• Significant Accomplishments: Co-authored Designing From Both Sides of the Screen, a book on interaction design; founded Izix Consulting; Technology Design Leader at AT&T Labs; Director of Design and Production at Excite; designed and/or studied the use of over a dozen full-scale Web, PDA, and desktop (PC and Mac) applications; 30 publications; 3 patents; PhD in cognitive psychology from Stanford; accomplished photographer and digital artist.
• Skills: Interaction design, user interface (UI) design, managing designers and engineers, user-centered design methods, conducting user/task analyses, conducting use studies, evaluating UI designs, research methods, writing, giving presentations, Web scripting, digital photography.
• Primary Interests: Digital imaging, photography, video, collaboration, awareness, instant messaging.

Experience

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Palo Alto, CA

Principal Scientist
2008 - present
Generate ideas for technology based on observations of human behavior, work with engineers to design prototype technology to support human activity, and study its use to help improve the design and more generally our understanding of the role of technology in people's lives.

Eureka Photo Design, Watsonville, CA

Freelance photographer and digital artist
2002 - present
Creating photographic images for commercial clients, often by compositing multiple images together. Doing photo retouching work. Selling stock photos through World of Stock, Age Fotostock, Acclaim Images, and Alamy. Selling photo greeting cards at local shops, including Capitola Book Cafe, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and BookWorks in Aptos, as well as online.

Izix Consulting, Bay Area, CA

Freelance interaction designer and researcher
2002 - 2007
Activities include developing user models, designing user interfaces, working with product management and engineering to ensure that designs meet customer requirements and implementation contraints, collaborating with other designers to coordinate the design of large projects, writing UI specifications, researching user needs, conducting use studies and field evaluations to refine the design. Clients include Palo Alto Research Company (PARC), Intuit, Oracle, Sigaba, and Creative Training Solutions. Projects have included a location-based mobile recommender system (PDA), a graphical layout tool (Mac), an integrated collaboration suite (Windows), a secure instant messenger (Windows), and a multimedia online training application (Web).

AT&T Labs, Menlo Park, CA

Technology Design Leader
1999 - 2002
Led a small team using a user-centered design approach to build innovative and usable technology focused on communication and collaboration. Designed a mobile instant messenger called Hubbub that focuses on providing rich presence awareness cues to help distributed colleagues, friends, and family members stay in touch and collaborate more effectively as they move around. Co-authored the book, Designing From Both Sides of the Screen: How Designers & Engineers Can Collaborate to Build Cooperative Products with software engineer Alan Walendowski. Conducted a detailed analysis of instant messaging usage in the workplace based on thousand of IM conversations in Hubbub. Studied teenagers' use and sharing of photos.

Excite, Inc., Redwood City, CA

Director of Design and Production
1998 - 1999
Responsible for a 35-person department responsible for the graphic and user interface design as well as production engineering of Excite's domestic and international Web pages. Developed a process that enabled us to smoothly handle an ongoing queue of requests from across the company and turn them around in a matter of days and sometimes hours. After a company-wide reorganization, ran the Commerce design and production team, responsible for the design of the Excite shopping site, which offered many products from multiple merchants.

Electric Communities, Cupertino, CA

Director of Engineering
1997 - 1998
In October 1997, moved from UI design to engineering management, handling schedules and project management tasks. In November, became Co-Director of Engineering and in February 1998, became the Director, managing 35 developers and testers. Primary responsibilities included setting strategic direction, coordinating engineering projects, coordinating with other departments, handling personnel issues, managing resources, and, most importantly, communicating vertically and horizontally.

Principal User Interface Designer
1996 - 1997
Responsible for the entire user interface design of Microcosm, EC's Java-based on-line graphical virtual world. Microcosm is a large consumer-oriented collaborative application with a complex feature set. Designing a UI involved developing a language for both the in-world avatar-based interactions and the out-of-world user-based tools. Played a central role in defining the feature set, collaborated with the engineers and artists to specify an implementable user interface (documented in a 100-page User Interface Specification), conducted usability testing, and iterated on the design over the course of development.

Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA

Human Interface Engineer, Collaborative Computing
1993 - 1996
Designed user interfaces for and studied the use of multimedia-based tools that enable distributed groups to collaborate and communicate. Main projects included: a desktop video conferencing system (Montage); a tool to enable interactive video-based talks and presentations over the network (Forum); and a system that enabled members of a large, distributed community to remain aware of other people and to easily contact others for planned and spontaneous interactions (Piazza).

