2018 Moderator Election

About my nomination:

I do not believe that I have all the qualities required to be the best moderator but I am willing to learn.

My area of interest in UX lies in the area of data visualization and design ethics (maybe because I used to be a scientist and was involved in bioinformatics and medical research?).

I also want to raise awareness about honesty and truth in design, something that Dieter Rams, Milton Glaser and Edward Tufte are all strong advocates of.

Link to Moderator Election Questions

About me on UXSE:

You can read about my exploits on UXSE on my profile page because I think the type of activities I am engaged in speaks fairly well for me as a person in general, but I want to point out a couple of things:

• I like asking questions as much as I like answering them.
• I like starting bounties because there are not enough opportunities for people to get rewarded and recognized for answering the difficult questions.
• I like asking questions about design ethics

My background:

I’ve been a member of UXSE for close to 4 years.

I have a BA in Art and a Masters in Medieval and Early Modern History (focusing on intellectual and technological history).

I started as a graphic designer / web designer in the 1990s. By the middle 2000s I was doing UX work full time.

I’ve worked at a series of dotcoms, financial companies and retailers. Lately I’ve been working on financial dashboards; internal business applications; and customizations for existing third party apps such as SalesForce and Sterling’s OMS.

Why I would be a good moderator:

• I think that novice users (and questions) should be welcome and that we, as a community, ought to integrate and educate newcomers so that they can contribute and participate. To that end I’ve gone out of my way to welcome new users.

• I love this site and come here almost every day. It’s one of my go-to sites when I’m stuck; need to research an idea; or just need to rejuvenate.

• I’d like to think that I’m calm and rational and focus on problems as opposed to becoming emotionally involved in personal disputes.

I think I have several strengths to bring to the moderator role for our UX community here:

1. Two degree programmes in HCI (human computer interaction), and related research + industry work.
2. I have moderated other online forums and communities, and have launched a few stackexchange communities.
3. I legitimately enjoy seeing how communities can develop through the delicate use of moderation in creating broad mechanics

I have a range of IRL experiences starting several companies, working startups, enterprise, and my own small studio. I'd enjoy helping this community keep in order, clean up loose ends where appropriate, and look to cultivate smaller but significant UX topics