Dee-Ann LeBlanc

Current

• Course developer, trainer, and technical writer at Freelance
• Open Source and Open Standards Contributing Editor at CMSWire.com

Past

• Course Developer at Splunk
• Linux for Dummies author at Wiley Publishing
• SplunkBase Knowledge Manager at Splunk

• Linux Games Editor at Linux Journal
• Desktop Editor at LinuxPlanet and LinuxToday
• Instructor and Course Developer at LANWrights
• Freelancer (Self-employed)
• Gaming Industry Editor at LinuxWorld Magazine
• Instructor and Course Developer at Element K/SmartPlanet/ZDU

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Education

• Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus

Recommended

6 people have recommended Dee-Ann

Connections

261 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

• The Freelance Survivor
• My Website

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Summary

I'm a freelance writer, editor, course developer, and instructor specializing in Linux, OS X, Content Management Systems (CMS's) and open source. This diversity isn't as all over the map as it sounds. Linux and OS X are close cousins as they're both versions of UNIX, at least under the hood. Many CMS's are run on Linux, and many CMS's are open source. For example, my CMS specialty is open source CMS's.

I've essentially made a career out of translating Geek to English: distilling complex technical information from many sources into an easily-digestible format. I take great pride in using this ability with audience levels from "Dummies" to heavily technical--there is a definite pleasure in watching people suddenly understand something that has been frustrating them.

You can find my (under construction) master lists of articles, books, developed courses, presentations, and workshops at my primary site (http://dee-annleblanc.com/).

My clients, past and present, include the following plus a number of conferences:

Active Education, CIO.com, CMSWire.com, Coastlines STC newsletter, Computer Power User magazine, Coriolis Publishing, DevSource, Digital Education, DigitalThink, HP, IBM, InformIT.com, Inklings magazine online, Intercom magazine, Internet.com, ITBusinessNet.com, Linux AppDev newsletter, Linux Foundation's Linux Developer Network and Linux.com, Linux Journal and LinuxJournal.com, LinuxPlanet.com and LinuxToday.com, LinuxWorld Magazine and LinuxWorld.com, New Riders Publishing, Newsforge, Que Publishing, Skillbridge, Splunk, StudioB, The Computer Paper, TechRepublic.com, TechTarget.com, Tiplet.com, TUX, WebSphere Developer Technical Journal. Wiley Publishing, Windows Professional, Ziff Davis

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Specialties:

Writing, training, teaching, course development, Linux, open source, technology, IT, journalism, how-tos, TV, radio, Splunk, presentations, Apple computers, video, webcasts, logs, compliance, PCI, education, log analysis, change management, daily log review, content management systems, CMS

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Experience

• Course developer, trainer, and technical writer

  Freelance

  (Information Technology and Services industry)

  January 2009 — Present (11 months)

  Freelance writer, trainer, and course developer. Currently writing for clients such as the Linux Foundation, and CIO.com.

• Open Source and Open Standards Contributing Editor

  CMSWire.com

  (Online Media industry)

  2009 — Present (less than a year)

  Part time position tracking and writing about open source and open standards related to the Content Management System industry. Primarily technology news with some deeper technical coverage and analysis as well. Gather and write monthly update on what people can expect from the open source projects at the end of each month.

• Course Developer

  Splunk

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  March 2008 — January 2009 (11 months)

  Created and piloted courses around select applications that Splunk offers, helping customers best understand how to use the extended features and options the applications added. I also helped to build and update more mainstream Splunk course content, in conjunction with internal subject matter experts.

• Linux for Dummies author

  Wiley Publishing

  (Writing and Editing industry)

  January 2001 — July 2008 (7 years 7 months)

  Author of "Linux for Dummies" from the 3rd through 7th editions, sometimes with co-authors, sometimes solo. Each edition completely revised to improve the overall product, rather than just updating a few technical details.

• SplunkBase Knowledge Manager

  Splunk

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  December 2006 — March 2008 (1 year 4 months)

  My job was to help guide and drive the process of growing SplunkBase into a world-class IT resource, attracting a large IT audience that would become more aware of Splunk and promoting uses of Splunk in a variety of creative ways. I recruited and managed external and internal subject matter experts to help create material, participated in the site design and testing process, and build content myself on a variety of topics.

