Ted Bockius is the new Chief Marketing Officer for Center City-based business analytics firm RJMetrics.

Another in the Entrance Exam series, which asks new members to the Philadelphia technology community why they came and what they’ve learned.

The head of online marketing for big boy U.S. Bank has left San Francisco and last week started a chief marketing role for hungry Center City business analytics startup RJMetrics. Meet Ted Bockius.

A marketing hire is a marketing hire in an industry focused on gobbling up engineering talent, but RJMetrics co-founder and CEO Bob Moore, who is fixated on growing a technology business in Philadelphia, says we shouldn’t underestimate snatching up an established corporate web executive from the West Coast — even if he has some roots here, having grown up in Newark, Del. and considering his sister is Carolyn Jackson, the CEO of St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital. (Just to be clear, though Bockius says he’s unrelated to the namesake in law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius)

Bockius, who did his undergraduate work at the University Delaware and has an MBA from New York University, has moved a few blocks away from the Philadelphia Building, where RJMetrics holds court at 13th and Walnut. RJMetrics, who is now at 18 staff, with four more starting next month, said Moore, adding that this time last year they were at five.

Bockius, 45, also ran online marketing for DivX, before and after its 2006 IPO, and, for six years, was a marketing principal for NYC-based Insight Venture Partners, where he first met Moore and RJMetrics cofounder Jake Stein.

“I wanted to work with the RJMetrics founders Bob and Jake and had several other opportunities with later stage software and Internet companies in larger tech markets of San Francisco and New York that I was also considering,” said Bockius. “I bet on RJMetrics and Philadelphia and my ability to help grow the company and the Philadelphia tech scene and have been very happy with my decision.”

Below, Bockius talks to Technically Philly about his decision to come to Philadelphia and his goals at RJMetrics.

Edited for length and clarity.

Why was RJMetrics the right choice for you?

RJMetrics was the right choice for me because I knew the company’s founders Bob Moore and Jake Stein and had a lot of confidence in both their business ability and the culture and team they would put in place and I’ve been right, the company is an exceptional place to work.

How does Philadelphia factor into the decision?

I made a long term commitment to RJMetrics, so I was less concerned with the tech scene than the specific company.  However, Philadelphia is building the startup scene that Boston and New York have, and there are plenty of opportunities here and great universities to recruit talent from.

What (if anything) did you know/think about the Philadelphia technology community before the gig or coming here?

I followed RJMetrics founder Bob Moore on Twitter and he is a big proponent of the Philadelphia tech scene. I knew of GSI Commerce and First Round Capital and was introduced to one of the founders of Invite Media by a mutual professional acquaintance. I knew that Philadelphia has had some big technology successes over the years

What is your first new (unexpected) reaction to Philly and its tech scene?

Bob Moore, Jake Stein and I all worked together at the New York internet and software venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners. I ran into another former colleague from Insight, Thomas Charlton, who is a serial software CEO, crossing Broad Street. Thomas has led several Philadelphia software companies.  There is a lot of tech talent in Philadelphia at the same time, like in other cities it is a small network.

If your former colleagues ask you about Philly, how will you describe it?

Great cost of living, quality of life and beaches and other great cities are an easy drive away.

What were you last doing? Where were you doing it?

Recently I ran online marketing for one of the country’s largest banks and separately I ran social media and communications for a global technology and consulting company.

What will be your mark of success while at RJMetrics in your first year?

I work with a team to make sure our internet retail, flash sale, daily deal, Web and subscription business customers have a great experience and get great value from our software as a service. I will also help dramatically grow our business.

Visitors forming a human chain with the plants during the live Quartet recording at the Philadelphia Art Museum. Photo Credit: Inna Spivakova

Here’s what you don’t expect to hear when you download a new music album.

“On lead synthesizer, a philodendron.”

In case you don’t know, a philodendron is not some new indie pop icon you’re not cool enough to know about, it’s a flowering plant.

It looks like this:

The philodendron’s bandmates? Two Schleffera plants on the rhythm tone generator and the bass synthesizer as well as a Snake Plant on ambience and effects.

And, of course, some humans armed with technology who could take the electrical impulses generated by the plants and turn them into music.

Those humans — Sam Cusumano, Joe Patitucci and Alex Tyson — are from experimental art/music record label Data Garden, who live recorded the entire recently-launched album at the Philadelphia Museum of Art last April. The album’s title, Quartet: Live at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, is an homage to its unexpected origins.

