I study Human-Computer Interaction with a focus on digital media at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I'm expected to walk away with a master's degree and whatever else that entails in Spring 2013. Before living in Atlanta, I summered in Miami, studied in Gainesville, and wintered in Chicago. I've loved and loathed them all.
Before the happy accident of being admitted to Tech, I took a stab at freelancing CMS development, UI design and information architecture.
Working backwards from a background in journalism: Crafting a newsworthy, intelligible and logical story is not so different from defining your inputs, encapsulating code and outputting a format people want to consume. I can't imagine working in an office where somewhere there floats a binder full of sheet-protected answers to all our questions.
Lately I'm working within the academic frameworks of phenomenology, third-wave HCI, and participatory design. Outside of the Academy, I'm thinking of ways to interactively ambush people in public places. And I wonder how networked communication, data visualization and serendipity can increase the impact or alter perceptions of grassroots activism and craft. It's important to me that people understand their world is constructed, and empower them with the ability, knowledge or confidence to mold it.
When I'm not talking fancy, I sing in the shower, burn toast or pump gas. Just living the everyday life of a person that technology should never forget to serve.
