NYW picture I am a freelance consultant, specializing in Web-based Education and Outreach Programs, Website Design Strategy and Information Architecture for not-for-profit, education and small business organizations. My primary goal is to ensure effective information architecture for optimal site findability and user accessibility.

In addition, I provide quality website strategy, business analysis, social media integration, user surveys, graphic design, and HTML/PHP/AJAX coding.

I am active in the information architecture community through the Information Architecture Institute, where I serve as Operations Manager, and have access to IA tools, research and a worldwide network of IA professionals.

Current Projects

I am working with members of the NYC Office of Emergency Management, GISMO, a NYC based GIS user group, and other interested parties (which includes City agencies, academics and international NGOs) to produce a 9/11 Ten Years after geo-symposium. One of my current interests is disaster resilience and the evolution of the technology of communications that support responders and victims during events and recovery. Stay tuned for more information as the venue and program are developed.

The Information Architecture Institute is a not-for-profit, professional organization serving the IA and usability fields. I am the Operations Manager at IAI and oversee programs and initiatives, including technology management, website administration, IA library and tools, job board, members discussion lists, mentoring and metrics.

Alaric Compliance Services is a compliance consultant offering Chief Compliance Officer outsourcing and compliance program development, oversight and monitoring, specializing in derivatives and broker-dealer services. I redesigned their website and am currently working on updating their newsroom and developing a careers section.

Recent Projects

The project details are confidential but it involved market research, GIS and dataviz wizardry for a Federal property, managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

While I typically work with smaller companies, Cushman & Wakefield hired me for a short term contract to complete work abandonned by a previous contractor, making me a design fixer of sorts. I created and implemented a design solution for a Sharepoint intranet portal, at the same time learning how to work around some of Sharepoint's weaknesses.

The Municipal Art Society's Community Interactive Technology Initiative (MYCITI.ORG), is an interactive map of community service sites in New York City. I served as technology liaison to the Planning Center and organizations served by the site, where I created user surveys, interviewed target user groups and made recommendations on user interface and program functionality. I also facilitated community training sessions.

Validated a test update for Brainbench.com's Internet Technology Fundamentals exam. I was also a validator on the previous edition of this exam and have previously developed test items for the Internet Research & Evaluations (U.S.) certification exam.

Brett Whysel Photography produces award-winning Fine Art Photography for home and office. I helped Brett take Smugmug's basic layout and coached him in designing a site that highlights the beauty of his work through artful HTML and CSS coding.

Confidential - Ecommerce StartupWorking on developing a taxonomy for a startup online marketplace. NDA doesn't allow me to say who, but it's going to be cool!

I prepared a number of charts and graphs for James R. MacCrate's "Distressed Real Estate Markets" seminar for the Long Island chapter of the Appraisal Institute. The presentation features analysis of Long Island and greater New York Metro area demographic and economic trends.

Created a Google Analytics account for a Marketing Solutions Company.

I worked as an editor and WordPress admin for James R. MacCrate's weblog, Real Estate Appraisal and Valuation Issues and editor and guest contributor for the blog Straight from MacCrate, which appeared as a column on Miller Samuel's Soapbox blog (archived at Matrix). Jim was my senior manager/director at Price Waterhouse, and the articles allow me to explore current issues in real estate, as well as to dig into the financial blogosphere.

Behind the Book is a not-for-profit organization, dedicated to developing a life-long love of reading and writing in young people by bringing authors & illustrators into disadvantaged NYC schools. I developed an updated site architecture that highlights the school visits and allows teachers to find information relevant to their students.

The Avian Tree of Life website was created as a prototype as part of the public outreach and education component of the National Science Foundation's Assembling the Tree of Life initiative. The website allows users to navigate through a cladogram of bird species, examine alternate phylogenies and read the latest research in avian taxonomy.

The Vietnam 2000 Expedition website for the American Museum of Natural History's Ornithology department, includes a slide show featuring bird species collected on the expedition. A second slide show with images of the expedition team, natural terrain and the populated areas is forthcoming, pending recovery work on the current site database.

Ongoing pro bono Projects

I designed the West 104th Street Comunity Garden website and private community blog for members of the garden. I am also administrating additional content features and programs, such as a Flickr site, google calendar and webmail.

Bloomingdale Neighborhood Block Associations

I am acting caretaker for the 104th Street Block Association website, which also serves the West 102nd/103rd Street Block Association and Friends of Straus Park.