To download and listen to Quartet click here.

The two main musical tracks are nearly an hour long each. The effect is beepy, static-y, asynchronous and calming all at the same time. It alternately sounds like many people playing video games, a patchy communication from space and an alarm clock. It’s certainly not the music you’d expect your office ficus to produce.

“The data is all there – the natural metabolic processes of the plants, the changes in conductivity of the humans touching them and the energy of the space. It’s fun for me to see, not only how the data was translated into music but how the music is translated back into meaning by the listener,” Patitucci said. “Everyone comes away with a unique experience that’s their own and that’s really what we’re looking to encourage.”

Patitucci, a cofounder of Data Garden, told Technically Philly he noticed that the sounds emanating from the plants seemed to be influenced by the people in the room. Over the course of the weekend, he estimated that a 1,000 people visited the live recording exhibition.

The album is the third in a trio of plantable albums recorded and produced by Data Garden, who also recently saw success funding a Kickstarter to support it’s second annual Switched-On Garden public art event which will take place in October. Last year, Switched-On Garden drew people out to Bartram’s Garden to experiment with music and technology in a natural setting and celebrate the official launch of Data Garden in 2011.

You can watch video from the inaugural Switch-On Garden below:

The outfit is constantly seeking unusual ways to connect people with nature, art and technology.

Patitucci, 33, and Tyson, 27, are cofounders of Data Garden which came together in 2010 based on the idea that music should be created and distributed in a tangible way, not just digitally, but that those tactile vehicles shouldn’t be made of the sorts of materials that languish in landfills.

So in addition to making music with plants, they release all of their albums as on a piece of seed paper with a download code. Once you’ve downloaded the digital music files, you can plant the paper in the ground just like any other seeds.

“I wanted to find something that would, not only not be junk, but enhance our lives and add beauty to our environment,” Patitucci said. “The natural solution to me was plants in some form but having a flower shop in your band van while you’re driving through the desert on a U.S. tour would be a disaster, so I came to seed paper.”

Patitucci, who lives in South Philly, says that outside the walls of the Art Museum people have found the Quartet’s bleepy plant music surprisingly versatile.

“People are really enjoying it. It sounds great in almost any situation — waking up, going to sleep, exercising, reading, meditating, gardening, Patitucci said. “It’s just really great soothing music. Everyone comes away with a unique experience that’s their own and that’s really what we’re looking to encourage.”

Mashable covers DreamIt graduate ElectNext, the OKCupid for political candidates (which recently hired a Code for America fellow):

The idea is simple: First, users are asked to pick three issues that are most important to them. Choices include immigration, abortion, foreign policy and nine other categories. Next, users have to answer at least 10 additional questions to find their political matches — the more questions answered, the more accurate the results.

MORE

Lavar Burton, at left, with his Uber driver last weekend.

In celebration of Lavar Burton, of Reading Rainbow fame, using Uber locally last weekend, the on-demand car service that has soft launched in Philly is sharing a discount code with Technically Philly readers.

• Use the code “UberRainbow” and get $26 towards 1 ride you take from Friday through Sunday at 5pm in Philly.
• When using the Uber mobile app or the SMS tool, use the code and summon a driver.

More from the Uber blog here.

Dan Shipper, Penn sophomore and cofounder of Airtime.

Last month, San Francisco-based office space discovery firm 42Floors caused a big to do by publicizing a job offer they made to Dan Shipper, a Penn sophomore, entrepreneur and, yes, philosophy major.

Shipper, 20, is also one of the co-founders of the Airtime for Email marketing startup, which recently pitched at the last Switch Philly. The Penn student confirmed his dedication to working on Airtime and making his way through his undergraduate Philosophy major.

We had to ask him: What would happen if the Philadelphia entrepreneurial community wrote you a letter to stay here?

These are his words:

“I think the best letter that Philly can write to young aspiring entrepreneurs isn’t necessarily composed of words, punctuation and white space. Instead it involves continuing to foster a community of people committed to the city and to each other. It involves creating the same atmosphere of limitless possibilities that you get in a place like New York or San Francisco, here in Center City.

The problem is that Silicon Valley and New York are the default places to run a startup. It’s really hard to compete against a default choice because the burden of proof is on you to prove why the default choice isn’t the best option.

