Dear Google Earth Team:

I would like to express interest in your Google Earth Outreach KML Evangelist position. After reading the job description and having the opportunity to work with members of the Google Earth team in the past, I am very excited to submit my resume and officially apply for this position. What makes this position so special to me is the demand for not only technical skills and an innovative mind-set, but a talent for connecting with people and expressing ideas. This position would allow me to bring together two equally important, but often segregated, sets of talents in a cooperative, progressive environment working to make a difference in the world.

I'll be frank with you. As corny as it may sound, I lose a fair bit of sleep over your software. A pad of paper sits on my night stand because my best ideas come while I toss and turn. Very few things genuinely impassion me to the point of periodic insomnia, but devising crafty ways to represent data and deliver a message in Google Earth is one of them. Rebecca Moore of the Google Earth team received twelve pages of these ideas some time back, and I am pleased to say I have another large batch ready and waiting to be shared. Ultimately, I hope to have the opportunity to 'Evangelize Outreach KML' (and develop these ideas during regular business hours!).

As technical skills are more easily conveyed in my resume and this website, allow me to explain a little bit more about the intangible skills I can bring to Google Earth. I reach people. I lead, teach and inspire them. I have done it since my days of mentoring college freshman and managing a computer center staff of twelve, making their positive work experience as much a priority as that of serving our student community. I have worked with a Polynesian cultural preservation center to document the traditional agricultural practices in the mountain valleys of Tahiti; then helped to build a cultural teaching garden where future generations can learn about their disappearing heritage. Despite a few recent years of more solitary professional and academic endeavors, I am thrilled at the opportunity to take my technical skills and apply them back to my true passion of working with people and helping them tell their story.

For this Outreach position to succeed, you need someone who is self-sufficient, innovative, and widely talented. You need someone who can focus the broad possibilities of GE visualization to deliver the concise message a public-interest group wants to convey. You will find these skills are demonstrated in the projects featured on this website. You also need someone who can transition from a 'one-man show' into a team leader as this Outreach program expands. As my resume and past experiences demonstrate, I have fulfilled both roles before and would be excited to have the opportunity to do so again as part of the Google Earth Team.

I have already had the pleasure of presenting my work to several Google employees, including members of the Earth Team, and another Google [chief] "Evangelist." For a glimpse into these and other projects, please explore this website. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Sean Askay