Professional Background
My sojourn into computer technologies began in the early 1980’s, when I worked in an office environment for Washington State government. I soon found myself in the middle of a conversion from a card system to a mainframe database. The computer liaison was moving out of state, and I eagerly stepped into her position. My job duties included everything from training end users on the database and word processors to involvement in writing RFP’s for hardware and software and the technical management of some of those systems. I also worked closely with mainframe programmers and soon found myself learning to write programs myself.
Three word processing systems and a minicomputer with attached PC’s later, I decided to pursue education. Developing solutions and learning new software was fun, but helping others toward their own mastery was the most rewarding.
I completed a teacher education program in 1989 and subsequently spent time working with special needs children. I investigated adaptive equipment for special needs, particularly voice output communication devices and the issues surrounding the acquisition, setup and use of such systems. This area remains dear to my heart, and I hope to design adaptive software sometime in the future.
I worked as a computer programmer in Portland, Oregon, beginning in 1990. After moving to California in 1997, I studied PC’s and the Internet more intensely. I pursued certification as a Microsoft® Office instructor because I already had a good deal of familiarity with the various applications, Office had become the standard for many businesses, and the integration between products was excellent. In studying for the tests, I was impressed at how much I had yet to learn, even in Word, which I had used at home and at work since 1988. I grew more convinced than ever that people were wasting time and money by vastly underutilizing the software they had already purchased.
With the recognition that many small businesses develop their own Microsoft Access databases but lack the time and experience to handle many of the more complex issues, I dug into the more technical aspects myself, such as data integrity, security, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and SQL. Because of my background, I understood how the end result should work, and I would not settle for less. Each situation had its own challenges, and I enjoyed creating or enhancing the software to meet them.
At the same time, I developed my own website. For my first attempt, the layout was, frankly, terrible. I had taken a mediocre, online HTML course that was a couple of years out of date, and I had little experience with graphics design, especially for computer screens. It also took awhile for me to fully grasp the implications of people using a variety of browsers and hardware to view the same Web page.
I became increasingly interested in Web development at a time when Web standards were finally gaining acceptance. Responsible Web designers were all too aware that a Web page that looked great in one browser could look terrible in another. The need to fix the code for one, only to find it no longer worked in another, was quite frustrating and time-consuming.
Web browser and coding standardization for the sake of developer sanity was certainly important, but what really drew my interest was the related area of Web accessibility. Able-bodied developers may take it for granted that a user will click the mouse on a navigation button on a Web page. Such may not be the case. How can a blind user point at what she cannot see? How can a one-fingered typist who lacks the motor coordination to control a mouse expect to click on the target? Even from my personal perspective, software emphasis on the mouse was annoying, because as any good typist knows (and I’m an excellent typist), it is almost always faster to navigate by the keyboard than by the mouse, once you know the keyboard shortcuts, if the software was designed to accommodate keyboard alternatives.
I’ll leave it to you to Google the statistics for the number of visually- and motor-impaired users of the Internet. It’s more than the last statistics I heard for the number of Firefox users, and I expect both numbers to be on the rise. There are sound cost/benefits arguments in favor of developing accessible, standards-compliant websites.
My love of Web development continues to grow. It’s a developer’s dream: Start with a solid grounding in the basics of HTML and CSS; add languages that have now become mature, such as PHP, JavaScript, and Ruby; throw in a solid database or two, add effective techniques to make the end-user experience more rewarding (like DHTML and AJAX); use ready-made systems as appropriate that developers can get up and running quickly and then easily customize, such as content management systems, blogging tools, wikis, and forums; add some multimedia, such as video clips, audio and video streaming, and podcasts; and then top it all off with interactive learning experiences and collaborative online creations.
The Web is growing up. People find it useful. Businesses find it profitable. Seekers find information. Speakers find audiences. Audiences talk back. Everyone has power. There are many fun places to go, and when you want to leave it all behind, just turn off the computer.
I believe there is a great future for the Web, and I have chosen to involve myself in it. Nevertheless, I still enjoy those desktop automation challenges, too.
Education Credentials
Trained on a multitude of programming languages and software products, including SQL, PHP, ASP.NET, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Visual Basic, VBA, MySQL, Microsoft Access, and many end-user applications.
Certified Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor. (See Microsoft's site for more information about Master Instructor requirements or the Microsoft Office Specialist program.)
Brainbench certified in Technical Writing. (Click the image for verification.)
B.A., Education, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, 1989. Certifications: K-8, 4-12 mathematics, 4-12 biology.
B.A., Biology, The Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1980.