Luckily, however we have a strong, nascent community. We have a bunch of great startups. Companies like DuckDuckGo and RJ Metrics. First Round Capital, one of the biggest and most respected VCs in the world is here. All of the building blocks are in place for Philly to be seen as an amazing place to run a startup for young entrepreneurs.

What exactly has to change in order for the perception to shift? It’s hard to say exactly. It took 40 years for Silicon Valley to get to the point where it is today. New York is just starting to emerge as a startup hub.

I think that as the community here continues to expand and the startups here continue the success that they’ve had, the young people here will begin to recognize that not only is Philly a great place to run a startup, it’s a great place to make a name for yourself as one of the catalysts of a young community. The early history of Silicon Valley has already been written. But the early days of the Philly startup community are being written right now. And I think that for young people, getting an opportunity to be part of the history of that community is the best pitch you can make.”

Free Library Techmobile representatives Jennifer Donsky and Joel Nichols stand outside of the Techmobile. Photo by Samantha Gray for Philadelphia Neighborhoods

The Walnut Hill zip code of 19139 is listed under the Federal Broadband Opportunities Program grant as one of the areas in Philadelphia most in need of digital literacy training.

The needs present in this zip code, along with those of 24 other zip codes throughout the city, are the impetus behind the creation of the Techmobile–a new way to reach residents who for a variety of reasons have not accessed the resources available at branch libraries in Philadelphia.

The Federal Broadband Technologies Opportunities grant has provided the Free Library with the funds needed to create the Techmobile and expand the points of entry available to Philadelphia residents.

The Techmobile was launched April 12 in a ribbon-cutting ceremony overseen by Mayor Nutter, Congressman Fattah and Free Library President Siobhan Reardon.

MORE FROM PHILADELPHIA NEIGHBORHOODS

Below a video from Samantha Gray.

Launched in November from DreamIt Ventures co-founder Steve Welch, news from KinderTown, the curated app store within the app store for kids, hits TechCrunch news:

KinderTown, the startup behind the educational iOS app store for parents (and honestly, a personal fav) is expanding its focus today. According to feedback from its users, the number one complaint was that KinderTown wasn’t available for older children. Now that changes, as the service will bump up its supported age range from 3-6 to include children ages 7 and 8 as well. To kick off the launch, 125 new apps aimed at older children have been added to service, and more will be added every week.

MORE on TechCrunch

Part of the crew of Wrapped discusses their new web-based comedy series; From left to right: Mike Dean, Maureen Costello, Tim Radecki and Stephen Tucker.

It’s a total run time of 11:11 of pure black-and-white video, sitting in the center of a black page on an interactive flash website.

“I’m wrapped up in the custody battle over our dog Wrango. I mean, I don’t know who should get [Wrango] because I did all the walking, but she did all the feeding.”

Punch line after punch line of comedic humor, the new online comedy series Wrapped is just one of a handful of local shows that have found a home on the web recently.

Fueled by mice clicks instead of laugh tracks, Philadelphia’s online comedy scene has been growing and evolving. From sketches to webisodes to tweeted:

Wrapped made its online debut on April 20, parodying the stressful parts of life as a production assistant on set.

“Putting our videos out on the Internet leaves you open to everyone who wants to be a part of it,” said Mike Dean, the character Dean on the six-episode Wrapped series. “You’ll find people interested in working with you just because you leave yourself open.”

Wrapped is a solely online production, with a cast list of 21 actors and 10 crew members. Shot around Philadelphia and at Media Bureau in Northern Liberties — which was sold in late March by founder Ben Barnett — it is one of a handful of more recent examples of how visible the online comedy scene has become.

Tonight, Down the Show, a Philly-focused sketch comedy show that in its two-episode run has featured a handful of known local sketch and improv comedians, will debut its third episode at Underground Arts in Callowhill.

“I slowly gathered email address from every comedian and sketch group, and said, ‘hey, let’s do this strictly-Philly thing,’” producer Abigail Bruley told Technically Philly last fall. Bruley said she’s connected with more than 100 local performers and behind-the-scene technicians.

In larger comedy scenes like New York’s, groups like Improv Everywhere reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of viewers per video. But YouTube view counts number “in the thousands” for Down the Show, Bruley said. And other members of the scene note that the scale of audience locally is often lower than in larger comedy markets, leaving one to question the viability of Philly’s ecosystem to sustain local projects.

How can Philly hold onto local talent and keep the views growing? A strong local network is trying to figure it out.

