Technical documentation:

1. Between 1990 and 1992, I worked for over 2.5 years at Rocky Flats (no, I don't glow in the dark). I did much high-level documentation in environmental areas including wastewater recovery, and the policies and procedures group. I had the opportunity to write, edit, and format large, LARGE documents, and worked with DOE and EG&G engineers and writers. I was involved in many team efforts. For internal documentation, such as a several volume dictionary of specific (to Rocky Flats and related industries) vocabulary — it was quickly found out, my level of graphics expertise. I created the covers, some internal illustrations, and graphs, for these documents. The groups of specialists that I worked with were from every imaginable scientific 'heading,' including biology, wastewater and aquatics, forestry, atomic topics (several), and of course the business and management sectors while working policy & procedure.

2. Between 1990 and 1994, I worked both as consultant, and later as Media Director, for Denver Public Schools. If you go through my large PDF Portfolio, it will explicitly detail those projects, and that internal program. The list is very long:

1. Publications, grant writing, research, database creation, training of teachers and administration, as well as students, in computer use.
2. Curriculum development groups, presentations for Administrative meetings, media consultant for District meetings, Audio Visual developer for community events. Desktop publishing of school newsletters, magazines, and print house coordination. I also setup the first Multimedia computer lab, I do believe, in Denver. With Mac SE's, believe it or not! I taught students to use early software versions to create their own presentations, including small animations in MacroMIND (yes, before MacroMedia, it was MacroMIND) Director, Version 1.0 !! I taught them to use paint programs, to add sound files, and to coordinate an entire presentation. This included setting up a flyer or small brochure in Quark XPress, also version 1.0. I've been at this a long time!

3. The database I created for the 25,000 individual items in the media center, was created in FileMaker Pro (1.0?? or caveman style, anyway) and upgraded to about version 3.0 (1994). One kudo I am highly proud to report is that although Denver downsized in 1994 (500 technical jobs, at the dawning of the Internet; good move) and my job was terminated — with two dedicated teacher friends' help, the media center is still "running itself" because of the efficiency of my database! Five years later!

4. On the side, I completely produced the yearly handbooks for parents/students — a very large yearly production. From concept, layout and design, to walking it through the printer.

Editing and Testing Documentation:

1. My parents have a 30-year-old small-to-medium publishing house. I grew up with proofing, editing, and presentation. I am extremely proficient in standard publishing techniques and tools. From advertising and marketing, to licking the stamps to mail books. :-) Through the years of publication experience, many have laid bets on the number of typos to be found in my works. Those who chose more than -0- .. usually lost.

2. My experience with corporate settings in the documentation world ranges from small to large. The most detailed example was the creation of the 250-page book used by a Denver legal firm in the action suit of a local (large, elite) shopping mall and an asbestos issue. It included working with thousands of pages of technical docs and graphs and Excel sheets from a DOS-based computer, which I imported into Excel 1.0 and then 2.0, on a Macintosh. In Excel, I produced consolidated spreadsheets of the experts' findings, and then took all data into charts. This book, as well as overhead projections of my charts, were used in the court case, by lawyers from New York to Los Angeles. I worked with all levels of experts, from lawyers, to engineers, to accountants, to local law enforcement.

3. My work with a community merchant association brought me into the world of local government, as this firm was supported by Denver's Mayor's office. I produced much documentation for this company, and worked with items as simple as event brochures, to large documents for grant requests, site specifications, interviews with SMEs on dozens of subjects, from local politics to the Mayor's office programs on the arts. I worked with many professionals, with companies that spanned the spectrum of work going on in Denver. This job also included working with policy & procedure documents.

4. I have developed several large training guides throughout this history. The Media Center position demanded that I "tame the beast," as all Colorado schools would soon (by end of 1994) be required to input all items into the CARL system (Colorado Alliance of Regional Libraries). The database I created required a consistent reporting system. I not only created the medium, I also created the "manual" for running the system. This allowed others to continue my work. The reports were generated on a weekly basis, or upon request from teacher or administrator.

5. I have created three large software (educational/instructional design efforts) in Asymetrix Toolbook. All of these have manuals that I created, for using the software. 
   

Graphical Layout and Capture: 
I've been called THE Photoshop Guru. I don't know if that is true, or if I want the title. PS is, however, my favorite software, and I've created worlds that never existed, before I moused them up! It was a color Mac in 1989, and Photoshop (very early, probably version 1.0) that convinced me to quit making fun of geek friends, and go BE ONE.

I use many creative/paint programs with incredible ease. I have used Graphical capture in many projects, from published documents, to many recent publications, online.

