September 2009

“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” These eloquent words by Hellen Keller have influenced the life of Matt Shobe, an MSTC alum and very successful entrepreneur. Since graduating, Shobe has made his way from the central Usability Group at Microsoft to his current position as a Senior User Experience Designer at Google, leaving in his wake a string of startup companies that certainly cannot be called ‘nothing.’ As Shobe’s LinkedIn page reads, “myself and three other colleagues... created, nurtured (and in some cases, survived) various Internet startups in Chicago.” This spring, the College of Engineering recognized Shobe’s accomplishment with a Diamond Award in the “Early Career” category.

The College of Engineering Diamond Award recognizes the outstanding achievements, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship of all engineers. HCDE, one of the smallest departments in the College of Engineering, has been honored with two Diamond Awards in two years; BSTC alum Donna Sakson won a Diamond Award in 2008 for Distinguished Service.

Although Shobe’s award is for “Early Career” achievement, he already has over ten years of career experience tackling design and ease-of-use challenges in web-software design. In his own words, Shobe’s mission is “to create enticing yet hassle-free user experiences through observant evaluation and design.” One of Shobe’s first designs was called Spyonit, a web-based alerting service that Yahoo! Magazine ranked in the “Top 50 Most Useful Sites” in July of 2000. Spyonit provided seeds for concepts that ultimately launched FeedBurner, the latest and most famous startup of which Shobe was officially named Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer.

FeedBurner provides tools for everyone from individual bloggers to major media outlets, letting them measure their audience, then distribute and earn money from their content published online. Its purpose is to make feed-based content more accessible to end users and more effective for the publishers that provide it. Shobe is deeply committed to cultural value in his business, and it shows. As stated on his LinkedIn page, he “maintains an unwavering devotion to the FeedBurner fan club. If publishers and advertisers want it, his team brandishes the t-squares and slide rules required to make it happen.” He himself continually communicates with FeedBurner’s million-plus publisher base, providing technical support, giving advice, and conducting interviews.

FeedBurner was acquired by Google in June 2007, but Shobe’s ‘daring adventure’ doesn’t stop there. Shobe continues to work with Google, spearheading various efforts to incorporate the key parts of FeedBurner’s capabilities into the Google product mix. He has also earned his FAA pilot’s license and completed the Chicago Marathon—twice! According to Shobe, “FeedBurner’s success has inspired a few others here in Chicago to try to make their own startup plans and execute them in the Midwest, realizing that you don’t absolutely have to be in the Valley to build a web-based product that makes people happy and has a daily impact on their lives.” --by Tiffany Rooney

After being chair of UWTC for 11 years, it would seem like Judy Ramey would prefer her year-long sabbatical to be filled with relaxation and hard-earned quiet time. Ramey, however, doesn’t seem to be able to slow down. “My term ended July 31st, and August 1st I was on an airplane to England,” she said. During her sabbatical, Ramey traveled through England, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, and Peru.

After visiting friends and historical sites in England, Ramey went to Enschede in The Netherlands, where she spent two months visiting HCDE’s sister department at the University of Twente. “I had a great time. I talked to students and visited with all the faculty,” she said. She also had the opportunity to give a couple of presentations. At the University of Twente, she talked about the mobile user experience, and in Utrecht, for STIC (the national Dutch chapter of the Society of Technical Communication), she talked about the future of technical communication. She also went to the University of Antwerp in Belgium, where she talked about usability testing.

In September, Ramey attended the Mobile Human Computer Interaction (HCI) conference in Amsterdam and took the opportunity to visit friends in nearby cities. Even with friends, she kept busy. “I went on an all-day bicycle trip. Enschede is close enough to Germany that we set off in Holland, had lunch in Germany, and ended the afternoon back in Holland. That was great,” said Ramey. While there, Ramey also had the chance to take a few Dutch lessons.

After Holland, Ramey continued traveling through several cities along the west coast of France and toured chateaus including one, she pointed out, that was the last home of Leonardo Da Vinci.

While in Bordeaux, Ramey watched the 2008 presidential elections over the Internet. She continued down to Spain, studying some Spanish in Madrid and visiting several other cities including Seville. “I came back on December 15th, just in time for the Seattle blizzard,” Ramey recalled. She has been busy ever since. In early April, she attended the CHI conference in Boston, where she was able to attend a mobile user experience workshop. “I had a great time. It was a really good conference,” she said.

In April, Ramey went to Peru for two weeks on a trip organized by Global Partnerships, a Seattle organization that funds micro-finance organizations. While in Peru, she was able to meet management teams of two different micro-finance organizations, as well as some micro-loan recipients. During her trip, Ramey also visited Cuzco and Machu Picchu.

Beyond her extensive travels, Ramey also has been working on several projects. She worked with two former students on an article about mobile HCI, specifically focusing on mobile web. The article will be published in the International Journal of Mobile HCI in October 2009. Ramey also authored workshop papers with former students for both the Mobile HCI conference and the CHI conference. Currently, she is working with colleague Dennis Wixon of Microsoft on a book about usability engineering.

Ramey’s sabbatical ends September 15th, and she plans to remain busy. In addition to working on her book and preparing for next year’s classes, she is planning to put some time into her garden at home and do some cooking.

Next year, Ramey will teach usability testing while also managing several components of the HCDE program including the speaker series, the internship program, and LUTE. Speaking about her sabbatical, Ramey says she feels renewed and excited. “It’s been very stimulating. It’s been very busy but a different kind of busy…." --by Sophia Fong

On January 1, 2009, the Department of Technical Communication (TC) rang in the new year with a new department name: Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE). The new name helps to highlight the expanding curriculum and research of a department that has been in the UW College of Engineering for over three decades.

A name change for the department has been brewing for some time but really began in fall 2008. Faculty and staff had small-group discussions over different words and phrases relating to the department’s curriculum and “Technical Communication.” Everyone was aware of the challenging task that naming such a long-standing, multidimensional department would be. As Assistant Professor Julie Kientz emphasized, the new name can’t just be the name of a specific research area, but needs to encompass the entire department and evoke the right imagery and ideas for current industry professionals and prospective students.

A small committee representing faculty, staff, students, and alumni was formed and members worked hard to find ideas, comments, and feedback. The committee spent hours exploring name ideas in a continuous process of contacting people from industry and colleges across and outside of the country.

Represented colleges include the University of California, Irvine; the University of Toronto; Carnegie Mellon; Georgia Tech; Penn State; the University of Texas; Michigan State; and many others. People were excited to hear about the change, and many professors and industry professionals found the prospect of a name change interesting and innovative. One professor from the University of Wisconsin wrote in an email, “What an interesting change, I like it!”
A wide variety of industry professionals were contacted in search of ideas and feedback on possible names. An email with possible name ideas was even sent out to over 1,000 Microsoft employees who work closely with communication and production experts. The committee received many valuable responses that helped them explore and finalize a new name.
The hundreds of emails, phone calls, and meetings resulted in a new name for our department that is both contemporary and representative of what we do. --by Sophia Fong