Hi, welcome to my site. I am an undergraduate senior, currently finishing up my last quarter at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash. I studied technical communication because I wanted to understand how to view the user's world. I studied psychology (with cognitive focus) because I wanted to enrich my understanding of users themselves (namely, how the human brain works). When I make design choices, I want to be able to think in terms of problem solving heuristics, cognitive workload, the semantic network, and perceptual processes. All of these can be important things to consider while designing or writing for the user.
Technical communication has intrigued me as a discipline in effectively communicating any kind of information to any user. Many of the professionals that call themselves "technical communicators" are also graphic artists, programmers, usability experts, engineers, and designers of exciting emerging technologies. The list of individual specialties that you will see from technical communicator to technical communicator is most likely limitless. In this field, you are devoted to understanding your audience or user, learning how you can help them, and creating solutions for whatever problems that existed. And because technical communication can be applied to almost anything, there is an inherent desire to keep learning new technologies and new ideas. As a technical communicator, I truly feel that the world is my oyster. There is an infinite amount of interesting research and work to be done in this field, and this is one field that will continue to grow as society continues to develop.
I am interested in eventually pursuing projects and work in teaching, science writing, user experience research, human factors engineering, and user interface design (graphical or physical). I believe that my background in cognitive psychology, strong love for technology, good work ethic, and creative thinking will help me reach my goals. I am a fairly analytical thinker, which is one of the reasons why I am interested in research and creating new useful things.