Curriculum Vitae
J. Karen Parker, B.C.Sc., M.C.Sc.
Information Architect, Usability Researcher, and Software Engineer
Email: karen *at* jkparker.ca
Skills
- Usability: Requirements gathering, prototyping, interview and survey design, heuristic evaluation, contextual inquiry, ethnography, focus groups, qualitative evaluation, quantitative evaluation, descriptive and inferential statistics
- Programming: Java, C, C++, PHP, JavaScript
- Web: HTML, CSS, MySQL, proficiency with installing and customizing Drupal, WordPress and other content management systems
- OS: Windows, OS X, Linux/Unix
- Software: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Photoshop, InDesign
Work Experience
- 04/2005 – Present
Usability & Web Development Consultant
Conducted usability evaluations and designed websites for a variety of clients. Major projects included a large-scale usability evaluation of UBC’s Department of Computer Science website, and development of community-based websites for Vancouver Pacific Wave Synchro, Banff Mountain Culture and The Ontario Coalition to End Violence Against Women. - 09/2005 – 09/2008
Research Assistant
University of British Columbia
Planned and carried out human-computer interaction research as part of the Large Scale Display research lab in UBC’s Department of Computer Science. Completed relevant coursework, conducted qualitative observations, and designed semi-structured interviews to partially fulfill requirements for a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a focus in Human-Computer Interaction. - 09/2005 – 12/2005 and 01/2007 – 04/2007
Teaching Assistant, CPSC 344 User Interface Design & CPSC 444 Human Computer Interaction
University of British Columbia
Led tutorials, supervised labs, and marked assignments for two upper-year university courses in Human-Computer Interaction at UBC. Taught a variety of usability techniques and skills including requirements gathering, prototyping, heuristic evaluation, questionnaire design, observation techniques, and use of video. - 05/2006 – 08/2006 and 05/2007 – 08/2007
Curriculum Developer, CPSC 344 User Interface Design & CPSC 444 Human-Computer Interaction
University of British Columbia
Developed and revised curriculum – including tutorial lessons and assignments – for two upper-year university courses in Human-Computer Interaction at UBC. Curriculum was used for course offerings in 2006 and 2007 with registrations of roughly 40 students per class. - 09/2004 – 04/2005
Collaboration Network Coordinator
Banff New Media Institute
Collaborated with artists and new media researchers on several ongoing research projects. Designed interfaces, planned user studies, and analyzed study data to shape the design of the Am-I-Able mobile game project and the Science Toys educational tools project. - 05/2003 – 08/2003
Visiting Researcher
IBM Centre for Advanced Studies
Conducted research with the Eclipse Environment and liaised with external Eclipse researchers. Delivered an instrumentation framework for Eclipse UI testing, to be used in-house at IBM. - 05/2001 – 08/2001
Software Developer (co-op work term)
MathResources
Developed educational software using Java and Macromedia Flash. Delivered Java-based modules for teaching geometry and Flash-based modules for teaching genetics principles. - 01/2000 – 05/2000 and 09/2000 – 12/2000
UI Developer (co-op work terms)
Object Technology International
Programmed improvements to the Visual Age and Eclipse development environments based on bug reports and design requirements.
Education
- 01/2002 – 08/2004
Master of Computer Science (M.C.Sc.)
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
Area: Human-Computer Interaction
Thesis: TractorBeam – Local and Remote Selection on Tabletop Displays - 09/1997 – 12/2001
Bachelor of Computer Science (B.C.Sc.), Co-op
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
Leadership
- Graduate representative, Focus on Women in Computing Committee and Teaching and Learning Support Committee, UBC Department of Computer Science
- Reviewer for academic conferences, including Graphics Interface, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing (CHI), and ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW)
- Conference committee member: Student Volunteer co-chair for Graphics Interface 2003 and ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW) 2008
- Organizing committee member and volunteer webmaster for first annual West End Car-Free Festival