Technical Communication, MA | Content Strategist | UX Writer | User & Usability Advocate

I take a holistic approach to creating quality user experiences. From research to operations, I work diligently towards simplicity and scalability. In my most recent role as the Director of Content & Research at Auctane, I drove our in-product content strategy, defined content guidelines and standards, and managed content operations for multiple brands. My goal was to ensure every one of our users received the right content, at the right time, in the right place, and for the right task.

The digital products we use to run our world should be as usable and friction-less as possible. Lets build good products people actually want to use. It’s not easy, but it’s worth trouble.

Background…

My path to technical communication was not the usual one (if there even is such a path). After earning my BFA in Music and Sound Recording Technology, my varied interests eventually led me to a career in tech comm.

Over the years I gathered a wide array of professional experiences: a recording studio intern, a technical support specialist, an ESL teacher, a bartender, a film reviewer, and a bookseller. Each experience taught me valuable lessons about people, communication, and customer experience.

It was my time as a bookseller that finally put me on the path to the MATC program at Texas State University and, eventually, to technical writing and user experience.

In my 8.5 years at Auctane, I honed my craft in end-user content, UX writing, user research, and developer documentation. I strove each day to ensure my content and strategy worked in the service of our users, complemented product marketing content, and supported the outcomes defined by our product team.

MY Purpose

Our world is flooded with information. I strive to make meaning out of it.

My motto

I fight for the user.

View my WORK

Interests

Documentation, information design, usability, user & developer experience, user research, linguistics, digital media theory, net neutrality, copyright, Creative Commons, literature (sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism) film, cats, and dance.

Organizations

• Write the Docs

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

• Sigma Tau Delta

• Phi Kappa Phi

• Society for Technical Communication (STC)

What is Technical Communication?

You can find many definitions of Technical Communication—or TC, as some of us affectionately call it—all varied and all accurate. The simplest may be this list of attributes from The Society for Technical Communication (STC):

Communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations.

Communicating by using technology, such as web pages, help files, or social media sites.

Providing instructions about how to do something, regardless of how technical the task is or even if technology is used to create or distribute that communication.

TC is a an interdisciplinary field, and technical communicators participate in a wide range of activities, depending on their specialty and work context. For me, this includes technical writing, information design, digital media, audience analysis, usability research, data gathering and analysis, and much more.

Underlying my praxis is a strong understanding of rhetoric and discourse, UX, cross-cultural communication, digital media theory, ethics, and documentation styles.