• Linux Games Editor

  Linux Journal

  (Information Technology and Services industry)

  2006 — 2006 (less than a year)

  Contract position writing material for print publication around games in Linux.

• Desktop Editor

  LinuxPlanet and LinuxToday

  (Information Technology and Services industry)

  2005 — 2006 (1 year )

  Contract position first as Gaming and Multimedia Editor, then Desktop Editor, to provide content on gaming, multimedia, and desktop software around Linux.

• Instructor and Course Developer

  LANWrights

  (E-Learning industry)

  2004 — 2006 (2 years )

  Part time contractor position building and teaching courses for HP's HPLearningCenter.com. Created and taught the courses "Linux 101" (plus an updated version), "Linux 201," "Linux 301," and "Open Source Solutions in the Business World."

• Freelancer

  Self-employed

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Writing and Editing industry)

  1994 — December 2006 (12 years )

  Writing technical how-to articles, technical news articles, manuals, newsletters, technical books, and technical courses. Delivering technical courses both online and in person. Speaking at conferences and other events. Developing exam questions, proctoring technical exams, technical editing books, development editing books, finding and editing writers to provide additional content, consulting on publisher's future open source coverage, proposal reviewing, and internal book reviewing. Giving and receiving radio interviews, creating multimedia walk-throughs, and more. Most of this has revolved around Linux and open source.

• Gaming Industry Editor

  LinuxWorld Magazine

  (Information Technology and Services industry)

  2003 — 2005 (2 years )

  This part-time position involved helping to manage the editorial calendar and queue for LinuxWorld Magazine and the related site, sourcing relevant and interesting content from both vendors and individuals, editing submitted content, and providing original content.
  
  Won the PRSA 2003 Award in Excellence in Technology Journalism for the article "Open Source Development: Shared Values Make Open Source Work," published in LinuxWorld Magazine's December 2003 issue.

• Instructor and Course Developer

  Element K/SmartPlanet/ZDU

  (E-Learning industry)

  1997 — 2001 (4 years )

  This part-time contract position was first with Ziff Davis Online University (ZDU), which was bought and made into SmartPlanet, which was bought by Element K and rebranded. For simplicity I'm listing it as one, as in many ways not a lot changed. All of these courses were delivered online through a forum system.
  
  The courses I developed centered around the Eudora email program, and Linux. For the courses I taught, there was a wide variety, ranging from Apache to FrontPage 98 to Unix, Linux, Perl, SQL, and JavaScript.

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Education

• Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus

  B.A. , Mechanical Engineering, Liberal Arts , 1988 — 1993

Additional Information

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Websites:

• The Freelance Survivor
• My Website

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Interests:

management techniques, logs, IT data, dogs, fiction writing, science fiction, fantasy, knowledge management, best practices, training, course development, games, education, Linux, open source, Splunk, log management, compliance, PCI, CMS, information architecture

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Groups:

Vancouver Linux Users Group, Mountain Linux Users Group, Internet Press Guild

•    Boxes and Arrows
•    The Penn State Alumni Association
•    Log Analysis Professionals
•    Open Source Universe
•    Writing Mafia
•    ThoseinMedia
•    The Linux Foundation
•    Linux Expert
•    CMS User Group
•    Dummies Authors
•    Online reporters and editors
•    Internet Press Guild
•    FOSS Professionals
•    LinuxFest Northwest
•    Training&Development
•    Instructional Design & E-Learning Professionals' Group
•    Technical Writer Forum
•    Professional Writers
•    Magazine
•    Freelance professionals
•    The Bitsource
•    Social Networking In the Age of Web 2.0
•    Splunk User Group

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Honors:

PRSA 2003 Award for Excellence in Technology Journalism for article "Open Source Development: Shared Values Make Open Source Work," published in LinuxWorld Magazine's December 2003 issue

Award of Distinguished Technical Communication, Software User Guide category STC Canada West Coast Chapter, 1999

Award of Excellent Technical Communication, Software User Guide category STC International competition, 1999

Dee-Ann LeBlanc’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch