SUMMARY
A creative interaction designer/information architect who bridges the gaps between management initiatives, abstract
research, and practical solutions. Exceptionally broad background including
degrees in interaction design, electrical engineering, music theory, and the
history of science. Adept at taking projects from the concept stage to production.
Excellent collaborator with a history of motivating teammates, attending to details,
and meeting deadlines.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Motorola Consumer Experience Design (CXD),
Chicago, IL, 2006
to 2009
Senior Interaction Designer and Haptic Media Specialist
- Created new competitive advantages for Motorola
by researching and designing haptic (touch) user experiences for future
generations of mobile devices.
- Enhanced mobile-device usability by designing
user interactions (flows, wireframes, mockups, and simulations) for multimedia
applications.
- Shortened the software development cycle by more
than 50% on the $2000 AURA mobile phone by being the first to bring Agile
concepts and tools (e.g. wikis) to CXD, insuring the quick and accurate
creation of phone Layout Requirement Specifications (i.e. blueprints).
- Fostered a more collaborative development
process by negotiating media improvements with other teams worldwide (e.g.
China, India, Brazil, and Russia) and training coworkers in the use of
web-based collaboration tools.
Altec (University of Kansas),
Lawrence, KS, 2005
to 2006
Systems Specialist
- Quickly created prototype web sites—using Plone
and Microsoft's .NET—for ALTEC and its partners.
- Facilitated ALTEC delivery of innovative
software tools to educators around the country by setting up and maintaining
more than ten Plone sites for various ALTEC initiatives.
- Enhanced the sense of site-owner equity by
training ALTEC project leaders to become the content managers of particular
sites.
Biodiversity Research Center (BRC) (University of Kansas), Lawrence, KS, 2002
to 2005
Research Application Interface Developer
- Helped the BRC team win a series of NSF grants
by architecting, coding, and creating content for the BRC's web sites (e.g.
Specify, KU Informatics, and Lifemapper).
- Enhanced the usability of BRC's
grant-funded Specify museum collection management software by designing,
prototyping, and testing a wide variety of user-interface variations.
- Reduced development costs and increased
efficiency by promoting the use of collaboration-enhancing software such as
Plone and Microsoft SharePoint.
- Wrote print-oriented
documentation, designed graphics, and supervised contractor work.
Euronet Worldwide, Leawood,
KS, 1999
to 2001
User Interface Team Lead
- Boosted sales of Euronet’s integrated
transaction-management software products as the UI design lead, crafting
demonstration web browser, mobile phone, and PDA interfaces.
- Decreased time to market and enhanced product
consistency by managing the documentation and quality-assurance teams.
- Provided extensive user guidance by writing and
illustrating documents for the full range of Euronet's readership.
Netopia (now Motorola), Lawrence,
KS, 1994
to 1997 and 1998 to 1999
Senior Technical Writer
- Authored award-winning online help, printed
user's manuals, and technical guides for Netopia's Timbuktu Pro and Netopia
Virtual Office remote control programs (Windows and Macintosh versions).
- Expanded the global reach of Netopia's products
by supervising the localization of the documentation into French, German,
Spanish, and Japanese.
Intel Corporation, Folsom, CA, 1997
to 1998
Senior Quality Engineer
- Expanded and centralized access to Intel's
microprocessor QA processes by creating the Product Qualification (PQ) Intel
intranet site. The popular PQ web site distributed information about quality
standards to Intel's various product divisions.
- Simplified the microprocessor QA process by
developing the VBA-driven PQTool. The PQTool took a product's description and
determined which QA rules were necessary for that particular product.
Gulbransen (now QRS Music Technologies), San Diego, CA, 1993
to 1994
Electrical Engineer and Sound Designer
- Attracted new customers by developing the sound
set for Gulbransen's General MIDI chip set and creating effective demonstration
sequences that leveraged those sounds.
- Augmented Gulbransen's bottom line by
efficiently managing the production of, and handling customer service for
Gulbransen's line of acoustic piano MIDI adapters and electronic music
products.
PianoDisc, Sacramento, CA, 1991
to 1993
Technical Director and Senior Music Editor
- Evolved PianoDisc products into world-class
musical instruments by designing, managing the production of, and creating
demonstration sequences for PianoDisc’s very successful
microprocessor-controlled player-piano systems.
- Enhanced the ease of installation and use of
PianoDisc products by writing and illustrating user guides and technical
manuals.
Various Positions,
California, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, 1977
to 1991
Engineering, Education, and Entertainment
- Served as a data analyst, audio engineer,
keyboard technician, graduate teaching assistant, electronics technology
instructor, and computer programmer.
EDUCATION
University of Kansas, 2006
MA in Interaction Design
University of Oklahoma, 1991
MA in the History of Science
University of Kansas, 1983
BM in Music Theory
Kansas State University, 1977
BS in Electrical Engineering
PUBLICATIONS (Partial List)
- RandyNewman.Com, 2004 to date.
- Downie, Scott, “Multimedia” (chapter) in “Windows
98 Professional Reference” (1998, New Riders).
- Downie, Scott, “Working with MIDI” (chapter) in
“Windows 98 Multimedia: Lights! Camera! Action!” (1999, Que
Corporation).
PRODUCTS (Partial List)
- Motorola AURA luxury phone, 2008
- Motorola ROKR E8 music phone, 2008
- Motorola
U9 phone, 2007
- PianoDisc
PDS-128 player-piano system, 1993
PRESENTATIONS (Partial List)
- Chang, Angela and O’Sullivan, Conor: “An
Audio-Haptic Aesthetic Framework Influenced by Visual Theory.” Presented at the
Haptic and Audio Interaction Design (HAID) Conference, 15 September 2008.
AWARDS
Technical Writing
- Society for Technical Communication's 1998-1999
Technical Publications Competition (Denver chapter):
- Distinguished Award for the Timbuktu Pro 4.8
Macintosh Apple Guide online help
- Merit Award for the Timbuktu Pro 4.8 Macintosh
printed Getting Started Guide
- Achievement Award for the Timbuktu Pro 4.8
Macintosh printed At-a-Glance card
- Society for Technical Communication's Merit
Award for the Timbuktu Pro 3.0 (Macintosh) Apple Guide online help, 1996-1997 Technical Publications Competition (Kansas City chapter).
- Society for Technical Communication's Distinguished
and Best of Show Award for the Timbuktu Pro 1.1 (Windows) online help, 1995-1996 Technical Publications Competition (Kansas City chapter).
Teaching
- Kansas City Kansas Community College's
Outstanding Service Award for Teaching, 1987.
Academic
- University of Oklahoma History of Science
Department's Rockefeller Foundation Program Graduate Assistant, 1988-1989
and 1989-1990 academic years.
- Norman Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce's John H.
Patten Memorial Scholarship, 1989.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Applications
- Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash,
Visio, InDesign, OmniGraffle, wikis, MS Office, RoboHELP, Logic Pro, many more
Languages, and Scripts
- HTML, XML, XSL, CSS, JavaScript
Specialties
- Interaction design, interface design, audio, haptics,
technical writing, project management, education
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- Association for Computing Machinery + SIGGRAPH
- IEEE
- Society for Technical Communication
- History of Science Society
- Audio Engineering Society
