EDUCATION
University of Michigan School of Information, Ann Arbor, MI
MSI, Archives and Records Management Specialization
December 1999, Margaret Mann Award Recipient

Albion College, Albion, MI
BA, English and Sociology/Anthropology
May 1997, Magna Cum Laude

WORK EXPERIENCE
EXPReS Public Outreach Officer
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (Dwingeloo, the Netherlands)
August 2006 - present

• Write and issue press releases on advancements made in a new astronomy technique by a three-year, 12.4 million euro project
• Design and produce brochures, large display board, posters and other high-quality publicity materials
• Manage public web site and project wiki used for remote collaboration
• Develop outreach materials to educate the general public about e-VLBI astronomy technique

Information Architect
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (Detroit, MI)
(Contracted through Data Consulting Group, Inc.)
March 2006 - June 2006

• Analyze and redefine the user experience of corporate web site with approximately 2000 pages and four distinct user groups; help development team integrate password-protected areas with publicly-available content
• Rearchitect navigation for intranet site used by 7000 employees and incorporating approximately 20,000 pages across 200 decentralized departmental sites
• Conduct user studies to understand user behaviors and preferences and build informed interface and navigation solutions
• Assist in authoring functional requirements and produce clean, concise site maps, transaction flows, diagrams and interface schematics for development team
• Conduct quality assurance checks before, during and after production to ensure all intranet and extranet pages meet usability standards
• Leverage usability expertise to promote and rationalize departmental goals and strategies to executive decision-makers

Information and Special Projects Manager
Small Times Media / PennWell Corp. (Ann Arbor, MI)
July 2001 - February 2006

• Architect SmallTimes.com and SmallTechDirectory.com to complement and promote bimonthly print magazine and annual print directory; develop content categories, user navigation, site maps, page mockups and page inventories for designers and programmers
• Design Small Tech Census, a dynamic online survey and SQL database for capturing industry intelligence, used to publish business directories and market reports for the federal government and other customers
• Develop business and functional requirements for SmallTimes.com, SmallTechDirectory.com and Small Tech Census; review proposals and conduct interviews to contract developers; manage development projects, test prototypes and work with developers to track and fix bugs
• Review email vendors for CAN-SPAM compliance and business requirements, including multiple list management and complex filtering; select vendor and coordinate with web site host to integrate registration information across multiple databases; design and publish email newsletters and email marketing campaigns
• Plan, budget and execute circulation development for print magazine with 28,000 readers; ensure compliance for advertiser circulation and postal audits

Information Architect (Contract)
jdpower.com and carclub.com (San Francisco, CA)
February 2001 - April 2001

• Combine two existing web sites with different brands, business models and missions into an easily comprehensible site with cohesive look & feel and user experience
• Interview key business stakeholders to assess business requirements and goals
• Work with designers and technical lead to integrate architecture, content, functionality and interface into a useful and usable experience for diverse visitors
• Develop content inventory, site maps, wireframes, user personas, use-case scenarios and content analysis for client delivery and production team use

Information Architect
Enlighten (Ann Arbor, MI, and San Francisco, CA)
January 2000 - January 2001

• Collaborate with designers, programmers, writers, business strategists and project managers across offices to produce functional, engaging and highly-usable commercial, community, educational and marketing web sites
• Determine site requirements with clients and project team based on business strategies, marketing, user needs and time to market issues
• Create detailed site maps, use case scenarios, workflows and interface specifications for project team members
• Author internal documentation on task analysis and business process flows for usability initiatives

Electronic Records Archivist
Ford Motor Company Archives (Dearborn, MI)
September 1999 - December 1999

• Create a knowledge foundation upon which the archives of one of the world's largest automakers could transition from paper to electronic holdings
• Analyze metadata of paper holdings by archives and partner departments to determine elements lacking for accession of electronic holdings
• Review metadata guidelines (e.g. Dublin Core) to analyze usefulness for Ford's collections
• Review and analyze the usefulness of metadata being assigned to active electronic documents in Ford's online repository
• Recommend document-level metadata to be collected upon inception of Ford's Electronic Records Initiative and make suggestions to improve the tagging of active documents

Project Archivist
University of Fort Hare (Alice, South Africa)
May 1999 - June 1999

• Spend six weeks at the University of Fort Hare as part of a cultural preservation workshop with students and faculty from the University of Michigan School of Information
• Process and create finding aids for the archives of the African National Congress
• Work directly with library staff at the university to develop processing procedures and electronic finding aids
• Develop access policies for the Liberation Archives at the National Heritage and Cultural Studies Centre

Last modified July 3, 2008.