About Me

I am currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin School of Information where I study a broad range of topics related to digital libraries, human-computer interaction, online learning and collaboration, interface design and evaluation and information architecture. I have worked in information fields since 1996, originally as a reference archivist for the Florida State Archives, and later as a government records consultant and business planner for Texas state agencies. My interest in the intersection of people, technology and information is rooted in my professional experiences where I witnessed first-hand the transformative power of the Web and networked enabled technologies on information work. My immediate goal is to do a stellar job finishing up my degree and dissertation and then contemplate what comes next after that.

Education

• Currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program, School of Information, the University of Texas at Austin
• Master of Science in Information Studies, School of Information, the University of Texas at Austin 2002-2004 (4.0 GPA)
• B.S. History & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Florida State University, Cum Laude 1992-1996

Publications

Geisler, Gary, Burns, Samuel (2007).

Chang, Leggett, Furuta, Kerne, Williams, Burns & Bias (2004). Collection Understanding. ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, Tucson, Arizona. June, 2004.

Burns, S., Williams, J.P. (2004). How do we perform usability testing when the tasks are so novel that users don´t even know they want to perform them? Conference presentation at the 2004 Usability Professionals Association Conference.

Bias, R.G., Williams, J.P., Chung, D., and Burns, S.A. (2005). An experimental study of the effects of Microsoft's Clear Type® on programmer productivity. Annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Orlando, September.

Work Experience

2006-Present Assistant Systems Administrator

2005-Present Instructor, Information in Cyberspace

2003-2005 Graduate Research Assistantships

2003-2004 Graduate Assistantships

2000-2003 Business Planner, Texas Department of Insurance

1998-2000 Records Management Consultant, Texas State Library and Archives Commission

1996-1998 Archivist, Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management

1995-1996 Student Intern, Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management

Affiliations

• UT Student Chapter, American Society for Information Science & Technology
• Usability Professionals Association
• Association for Computing Machinery
• American Library Association