wide Web alike.

Currently “Wikileaks” is a name with ubiquitous recognition, and a subject that nearly everyone has an opinion on (even if that opinion is “I wish people would stop talking about it”). Its affairs have also become an excellent opportunity for public discussion about the politics, evolution, and ownership of the Internet.

CartaNova means new map or new star. Fitting that they aspire to map out new relationships between businesses, individuals, and our planet. A client-centered firm in Hamilton with a collective aspiration for a greener, healthier planet, they bring together innovators and ‘wayfinders’ from the fields of business and design.

Mayday Magazine recently interviewed CartaNova business partners Andrew J. Holden and Robert Porter.

1.) What steps have you taken to ensure CartaNova stays “green”?

Andrew: We only take on “green” clients.  Most our work is with the Renewable Energy Industry and Environmental Not-for-Profit Organizations, although we’re flexible about helping more traditional organizations develop into more sustainable ones.

Andrew: We also recently launched CartaNova Wind-Powered Web Site Hosting, which involved a pretty serious search and commitment on our part.  Our servers run directly off wind turbine power at the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm outside of Portland, Oregon.  We’re working with a new company out there - Canvas Dreams - that’s also seriously committed to measuring their environmental impact.

Rob: Part of staying “green” is being very cautious and critical about any technologies with the labels “green” or “eco-friendly” marketed. Somewhat ironically, the best approach to truly keeping to an eco-ethical standard is to spend extra effort investigating claims of green-ness.

Rob: For example, with web servers there are countless companies marketing themselves as a “green web host” running on “renewable energy”, but 99% of them are actually using normal energy from the grid, and just offsetting with carbon credits or "renewable energy certificates". The great thing about our servers is that their datacentres are really powered directly from a wind farm.

2.) What sets CartaNova apart from other Web Designers?

Andrew: We maintain very intimate long-term client relationships.  Everything we do is aimed towards helping our clients develop in the long-term - business advice, software recommendations, etc.  The end result is that we have an informal ‘community’ of green organizations that we promote and advise in person and on our blog.

Andrew: We also have a point of view.  Too many businesses don’t.

Rob: It was a very liberating realization when we determined that what we’re really building is more of a community than a client-base. We know that there are countless other web design companies and freelancers out there, and some will charge so low they struggle to pay the bills and not be able to afford to keep meaningful relationships with their clients when they commit to too many.

Rob: We’re standing apart from others by maintaining relationships after a site launches, and not disappearing or scaling back communication like many companies or freelancers will. Because of this we don’t really need to advertise, word of mouth from our clients has worked quite well for us.

3.) How are you adapting to recent technological advances, such as the iPhone, smart phone, iPad, etc.?

Andrew: At the moment, we’re helping a Solar Thermal company to introduce iPhone-based remote monitoring of solar heating systems - which is pretty exciting.  And we’re talking to our friends at the LUNA Project eco-learning center (just outside of Hamilton) about letting schoolchildren remotely view the renewable energy use there.  But we’re careful about mobile web development.  Without clear standards for the mobile web, we want to ensure that ‘mini-sites’ aren’t only viable in the short term.

Rob: Technology advances today are a bit different to follow than they once were. Being able to estimate what’s just a trendy one-hit wonder and what will be with us 10 years from now requires some understanding of both the history of technology, and of culture. Certainly for a web designer the most important thing is to see your websites not only function properly, but look good on as many devices as possible.

Rob: Thankfully now most device manufacturers have clued in that they need to support current and emerging web standards (like HTML5), so that customers are going to be able to browse any web site they want from the first day the device launches. If we keep our web sites coded with current and future standards in mind, this allows us to keep them looking good on whatever the next-best-device is.

4.) Why did you get into this business?
 
Andrew: Before I came to Canada, I worked in Central and rural Virginia as a human-rights organizer.  I worked with some very nasty situations of environmental racism - dealing with polluted water tables, botched clean-ups and that sort of thing.  I’m also the son of a humane businessman and master-level naturalist.

Andrew: When I came to Canada I wanted to job that reflected those values and I took an eighty-percent pay-cut in order to get on with no real web design experience with an environmentally-oriented web design business in Toronto - Co2 Creative.  When they folded, I started a sole proprietorship ‘Holden Creative’ and all of their clients came on.  After a few years, we were able to form CartaNova.

Andrew: I never thought that I would be a businessperson at any level, but I’m now very glad I am.  Ultimately, I see the most potential for positive social and environmental change by engaging with commerce and helping green businesses to thrive.

Rob: I grew up in Bruce County, living at a farmhouse my family rented. In the early 90s I found myself passing time in the long winters learning to program. Around 1997 we got an internet connection and I started learning web sites and started doing some local sites there.

Rob: When I moved to Hamilton to go to McMaster I had always maintained my skills, as it was a good way of getting part-time work during my studies and in the summer. As my interests emerged I ended up creating a lot of web sites for non-profits and arts organizations, and I found it meaningful to help those kinds of groups get good exposure online. When Andrew and myself started working together in 2007 I was excited to work with green industry, as I saw it as meaningful work.

Rob: There’s also an art to it. I’ve worked in music, dance, writing, and theatre and see programming and web design as just as artistic. Over the years of numerous clients I’ve developed a codebase I use for some sites that is just as long as a lengthy novel, but far more complicated. Unlike most arts, few will ever see its inner-workings, much less understand it, but that’s okay with me.

Link: CartaNova operates a Green Community Blog at http://cartanova.ca/community-blog