Human Interface Engineer, Human Factors Engineering
1990 - 1993
Conducted task analyses, interviewed customers, wrote competitive reviews, developed user models, designed user interfaces and conducted usability tests. Products included end user productivity tools (mail, calendar, rolodex), multimedia applications (video conferencing, phone, audio editing), tools for device administration, GUI development tools, and multimedia on-line help.

Knowledge Systems Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Consultant
1987 - 1988
Conducted a "Wizard of Oz" experiment to test the use of speech as an input mechanism to a medical expert system. Focused on the handling of misunderstandings and errors.

Stamford Advocate, Stamford, CT

Business Reporter
1983 - 1984

The New York Times Washington Bureau, Washington, DC

Clerk
1982 - 1983

2003, Graduate, Rocky Mountain School of Photography, Missoula, MT
Sixteen-week intensive study of all aspects of photography and digital imaging. (Summer Intensive and Digital Intensive.)

1989, Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Studied language use in conversation with Dr. Herbert H. Clark

1982, BS Psychology; BA Semiotics, Brown University, Providence, RI

Patents

US Patent #6760754 (2004), System, Method, and Apparatus for Communicating Via Sound Messages and Personal Sound Identifiers

US Patent #5960173 (1999), System and Method Enabling Awareness of Others Working on Similar Tasks in a Computer Work Environment

US Patent #5793365 (1998), System and Method Providing a Computer User Interface Enabling Access to Distributed Workgroup Members

Five patents pending

Publications

Isaacs, E., Walendowski, A., Whittaker, S., Schiano, D.J., & Kamm, C., (2002). The Character, Functions, and Styles of Instant Messaging in the Workplace, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) '02, New Orleans, LA: ACM Press, 11-22.

Isaacs, E., Walendowski, A., and Ranganathan, D., (2002). Hubbub: A sound-enhanced mobile instant messenger that supports awareness and opportunistic interactions, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) '02, Minneapolis, MN: ACM Press, 179-186.

Nardi, B.A., Whittaker, S., Isaacs, E., Creech, M., Johnson, J., & Hainsworth, J., (April, 2002) Integrating Communication and Information Through ContactMap, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 45, No. 4, New York: ACM Press, 89-95.

Isaacs, E. & Walendowski, A. (2001) Designing From Both Sides of the Screen: How Designers and Engineers Can Collaborate to Build Cooperative Technology. New Riders.

Isaacs, E., Walendowski, A., and Ranganathan, D., (2001). Hubbub: A wireless instant messenger that uses earcons for awareness and for 'sound instant messages,' Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI)'01, Seattle, WA: ACM Press. (Paper accompanying formal demo).

Isaacs, E. (1998) Sharing a Leadership Role in a Collaborative Team, interactions magazine, July-August, 1998, 11-16. (Article on managing at Electric Communities as part of a collaborative team.)

Isaacs, E. (1998) Microcosm: Support for Virtual Commmunities via an Online Graphical Environment, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI)'98, Los Angeles, CA: ACM Press, 5-6.

Isaacs, E., Whittaker, S., Frohlich, D. & O'Conaill, B. (1997). Informal Communication Re-examined: New Functions For Video in Supporting Opportunistic Encounters, Video-Mediated Communication, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 459-485.

Isaacs, E. & Tang, J. (1997) Studying Video-Based Collaboration in Context: From Small Workgroups to Large Organizations, Video-Mediated Communication, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 173-197.

Whittaker, S., Isaacs, E. & O'Day, V. (1996) Widening the Net: The Theory and Practice of Physical and Network Communities, SIGGroup Bulletin, ACM Press, 18 (1), 27-32

Isaacs, E., Tang, J., & Morris, T. (1996) Piazza: A Desktop Environment Supporting Serendipitous and Planned Interactions, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) '96, Boston, MA, 315-324.

Isaacs, E. (1996), Interviewing Customers: Discovering What They Can't Tell You, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI)'96, Boston, MA: ACM Press, 378-379.

Isaacs, E. & Tang, J. (1996) Technology Transfer: So Much Research, So Few Good Products, Communications of the ACM, 39: 9, New York: ACM Press, 22-25.

Isaacs, E. & Tang, J. (1996) Why Don't More Non-North-American Papers Get Accepted to CHI?, SIGCHI Bulletin, 28: 1, 59-65.

Isaacs, E., Morris, T., Rodriguez, T., & Tang, J. (1995) A Comparison of Face-to-face and Distributed Presentations, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI '95), Denver, CO, 354-361.

Isaacs, E., Morris, T. & Rodriguez, T. (1995) Lessons Learned from a Successful Collaboration Between Software Engineers and Human Interface Engineers, Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Software Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction, 896, 232-240. Earlier version in Proceedings of the Workshop on Software Engineering/Computer-Human Interaction, Sorrento, Italy, May '94, 119-121.

