What is "official training?"

Years ago, sitting in LEVA's old class, Forensic Video Analysis and the Law, Grant Fredericks stood at the front of the class room and delivered a module on the use of Photoshop to a room full of civil servants. To the best of my knowledge, Grant is not, nor has he ever been, an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Photoshop. Very few forensic video analysts are ACEs as we only utilize about 1/3 of what Photoshop can do, and the ACE test is comprehensive. Thus, the ACE isn't necessarily a good metric or barometer of a forensic video analyst's grasp of Photoshop.

Years later, sitting in another LEVA facilitated class, George Reis and Casey Caudle presented a deeper dive into Photoshop. George might be / have been an ACE, but Casey wasn't.

I have presented countless Photoshop training classes and have written a book on Photoshop for forensic analysts.

None of this was ever "official" Adobe activity. Even when I presented two days of Photoshop training in the main training room at Adobe in San Jose, it wasn't "official" Adobe training. It was Adobe being nice and gracious in their sponsorship of NaTIA, under whose banner I was teaching.

Has a lack of "official" Adobe training every been a problem for you in your testimonial experience? I've been asked about my training. I've listed it on my CV. Syllabus files are available for the courses I teach. But, case law can't be found where an analyst was excused due their having been trained in Photoshop, but not during an "official" Adobe training event.

Professional photographers and digital artists know the name, Scott Kelby. Scott has an amazing record of training photographers and artists in the intricacies of Photoshop and the various Adobe tools. He's assembled the best and brightest to his brand, offering amazing value. Prior to Beckley in California, I was a member his National Association of Photoshop Professionals. NAPP is not an "official" Adobe endeavour. It's a group of likeminded individuals, supported by Adobe. But it's Kelby's thing, not Adobe's.

Elsewhere in our tool set, countless analysts have sat through Larry Compton's FOSS tool lectures and courses. With FOSS tools, there's really no possibility of an "official" training. If you use the popular ffmpeg, did you travel to France to get training from the originators of the tool? Likely not. You may have read a bit on the net, browsed the wiki, reached out to someone like Larry for advice, then hit the command line with gusto. Are your results invalid because Larry isn't authorized to deliver training on his basket of  tools? Validity isn't a function of the "officialness" of the instruction you've received.

In the period between 2012 and early 2019, I was in the employ of Amped Software, Inc. I delivered training on Amped's product line in the US, Canada, and South Africa. I went on site to teach a single agency's staff. I hosted courses in our offices with a mix of people from over 40 countries. The curriculum that I delivered was (and still is) informed by the context in which the courses were presented.

I'm in a unique position, being a trained (CA POST) and educated (WGU MEdID) curriculum designer. The focus of my training sessions has always been "tool-assisted training to competency," as defined by the ASTM and informed by my years of experience in law enforcement. I've focused on the discipline, which is enabled by a toolset. In this way, the only real change from Photoshop to any other tool was the platform. In my Introduction to Forensic Multimedia Analysis courses, the tool is incidental to the delivery of knowledge around the standards, practices, laws, and procedures. Sure, certain platforms make the job easier. In teaching a toolset, like Photoshop or FIVE, I always frame the curriculum around standards compliance and best practices - and present the tool-specific portions after the foundation has been set.

I've written about the new freedom that I'm enjoying now that Amped have retreated to their mail box in Brooklyn. The plethora of classes now on my calendar are not "new." The curriculum development was done years ago. I've wanted to offer these for quite some time to the general market. I have presented them to select US federal service staff on several occasions - causing problems in the process. You see, I was not "allowed" to do so by Amped. Their thinking was simple, I was the only one offering these classes. It would cause a business problem for them if their customers in Russia, for example, wanted to take the courses given that I, as a US citizen, would not be able to deliver them. Amped, having been founded in the epicenter of Italian Marxism, wanted a standard offering at a standard price. Amped, being an Italian company, is free to offer it's products and services to agencies in countries prohibited to US based businesses, like Russia.

If you want to pay a premium to receive your information from a person with an "ampedsoftware.com" email address, please do so with my blessing. If you want real-world guidance, training to competency, and an emphasis on science and standards, designed and delivered by someone who has been there and is still doing that, I'd love to see you in one of my classes. You can find our training calendar here.

Until then, have a great day my friends.