Online HELP: 
I am proficient in RoboHELP and in ForeHELP. I would consider my abilities to be medium, as I've only worked with these software for a short while (over a year, but not consistently). I am primarily interested in the capabilities of the software for creating standalone projects, but still usable in the HELP manner. 

Web Editors:
I am proficient in MS Front Page. I prefer: DreamWeaver, Allaire's HomeSite, NetObject Fusion ... and NOTEPAD! Most of my work is at least 50% hand-coded, and text editors are very strong tools for me. I have extremely strong HTML programming skills. 

Client and Co-Worker Support:
In every job I've had, people have come to know that I am "the resource center." I have an incredible capacity for not just researching and collecting the information, but a very orderly, organized way of handling and archiving it. I also have somewhat of a photographic memory (okay! so it IS photographic, but I don't like admitting that I'm a walking trivia factory!)

I simply know how to research and how to problem-solve. While in my media center position, as I began to train adults and high school young adults — I realized that I also have a powerful presence in TRAINING, with a strong ability (and patience!) for disseminating that knowledge. I've performed both in well rehearsed, as well as "by the seat of your pants," training sessions. (Interesting note: during my recent four years back in University, I've been told by many students — as well as several professors, AND the Head of the Fine Arts Department, that I should be teaching these subjects, and not taking the classes. I humbly state that there were many reasons for university; few of them academic.)

Project Lead:

1. Lucent Technologies
   Check: http://www.refugeearth.org/BoydZoo/career/AppGlitched/SplashScreenIntro.htm
   This was a very large project, for which I completed the template architecture for an entire Intranet Web presence, for this interactive "manual" for telecommunications technicians. I worked with engineers, tech writers, SMEs, the Web Dev Department, and technicians in countries, worldwide. It was quite enlightening to find that I could "talk the talk," and still have time for JavaScript! For this particular manual, I worked with the lead tech writer who had overseen the project, prior to my arrival. The most difficult aspect (I survived, I excelled!) was in what ended in the TRAINING of tech writers in the setting of Web techniques ... for, the two occupations are very, very different. It seriously became a case of train-the-trainer ... for this document had been written, edited and expounded on, for many years. It was a 450+ page scrollable PDF file, which was too ungainly to be of much use. My job was to logically and consistently break it into small portions that would begin to weave a USABLE Web presence.

2. Media Center Director
   Many, many project lead positions. I have an excellent "people-capacity."

3. Consulting
   I have headed up small to large projects, in corporate, academic, and even community settings.

4. Art Directorship
   1. I headed a team of 5 artists, in a product licensing firm, in Denver.

   2. I headed a team of 4 board artists in a Denver poster/banner shop (a company that created all the huge banners for stadium and Denver Coliseum events, or ski events at locations such as Vail, Steamboat Springs, etc. Some of the client entities were Coors, IBM, several auto speed-racers and/or auto products — and Colorado governmental bodies).
   5. Creative Director:
      I headed a department of 4 computer (Mac) professionals, and several part-time pre-press workers (photography/film) in a large Denver print shop.

   6. State of Colorado Judicial Department, Web site project lead:
      For almost one year, I not only created 90% of the HTML structure, as well as the graphics, logos, and illustrated maps for the new Web site, I also worked with governmental agencies and individuals. I initiated this project, myself, and continued to initiate new "projects within the project." I worked with every level in the Judicial department, from judges to administration offices in every state district (office help in towns of 200 or less). I wrote, edited and rewrote many technical documents to place on this site. Quite recently, I was asked to update the clickable, interactive map of Colorado, as it was discovered that the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, RESIZES the graphic, which destroys the ISMAP functions of the coding.

   7. I have a two-volume set of books: Atlas of Colorado Ghost Towns, vols. I and II. This effort, along with taking 3 years of research, layout, writing, and illustration, has been marked by the National Geographic Society with their request for copies for their archives. It also has been reviewed and archived by the main library at Brigham Young University, as a worthy historical document. Almost 15 years later, I am still receiving information from readers. Someday there will be an updated reprint of the books. They are currently available in many places, including Amazon.com.

   Be sure to go to my academic Web site. It's at: http://www.refugeearth.org/BoydZoo/Boyd_Sites_Index/BoydSitesIndex.htm. From there, you will find a large number of scholarly writings, with much technology thrown in! 
    
   

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   Leanne Boyd

   °º·«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¥¥»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»·º° Leanne Boyd · Refuge Earth · (505) 397-3236 Doctoral Student · Capella University Instructional Design for Online Teaching, eBusiness ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~·~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.refugeearth.org .oº°¨°º·« mailto:Leanne@refugeearth.org »·º°¨°ºo. also: http://www.instructional-designs.com «¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¥·°¨°·¥»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤»§«¤» Ideas are a dime a dozen ... Those who put them into action are priceless