Isaacs, E. (1995) Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: A Literature Review, Communications of the ACM, Special issue on Women in Computing, 38:1, 58-59.

Isaacs, E., Morris, T. & Rodriguez, T. (1994). A Forum for Supporting Interactive Presentations to Distributed Audiences, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '94), Chapel Hill, NC, 405-416.

Tang, J.C., Isaacs, E. & Rua, M. (1994). Supporting Distributed Groups with a Montage of Lightweight Interactions, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '94), Chapel Hill, NC, 23-34.

Isaacs, E. & Tang, J. (1994) What Video Can and Can't Do for Collaboration: A Case Study, Multimedia Systems, 2, 63-73. Earlier version in ACM Multimedia '93 Proceedings, Anaheim, CA, 199-206.

Tang, J. C. & Isaacs, E. (1993). Why Do Users Like Video? Studies of Multimedia Supported Collaboration, CSCW: An International Journal, 1:3, 163-196. (Also a Sun Labs technical report, SMLI TR-92-5).

Isaacs, E., Wulfman, C. E., Rohn, J. A., Lane, C. D. & Fagan, L. M. (1993). Graphical Access to Medical Expert Systems: IV. Experiments to Determine the Role of Spoken Input, Methods of Information in Medicine, 32, 18-32.

Sukaviriya, P., Isaacs, E. & Bharat, K. (1992) Multimedia Help: A Prototype and an Experiment, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI '92), Monterey, CA, 433-434.

Isaacs, E. & Clark, H.H. (1990) Ostensible Invitations, Language in Society, 19, 493-509.

Isaacs, E., (1989). Mutual Memory for Conversation, Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University.

Wulfman, C., Isaacs, E., Webber, B. & Fagan., L. (1988). Integration Discontinuity: Interfacing Users and Systems, Proceedings of Architectures for Intelligent Interfaces: Elements and Prototypes, Monterey, CA, 57-68.

Isaacs, E. & Clark, H.H. (1987) References in Conversation between Experts and Novices, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116, 26-37.

Isaacs, E. (1983) Visual Cues Compensate for Blindness in One Eye, The New York Times, 9/13/83, Section C, page 2.

Blumstein, S., Isaacs, E. & Mertus, J. (1982) The Role of the Gross Spectral Shape as a Perceptual Cue to Place of Articulation in Initial Stop Consonants, Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 72, 43-50.

Isaacs, E. (1981) John Madden Stars on the Tube, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football, Z. Hollander (Ed.), Signet, New York, 1981, 38-45.

Selected Presentations and Tutorials

Interviewing Customers: Discovering What They Can't Tell You
A one-day tutorial given at a variety of conferences (including CHI and UI) and by contract at various companies (including Interval Research, Bose, and WRQ). A shortened version given as a guest lecture at various Stanford classes. 1995 through 2002.

Designing Applications that Help People Collaborate
Invited presentation given at: Stanford's Symbolic Systems Department Forum, Stanford, CA, November, 1995; the Oregon Graduate Institute, Portland, OR, February, 1996; Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK, June, 1996.

Building Software for a Marketplace: User Involvement in Development
Presentation at the Bay Area Round Table Series, Menlo Park, CA, November, 1994.

Collaborative Multimedia: Getting Beyond the Obvious
Panel member at Multimedia Conference, San Francisco, CA, November, 1994.

Using Multimedia to Support Distributed Groups
Colloquium at California State University at Stanislaus, Cognitive Studies program, Terlock, CA, 1993.

Usability Testing Tutorial
Presented as part of a full-day tutorial on User Interface Design, Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, CA, 1991.

Let's Do Lunch: Making Ostensible Invitations
Presentation at Stanford-Berkeley Cognitive Psychology Talks, Stanford, CA, 1988.

How Experts and Novices Talk to Each Other
Presentation at Stanford-Berkeley Cognitive Psychology Talks, Stanford, CA, 1987.

Professional Work

• Book reviewer for Elsevier, publisher of Morgan Kaufmann books, 2002-2006.
• Associate chair for short papers, Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) 2002 conference.
• Papers reviewer for CHI 1994 through 2002, and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) from 1994 through 2002. Also review papers for various journals and book publishers.
• Co-chair of panels for CHI 1997
• Program committee for International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 1997
• Program committee for CSCW 1996
• Co-chair of workshops & Special Interest Groups for CHI 1996
• Program committee for CHI 1995
• Program committee for Computer-Supported Cooperative Learning (CSCL) '94