User:Karl smith

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Karl Smith (sometimes known as KAS)

  • karl.smith@paradigm-interactions.co.uk
  • London, Edinburgh UK and USA
  • User Centric Design for Touch Local Online Environments
  • Creator and proponent of Domain, Biographical Template and Active Narrative in UCD.
  • Researcher into Diagnostic and Reflective acquisition of interaction experiences.
  • Interaction researcher and designer since 1999
  • MSc in Interactive Technologies for e-Commerce

Summary:

Current Business Activity:

The definition and refinement of strategic technology systems for commerce, consumer and internal business systems.

Recent Projects:

Projects involving the redevelopment of both consumer facing and IFA based banking, trading and financial services systems in Europe, Russia, China and Japan.

Personal View:

I am interested in People’s interpretation of technology, how they discover, rationalise and reuse it to suit their environments, goals and lifestyles, as this changes the rational between business and their marketplaces.

Supply of Services:

If you are seeking Information Architecture for your project or business you can contact me directly and I will arrange for a scope of works, contract and fee schedule to be sent to you by Paradigm Interactions Limited in the UK/Europe (Edinburgh & London) or Paradigm Interactions Inc. in the USA.

Specialties:

  • Work: Banking, Financial Services, Media, Tourism, Transport, Government, FMCG, Charity, Food & Drink
  • Fields: Contextual Systems Design, Application Development, Business Process Mapping, Critical Software Applications
  • Information Architecture, Information Audits, Taxonomy, Site Maps, Wireframes
  • Internet data analysis / analytics and marketing
  • Business process audit, mapping and strategy designation & development, asset assessment for creation of planning models.

What am I doing here? and what happens now? Current Post!

  • Information Architect at Altogether Digital
  • (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
  • October 2007 – Present ( 3 months)
  • Information Architecture, interpreting requirements documentation and content to create cross relational information structures and application parameters. Deliverables includes audience research, economic factors research and wireframes working with UI developers for software and internet developments.


  • Founder at Paradigm Interactions Limited
  • (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
  • July 2007 – Present ( 6 months)
  • Developing models of information flow, organisation and interaction with external touch points captured through quantitative and qualitative research techniques including questionnaires, focus groups (interactive and observed), ethnography, human factors, user centred design, usability, analytics, pattern analysis, eye tracking. Producing business strategy reports, business integration reports, processes flow audit / redesign reports, swot, key asset assessment, management specifications, technical specifications, wireframes, site maps and flow diagrams.


  • Founder at Paradigm Interactions Inc.
  • (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
  • February 2004 – Present (3 years 11 months)
  • Paradigm Interactions provides observation, investigation and utilization of emergent phenomena in Information Architecture, Business Processes, User Centric Strategy, User Experience Research for Planning, Documentation and Interfaces


  • Information Architect / Usability Consultant at Engage Group
  • (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
  • August 2007 – September 2007 ( 2 months)
  • Information Architecture, interpreting requirements documentation and content to create navigation structures, information relationships and application parameters. Deliverables include sitemaps, wireframes, case scenarios, client documentation and functional specifications.


  • Information Architect at Mook
  • (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
  • August 2007 – August 2007 (1 month)
  • Information Architecture, interpreting requirements documentation and content to create navigation structures, information relationships and application parameters. Deliverables include sitemaps, wireframes, case scenarios, client documentation and functional specifications.


  • Information Architect at Communique 360
  • (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
  • July 2007 – August 2007 ( 2 months)
  • Multi-disciplinary role interpreting high-level requirements in order to design the overall user experience of an interactive media. Analyses of existing portals intended purpose, objectives, audiences and content in order to devise an appropriate redesign. This includes organising content, specifying navigation and functionality, and designing the layout of user interfaces. And authoring scoping documentation, full functional specifications devising metadata schemas, intuitive user interfaces, end-user features, designing systems of user interaction to form site maps, wire-frame diagrams.


  • Information Architect, Product Manager at Touch Local
  • (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
  • February 2007 – July 2007 ( 6 months)
  • Information architecture and research for the design, management, development and deployment of full life cycle application projects in an AGILE (XP) environment. Online integration projects including portal websites, CRM, billing, salesforce, communicator and e-commerce purchase paths. Other recent projects involve community concepts, research, architecture and UI design.


  • Business Development Director at Activity, Interaction and Usability Limited
  • (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
  • July 2006 – January 2007 ( 7 months)
  • Contextual usability, brand recognition, market research and business intelligence consultancy and testing company based in UK and USA.


  • Business Development Director at Bunnyfoot Scotland
  • (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
  • June 2006 – July 2006 ( 2 months)
  • Intial startup documentation, market sector planning and new business development.


  • European Director at Charles Kane Associates
  • (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
  • November 2003 – June 2004 ( 8 months)
  • Director / Manager client liaison utilising analytics, ethnography, and user testing (market research & usability) together to evolve wireframes, site maps, flow diagrams and screen-level design for enhancing user experience and process effectiveness. Developing strategic internet/application requirements with third party application vendors.


  • Associate / Senior Associate at Charles Kane Associates
  • (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
  • February 1999 – October 2003 (4 years 9 months)
  • New media concept development from requirements capture through developing scenarios based upon analytics, user testing, environmental testing, task analysis, cognitive processing, heuristics, human computer interaction and user centred design. Information architecture to produce, flow control, content design, associative structures. Other areas include; e-commerce, web development, CMS, SEO, affiliate marketing, link based marketing, contextual advertising and website content author.


I intend on publishing elements of my research, conceptual ideas. So be prepared to be shocked, awed or bored.

First a little background; how we describe our activity and world experience is defined through a number of factors. These include domain (environment or specific context), biographical templates (past patterns of activity with recognisable results and consequences), active narrative (cognitive function allowing the dissemination of information, decision making and translation of narrative state to biographical state and visa versa). Additionally within the active narrative there are two key aspects, diagnostic and reflective acquisition of information which have profound affect on the value (weight), priority (influence) and response we place on various channels and stimuli.

I will expand upon these factors and other domain specific activity initiators later.


What I can do:

Core skill area: IT/Telecommunications

Information Architect / Real-Time Web Analytics, Product Manager Current role is to feed real time web analytics into stakeholder groups to enable strategic and market responsive decision making, planning and reviews of current marketing and website user activity. I also operate in a pivotal position between marketing/sales and developers where I test and create information architecture around the needs and capabilities of the intended user audience based upon real time analytics, user centred design and usability research. I author and project manage the full life cycle in an AGILE environment with HTML, JAVA and RoR developments from concept, design specification to testing and implementation. Additionally I directly feed into the strategic management decision making process from a human factors perspective by both interviewing new senior staff and reviewing external service provider presentations ( SWOT).



Professional Organisations & Memberships

United Kingdom:

  • BCS - British Computer Society
  • BCSHCI - British HCI Group - Computer-Human Interaction Group
  • UPA - Usability Professionals Association


Outside United Kingdom:

  • IAI - Information Architects Institute - USA
  • UPA - Usability Professionals Association - USA
  • ACM - Association for Computing Machinery - USA
  • SIGCHI - ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction - USA
  • WAA - Web Analytics Association - USA
  • IADIS - International Association for Development of Information Society - European


Karl Smith

Karl smith 12:07, 8 September 2006 (UTC)