Episode 2 of Down the Show. Episode 3, being debuted tonight, is not yet available.

BEFORE YOUTUBE

Countless online comedy hubs have played a part in cultivating the online scene, providing a platform for other inspired comedians around Philadelphia and helping to build audience.

“There was never humor in a web video until I was sitting back with my feet kicked up with a top hat on and a corn cob pipe and I thought, you know, we should make funny videos and put them online,” said Ryan Kelly of GrownManTV. Started in 2003 by Kelly and his partner Juan Vasquez, getting videos on the web was not always an easy task.

Before sharing sites such as YouTube took the stage, Vasquez and Kelly used applications like QuickTime, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer to compress and upload video content to the web.

The production studio for Scrapple.tv was home to various online comedy sketches.

“You just had to send it out to people on a personal level,” Vasquez said. “We really started out recording for us and for our friends.”

Another local online comedy hub experienced a similar start. In 2004, a group of comedians formed Secret Pants — which writes, produces and directs its own shows — and found themselves struggling to use the Internet as a way to reach success.

“In 2004, pre-YouTube, having videos online was difficult. Flash wasn’t even perfected yet,” said Paul Triggiani, active actor and producer for Secret Pants. “Back then, we would put stuff on message boards, forums and Friendster.”

The group found success in 2005 with the outbreak of podcasting, as portable media devices that supported such media grew in popularity. Secret Pants became a source for some of the first video podcasts, finding itself in the top list of podcasts on iTunes for more than two years.

GrownMan TV saw a different path. In 2005, they formed a partnership with YouTube, which enabled them to broadcast, stream and monetize their videos, earning the founders close to five million views.

“It’s good and bad that we were online early. We established relationships and saw where the trend was going, but because we were so early, there wasn’t a lot of station platforms,” Vasquez said.

A LOCAL COMEDY ECOSYSTEM EVOLVED

Now, with the boom of YouTube videos, social networking sites and better technology, more online comedy groups are utilizing those online connections in Philadelphia, creating new and diverse audiences.

Camp Woods is a sketch comedy group from Philadelphia whose viral videos have helped create a diverse audience that a live show may not provide.

“Being creative writers, we want to bounce ideas off as many people as possible and doing videos online is the quickest way to find out if your work is good. People tend to seek out comedy more online,” said Rob Baniewicz, an active member of Camp Woods.

With sites like Youtube, CollegeHumor and FunnyorDie, people are looking online for comical content. According to YouTube, approximately eight years of content is uploaded to its site per day, broken down to 48 hours of video uploaded per minute.

“Comedy fans will go on sites like FunnyorDie. If you can link yourself up to those websites, it definitely leads to more views,” Triggiani said. “I also have a list of blogs I send everything to.”

However, with the increasing ability for anyone to shoot and upload to the web, more unprofessional videos pop up on sites every day.

“One of the great and terrible things about the Internet for comedians is that it creates opportunity. Anyone that is good can get good stuff out there just as easy as someone with not so good stuff,” said Aaron Hertzog, contributor to the Philadelphia comedy scene blog Witout. “Anything flies.”

THE PAYOFF

JP Boudwin, Rob Baniewicz and Billy Thompson of Camp Woods and Paul Triggiani of Secret Pants detailed how they use online technology to promote their comedy.

Many of these local sites put extensive time, effort and thought into their productions, which are shot with advanced technology such as DSLR cameras, studios, green screens and professional sound equipment.

In Down the Show’s case, it’s a painstaking, four month production process. Comedians send in scripts, which Bruley vets, before they are filmed and edited, and eventually debuted before a live audience before hitting the web. “The amount of people that come to screenings is pretty unbelievable,” she said.

Reward for the hard work is weighed more by impact, and less by metrics, Bruley says. “People are excited to contribute stuff to [Down the Show] because they see where their hard work is going,” she said. “They come to screening and see people laughing like crazy.”

And for many of the comedians investing time into these projects, it’s a chance to lay pathways for careers. Both Wrapped and Down the Show began as television pilot pitches before they evolved into dedicated projects.

How are these groups finding their audiences amidst growing online competition? Social networking and search engine optimization. Tagging videos properly can make a substantial difference when users search for keywords.

A Secret Pants’ video Booty Shorts for Men was tweeted by Justin Timberlake, boosting the video to 35,929 views. Similarly, Camp Woods’ video Mystery Science Andre 3000 was retweeted by The Roots drummer ?uestlove.

