Amy Gorin
agorinsf@netscape.net
1-415-637-4757 (cell/voicemail)

Short Form

Writer, book editor/vision specialist, UI/UE consultant, social media consultant.
MIT Cognitive Science, MIT Engineering, Stanford Social Science, Berkeley Sustainable Design/Architecture.

Experience Overview

Book doctor

I help cutting-edge thinkers to present their ideas more clearly and to better organize their written work. This may include information architecture, conceptual and copy edits, outline consulting, and deep analysis of cognitive flow. Recent and current clients include David Siegal (Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business), Andreas Weigend (proprietary), Paul Mahler (VoIP Telephony with Asterisk, second edition), and Bill Kirchmier (Finite Capacity Scheduling, second edition, in progress).

Writer and editor

My freelance writing projects have included designing animations for a multimedia calculus textbook, research for and creation of information files for inclusion in an online medical reference for health care consumers, and writing audio dialogs and evaluation questions for an ESL workbook.

As a technical writer, I have produced both printed matter and online help, for end users, programmers, and system administrators. I am familiar with Adobe/Macromedia, Microsoft, and GNU/Linux publishing software.

UI and usability consultant

My user interaction consulting experience includes managing and participating in ethnographic research, benchmarking, requirements analysis and functionality brainstorming, usability analysis, and user testing. Specific deliverables have included design wireframes, UI specifications, widget specifications, and detailed test plans and usability reports.

Prior Experience (staff, contract, full-time, and part-time)

Rewrite Editor, Staff (November 2002- February 2009)
Rewrite Editor, Contractor (November 2001 - November 2002)

Computing Reviews, Palo Alto CA
Computing Reviews, a publication of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), publishes synopses and reviews of books and papers in fields ranging from mathematical theory to business administration to user interface design. As a rewrite editor, I did everything from a light copy edit of essentially finished material to completely reworking text written by non-native speakers of English.

Webmaster (October 1994 - February 2006)

The Annals of Improbable Research, Cambridge MA
AIR is a semimonthly publication often described as "the MAD Magazine of Science." I created HotAIR in 1994 using Emacs and HTML 1.0, and in 1999 transitioned the site to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

During my time as Webmaster, HotAIR was listed on Pointcom's Top 5%, as a USA Today Hotsite (four times), and as an Exploratorium cool site. It was consistently ranked as the Internet's most popular science humor site by Yahoo and Google.

User Interface Lead (June 2002 - April 2003)

Open Country, Redwood City CA
I designed the user interface for Open Country's suite of products, including working with marketing to determine requirements, creating mockups for preliminary evaluation, conducting user testing, and participating in the design and implementation process to insure that usability guidelines were followed. I also acted as product manager for the 1.0 release.

Senior Technical Writer (January 2001 - May 2001) [layoff]
Consultant (November 2000 - January 2001)

Securant.com, San Francisco CA
I wrote the User's Guide for Securant's network security tool, including procedural and conceptual prose and online help. I also did quality assurance and usability analysis of the product's Web interface, Java interface, and installation procedure. Securant merged with RSA Security in 2001.

Senior Web Designer (August 1999 - December 1999) [layoff]

TCN, Cambridge MA
TCN provides telecommunications services and consulting to nonprofit organizations. I was hired as part of an attempt to enter the Internet and Web services market. In addition to working on website usability and implementation, I researched, designed, and implemented an online ad campaign for TCN's services, did project definition, costing, and tracking using MS Project, and explored ways to increase traffic to TCN's website.

Interaction Designer/Information Architect (January 1999 - November 1999) [layoff]

Padra.com, San Francisco CA
I wrote the UI spec for this Internet startup, and worked with graphic designers and the company founders to develop and design an overall look and feel for the site. Padra was disbanded in November 1999 after expected funding did not materialize.

Content Writer (April 1998 - November 1998) [grant funded]
Webmaster, Design Consultant (February 1996 - February 1997)

The Genome Radio Project, Berkeley CA
I was initially hired by the Genome Radio Project to create a mockup of a website for the syndicated public radio program The DNA Files, as well as to provide advice to project planners and artists who were unfamiliar with Internet technologies and limitations. During the original design discussions, a proposal was generated for an interactive "scenario tree." Once funding was obtained to develop the site fully, I was recalled to research and create these scenarios. The site was launched in December of 1998. The DNA Files won a Peabody Award in 2002.

more employment...

Education

Certificate from the Professional Program in Sustainable Design, UC Berkeley Extension

• The Berkeley program is an interdisciplinary course of study serving architects, builders, landscape architects, designers, and urban planners. Students work closely with well-known professionals in the green design movement to cover a broad course of subjects, including sustainable materials and manufacturing, accessible design, daylighting and site-based design, and urban permaculture.
• I have also taken a more than a dozen courses in the Interior Design and Interior Architecture program, also at the Berkeley Extension. These include Space Planning, Rapid Visualization, Lighting Design, Building Components and Systems, Kitchen Design, and History of Architecture I&II (and, of course, AutoCAD).

MA in Communication, Stanford University
(School of Humanities and Sciences/social science)

• "Communication" uses the theories and techniques of experimental psychology, social psychology, sociology, education, and linguistics to address questions in consumer behavior, technology and information diffusion, interface design, and interpersonal interaction. This is not a marketing or journalism degree.
• My research focused on the psychological and social implications of online interaction.

BS in Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(School of Science/psychology)

• Concentration in psychology
• Senior thesis on improving the readability of online text

Second BS in Human Factors Engineering, MIT
(School of Engineering/interdisciplinary)

• Minor in technical communication
• This was a self-designed major within the Department of Mechanical Engineering that included coursework in chemistry and biology. All MIT undergraduates study physics and advanced math.

Additional substantial course work in industrial engineering/management and product design at both MIT and Stanford.

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