Laurie Kleiner

10•2001-
Present

Usability Specialist, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Usability Research Group, Computing and Communications

Design and conduct user studies, questionnaires, interviews, and field observation; Analyze data using SPSS; Write reports detailing successes and usability issues for developers and designers; Perform expert reviews of interface designs and web pages; Recruit and schedule participants for studies; Redesign and maintain Access database of volunteer participants, Write user scenarios for studies using data from help desk data; Research, gather, and present statistics about user groups at UW (120,000 users); Design and maintain group web site.

9•1997-4•2000

Research Assistant, Stanford University, California

Department of Communication

Researched social responses to communication technology, focusing on personality and voice traits. Conducted experiments exploring personality, non-verbal communication, emotion, and agent interfaces; Created experimental materials; Ran subjects; Compiled data; Wrote up statistical results. Designed an experiment investigating a computer voice that adapts to the user.

9•1994-3•1997

Content Engineer, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington

TechNet CD

Shipped 26 issues of TechNet. Processed content through legacy RTF to SGML to Help File build process; Resolved bugs in RAID; Documented process and created training materials for new hires; Tracked content; Resolved content issues with Content Editors and Testing; Attended trade shows.

Assisted in specification and creation of new internal content tracking tools and a new build process (RTF to HTML).

Designed and created a Word toolbar and WordBasic macros to assist in data preparation; Created specifications, and documentation for the TechNet ToolBar.

9•1991-9•1994

Mentor/Support Engineer, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington

Assisted other support engineers with difficult technical questions; Taught in-house sessions; Supervised training of other Mentors; Wrote or modified 99 KnowledgeBase articles; Created training materials; Proofread end-user documentation; Submitted bug reports into RAID; Contacted “irate customers” and resolved their issues.

Received an Excellence Award for outstanding performance (5•1994).

Areas of expertise: WordBasic, Spelling and Grammar, Fonts and Layout issues.

5•1991-9•1991

Support Engineer, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington

Supported Word for Macintosh 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0 and Word for Windows 3.0 and 6.0

Solved technical problems over the telephone for Word end-users; Spoke with over 10,000 customers and trouble-shot their problems while maintaining a professional relationship; Received over 15 thank you letters from happy customers (including an Omaha steak); consistently received high marks from mentors for knowledge and support.

9•1997-4•2000

Stanford University, Stanford, California

Department of Communication

Pursued coursework and research towards a Ph. D. in Communication.  Research interests included emotion, personality, voice and agent interfaces.  Researched social and psychological  effects of computers that change their behavior based on emotional and personality cues from the user.  Coursework in Research Methods, Analysis, Statistics, User Interface Design, Personality, Communication Effects.

1990

University of Rochester, Rochester, New York

B. A. Cognitive Science, concentration in Human Factors.

Programming in HTML, SGML, Perl Script, WordBasic, Pascal, LISP, and HyperScript. Familiar with Windows Design Guidelines, Microsoft products. Statistical analysis with SPSS and MiniTab.  Graphical design, both for print and web.  Paint in spare time.  Well-traveled.