Climate Tracker
Ascentium, an interactive web design agency, asked me to design a dynamic interface for their Climate Tracker project. The tool was an ambitious set of data capture, unit conversion, carbon emission estimation features. My task was to make one of the most complicated features (data capture) simple and logical even for a user who was not trained in climate science. Understanding the data and what it was used for was key to completing my goal and I certainly learned a lot about Co2. The results were satisfying: a feature which had been rejected 3 times was accepted and development moved forward.
Cool features:
- Fully globalized for multi-language support
- Predictive input and dynamic wizard-style interface
- Plugin architecture to allow 3rd-party extensions
- Science!
Twitter for Teachers
While working at Microsoft I had the opportunity to work on the Text My Class project in the education product group. Modeled after Twitter, this app was designed to help teachers to manage the ever-changing list of contacts in each class. After subscribing to a text message request students would receive short messages from their teacher about upcoming tests, study assignments and anything the teacher wanted to share. Student’s replies appeared in a threaded message view where teacher’s could manage the conversation from a computer or iPhone web browser.
Cool features:
- Hosted on Microsoft’s cloud services Windows Azure
- Integrated with SMS system Upside Wireless
- iPhone web app
- Live update feed built with jQuery AJAX (just like Twitter!)
- Tested at Seattle-area public and private schools