“There’s a billion logistics to making a multimedia show now. Something may have a hint of what I want to do, some things 1,400 people have already done,” said JP Boudwin, an actor for Camp Woods. “Now you can’t just put a video up and expect it to pop overnight. When we started it, you could,” Vasquez said.

The importance of being authentic, organized and dedicated is what Vasquez believes will bring a new local online comedy group success.

“I think a lot of people see a video and think they can do it. Then they try it and it’s a lot harder than they think. There’s a certain level of dedication,” Vasquez said. “It takes a lot of work nowadays to make a video go from 100 views to 100,000 views.”

For a veteran comedian like Triggiani, sticking to authenticity is key for success in a community that could reach millions. “A lot of sketch groups in Philly don’t really write for a topic. We’re not looking at what’s popular right now and doing specific comedy based off of those topics. We want to write what we want to write,” Trigianni said.

Kelly has his own personal advice: “I have a three-part plan. It’s subliminal, liminal and super-liminal. I just tell people ‘watch our videos!’”

-30-

Coming Monday, May 7: a look at the blogs that have evolved around Philly’s comedy scene.

The report was done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

Technically Philly co-founder Brian James Kirk contributed to this report.

Roberto Clemente students planning their latest robot built in February. Photo by Matt Albasi.

Evelyn Cruz did not always want to be a robotics teacher or even dabble in technology. In fact, she started out as a bus attendant at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Hunting Park, making a meager salary.

Now, a technology teacher leader and robotics instructor at her old middle school alma mater, as Technically Philly first reported on in February, Cruz’s passion for teaching and giving back to her own community shows her dedication and promise to the neighborhood she grew up in.

“I’m a product of this school. I was one of them. I am a product of this neighborhood. I’m homegrown.” Cruz said.

Evelyn Cruz, who organizes the Roberto Clemente Middle School robotics program. Photo by Matt Albasi.

Cruz acknowledges the problems with advanced education in her community, noting that some kids do not have the resources or even knowledge to excel in an advanced field, such as engineering. Some of her students may not have basic tools at home, such as books or internet to even understand there are greater opportunities. Having grown up in a similar situation to many of her students, Cruz has a unique perspective.

“Some of my students tell me ‘Ms. Cruz, you don’t understand’. And I tell them, ‘I don’t understand? I don’t understand what it’s like to come home to no working heat or no food on the table?” Cruz said.

She considers herself a successful product of her neighborhood, attending Potter Thomas Elementary School, Roberto Clemente Middle School and Olney High School in North Philadelphia. Cruz obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Temple University in 1984.

Now, Cruz is a Technology Teacher Leader at Roberto Clemente, coaching other teachers in technology such as SMART boards and computer science. Her robotics classes range from 5th to 8th graders, where she teaches technology as a significant art. Cruz’s after-school robotics club also demonstrates her dedication to teaching, where she coaches students on how to build working robotics and to work in teams.

Her robotics team has participated in various competitions over the years, including the Boosting Engineering Science and Technology competition, First Lego League, and the Marine Advance Technology Education. Roberto Clemente has won awards in all three of these competitions.

“One of the main reason why I enjoy doing these competitions,” Cruz said, “is because it brings up real world situations where kids come in with some level of background knowledge, they apply it, then they use it.”

Watch a video report on the program.

The report was done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

In the nearly two decades that the YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, an education program for low-income youth, has been in Philadelphia, it boasts helping more than 1,700 students transition to post-secondary educational programs and train for jobs in construction, health care and technology, according to a recent profile from the Inquirer.

In May 2009, Technically Philly profiled the program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary next month.

YouthBuild, which originated in the Bronx, now employs locally about 50 staff who help offer a second chance to 213 18-20 year old students on North Broad Street above Girard Avenue. The program is largely publicly funded, according to the Inquirer.

In addition to improving their own lives, the students also contribute to the larger Philadelphia community.

From the story:

“In the first three years of the program, 13 houses in South Philadelphia – YouthBuild was quartered in the United Community Services building at Sixth and Catharine Streets – were rehabbed for low-income owners. That number now exceeds 70.

To round out the picture, add to that the 2,500 computers that technology students have refurbished and donated, the 5,000 hours of care they have provided for residents in long-term facilities, and the thousands of hours of community-service activities they have performed.” MORE

The program will be celebrating it’s 2oth anniversary on May 9, 2012. Click here to learn more.