All about me
Let me give you the skinny.
I am a User Experience Architect for NIC. I also function as Art / Creative / Interaction / User Experience Director as needed. I came by this role the long way, spending time as a computer technician, system admin, designer and presentation layer developer. With over 10 years in the industry, I’ve gained a solid understanding of how this whole internet thing works from nuts and bolts to coif and trim. That’s not to say I know it all, because my favorite part of the job is learning new things. Currently I am brushing up on HTML 5, ARIA and Objective-C. I am keep a close eye on the blogosphere, the twitisphere and any other generally spherical thing that might teach me something new.
I have come to use the term user experience
in a broader sense than most. The team I lead is responsible for all things user experience ranging from the traditional page layouts and screen flow into interactive design, development, accessibility, usability and well… all things that affect the user experience. I set policies and develop processes around user experience, presentation layer development, coding standards, etc. Everything from gathering design/user experience requirements through design, development, implementation, unit & usability testing, product/project maintenance is my responsibility. While I manage I still love to roll up my sleeves and get into the code when I get a chance.
I believe in standards. I strive to develop in compliance with standards set forth by the W3C, Section 508 and other like minded groups such as The Web Standards Project. I believe in progressive enhancements
and techniques such as unobtrusive javascript
that will allow a site to be functional in the most basic of browsers but offer a much richer experience in standards compliant browsers. I support the graded browser support
methodology and believe accessibility benefits everyone, not just those using assistive technologies. I endeavor to instill those same values in my team, my coworkers, my colleagues and, well… anyone else that will listen.