Hi, I'm Debra, a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in human-computer interaction and social computing at the University of Michigan.
My focus is on user experience research, though I also enjoy interaction design and quantitative data analysis. I am currently working as a research assistant for Professors Mark Newman and Paul Resnick on a social computing for health project funded by Intel Digital Health. The past two summers, I worked as a User Experience Research intern at TechSmith. Previously, I interned at 4 other major companies in various software development and user experience roles. Last spring, I worked with a team that won first place in the 2009 CHI Student Design Competition. I've also done quite a bit of work for CouchSurfing, including writing an academic paper about their trust network that I presented at the IEEE Social Computing 2009 conference. I graduate this December 2009 and am currently looking for full-time employment. You should keep reading below for details about my projects, or click here to view my resume.
Conceptual design research projects
TreasureHunter
Design research + interaction design + in situ user testing
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Buy with Fry™
Design research + interaction design + javascript prototyping
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Art learning app
Design research + ethnographic methods + storyboarding
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We designed a system that connects busy consumers with eager 'treasure hunters' who help them find items in local thrift stores. Our project won first place in the CHI 2009 Student Design Competition.
We redesigned the online apparel shopping experience with an eye on making it more fun and social like the in-store experience.
We are designing an iPhone application to make learning about art more interactive and meaningful.
User experience research to evaluate existing systems
CouchSurfing u-test
Remote user testing
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Evaluation of Zotero
Heuristic evaluation, survey, personas, usability testing
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MLibrary evaluation
Server log analysis, Google Analytics, competitive analysis
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I collaborated with team members in 4 time zones to plan and conduct a remote usability test of CouchSurfing.org with members from 15 countries.
My team used a variety of UX research methods to evaluate Zotero and communicate our findings to the Zotero development team.
I parsed server logs, interpreted Google Analytics, and conducted a competitive analysis to support the redesign of the University of Michigan Library website.
Quantitative data analysis and visualization
Infoviz of PAC money
Information visualization + data manipulation
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Data manipulation
Data retrieval, manipulation, and visualization
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We analyzed data from a 1.5 million-member online community to answer research questions about their reputation system. Our paper was accepted to the IEEE SocialCom 2009 conference.
We created an information visualization of PAC contributions and entered our web app in Sunlight Foundation's Apps for America contest.
I learned how to harvest, process, and aggregate large amounts data using Perl and create visualizations with IBM's ManyEyes.
Qualitative methods
Mobile tag research
In situ user interviews
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Info-seeking behavior
Ethnographic observation + participant interviews
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Work process redesign
Contextual inquiry, affinity diagramming, modeling, mockups
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I volunteered for a week at Adler Planetarium, working with a team to investigate the use of mobile tags in a museum setting.
My teammate and I designed and conducted a qualitative study of the political information-seeking behavior of youth voting for the first time.
We analyzed the information and communication flows in a local organization and used rapid contextual inquiry techniques to improve them.
Undergraduate projects
Computer vision, PHP/mySQL web applications, and more! I also completed several relevant projects during my time at Iowa State University, which you can learn about here.