Sam Burns

Director of Digital Strategy and Communications at UT Austin School of Information. Web accessibility advocate and technology mentor.

Samuel A. Burns

sburns@ischool.utexas.edu
Austin, Texas

Education

Master of Science in Information Studies (MSIS)

The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Information Studies
2002 - 2004 | GPA: 4.0

During this program, broadened technical skills becoming proficient in unix/linux, bash, perl, PHP, SQL, Python, Ruby

Bachelor of Science

Florida State University
History & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
1992 - 1996 | cum laude

Professional Experience

Director of Digital Strategy and Communications

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2011 - Present

  • Lead IT strategy and operations for the School of Information

  • Manage IT team and resources

  • Oversee all technology infrastructure and services

  • Serve as primary liaison with university IT services

  • Support faculty, staff, and student technology needs

Web Content Coordinator

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2011 - Present

  • Design, provision, and maintain all UT School of Information Web properties

  • Develop and design communication strategies and implement solutions for Web, print, and other multi-media resources

  • Program Web applications and design content publishing workflows

  • Evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of Web services via user testing, data analytics, and survey instruments

  • Serve as Technical Support Contact with ITS/ISO for matters of inventory, ISORA, networking, security, and other UT/academic unit interactions

Technologies: PHP, MySQL, Drupal, WordPress, HTML5, JavaScript

Systems Administrator

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2006 - 2011

  • Provision and implement predominantly Linux server solutions dedicated to research, projects, teaching, and administration

  • Maintain School Website and Associated Web Applications

  • Serve as Technical Support Contact with ITS/ISO for matters of inventory, ISORA, networking, security, and other UT/academic unit interactions

  • Provide maintenance and support of servers and networking infrastructure at the UT School of Information

  • Support faculty, staff and students on hardware and software solutions including desktop, printing, purchasing, and personal electronic devices

Technologies: Linux, Unix, Server administration, Networking

Assistant Instructor

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2005 - 2006

  • Instructor & Systems Administrator for UT Austin’s largest online course

  • Author course curriculum

  • Design Web applications and implement content management solutions

  • Administer course Web server, chat server, and student system accounts

  • Host bi-weekly Webcasts with expert guests on a variety of information and computer science topics

Technologies: Web development, Content management systems, Video streaming/webcasting

Graduate Research Assistant

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2003 - 2006

  • Developed concepts and strategies for usability testing with Dr. Randolph Bias and the IBM Pervasive Computing Lab

  • Conducted usability evaluations of Microsoft’s ClearType font rendering technology

  • Support faculty, staff and students on hardware and software solutions including desktop, printing, purchasing, and personal electronic devices

  • Write and produce original technology-related video tutorials

  • Co-created the information architecture and original site designs for the University of Texas Utopia Web portal

Technologies: Usability testing tools, Video production, Information architecture

Graduate Assistant

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2003 - 2005

  • Supported and trained faculty, staff and students in the School of Information’s IT lab

  • Created Web presence for Dr. Don Turnbull’s Information Architecture and Knowledge Management courses

  • Designed a flash-based project library Web tool for the UT School of Architecture’s Urban Design Resources program

Technologies: Adobe Flash, Web development, Training and support

Business Planner

Texas Department of Insurance
Austin, Texas | 2000 - 2003

  • Lead state-mandated project initiatives for Financial, Consumer Protection and executive staff divisions of the TDI

  • Managed records and information systems projects with the technology services division of the TDI

  • Wrote business planning reports and managed projects in accordance with Business Planning and Redesign requirements of the TDI

  • Administered Business Planning and Redesign requirements of the TDI

Technologies: Project management, Records management systems

Records Management Consultant

Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Austin, Texas | 1998 - 2000

  • Trained state and local government staff and officials on records management laws and practices

  • Reviewed and authorized state and local records retention schedules

  • Developed records retention policies for the state and local government agencies

Technologies: Records management systems

Archivist

Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Florida Department of State
Florida | 1996 - 1998

  • Performed references services for researchers of the Florida State Library

  • Managed the genealogical library holdings of the Florida State Library

  • Trained state and local government staff and officials on records management and archives statutes

Technologies: Archival systems

Student Internship (Reference Archivist)

Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Florida Department of State
Florida | 1995 - 1996

  • Performed reference services for researchers of the Florida State Archives

  • Participated in one of the earliest and largest digitization efforts of archival photographic images

Technologies: Digital imaging, Archival systems

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Geisler, G. and Burns, Sam (2008). Tagging Video: Conventions and Strategies of the YouTube Community. Bulletin of IEEE Technical Committee on Digital Libraries (TCDL), 4. DOI:

Conference Proceedings

  1. Geisler, Gary and Burns, Sam (2007). Tagging video: Conventions and strategies of the YouTube community. In Proceedings of the 7th ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, 480. DOI: 10.1145/1255175.1255279

  2. 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. In Annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

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

Presentations

Conference Presentations

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

Guest Lectures

  • INF 312: Various information and computer science topics. UT Austin, 2005-2006.

Skills

Technical Skills

Professional Interests

Web accessibility • User experience design • Information architecture • Open source software • Technology education

References

Available upon request.

Last updated: 2025-11-02