Secretary to the OGB at OpenSolaris Community
Greater Denver Area
- Current
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- Secretary to the OGB at OpenSolaris Community
- Community Strategist & Social Media Producer at Sun Microsystems
- Past
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- Senior Web Producer at Sun Microsystems
- Director of Customer Experience at TVBLOB srl
- Freelance at Freelance
- Web Strategies Manager at Roxio
- Consultant in Online Marketing and Customer Support at Adaptec
- Chief Technical Writer at Incat Systems Software
- Director of Desktop Publishing at Team Technologies
- Education
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- The Open University
- The University of Texas at Austin
- UC Santa Cruz
- Woodstock School
- Recommended
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10 people have recommended Deirdré - Connections
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323
connections
- Industry
- Computer Software
- Websites
Deirdré Straughan’s Summary
Community strategist and social media producer
Deirdré Straughan’s Specialties:
* Social media strategy, production, execution and analysis
* Community development strategy and execution
* Online marketing: program management, customer service, customer relationship development
* Video and videoblogging
* Software interaction design, user experience analysis and design
* International outlook and experience: lived 6 years in India, speak Hindi; lived 17 years in Italy, speak, read and write Italian fluently
Deirdré Straughan’s Experience
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Secretary to the OGB
OpenSolaris Community
(Non-Profit; Computer Software industry)
April 2009 — Present (8 months)
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Community Strategist & Social Media Producer
Sun Microsystems
(Public Company; JAVA; Information Technology and Services industry)
March 2008 — Present (1 year 9 months)
As part of a small team developing and executing strategies to grow open source communities for Sun’s Solaris engineering group, I have:
* Filmed, produced and published over 150 hours of video on highly technical topics, garnering >50,000 views. Have also managed a translation and subtitling project to increase the usefulness of these videos worldwide.
* Devised and managed social media strategies to encourage use of blogs, Twitter, etc. to promote and communicate about Sun technologies. Analysis and strategies for specific blogs led to increased posting and traffic. Translation led to page view increases of 200-2000% in China, Russia, Brazil, Japan, and Spanish-speaking countries.
* Social media production at events
* Developed strategies to encourage the growth and activity of OpenSolaris communities.
* Constantly gathered and analyzed statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of all of the above.
* Developed and managed web content
* Event planning and management -
Senior Web Producer
Sun Microsystems
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; JAVA; Computer Hardware industry)
March 2007 — March 2008 (1 year 1 month)
Content development and management, blogging management, web metrics and analysis, videoblogging, and web strategy for Solaris storage software.
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Director of Customer Experience
TVBLOB srl
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
January 2004 — July 2007 (3 years 7 months)
* Software interface and interaction design: Member of top management team responsible for defining and refining software products. Develop feature requests into step-by-step schematics showing UI states and behaviors at each step, work with software engineers to ensure correct implementation, work with marketing and graphics to ensure usability of graphic look-and-feel and adherence to company guidelines. Test and refine usability, some bench testing as well.
* Manage all and write technical documentation for TVBLOB's software and hardware. Provide technical input, copy editing, and translation for marketing materials, etc.
* Market research and monitoring: read and clip 60+ blogs and other sources daily, covering broadband, telecommunications, usability, interaction design, new media, participatory culture, user-generated content, general high tech, etc.
* Coordinate beta testing
* Develop customer support processes and materials -
Freelance
Freelance
(Computer Software industry)
2001 — 2004 (3 years )
During this period, I made the most of my web, language and writing skills:
- Personal website: development, writing, and analysis of an extensive personal website - http://www.beginningwithi.com/
- Translation (Italian to English) of Evince Management Consulting website
- Legal Interpretation: English to Italian and vice-versa (non-simultaneous) for depositions in an international arbitration.
- Websites: tartarugatours.com, europlacements.it (working with Soho Webplan)
- Software manuals and online help for WinOnCD 5 Standard Edition and Power Edition, WinOnCD 6 all Editions. -
Web Strategies Manager
Roxio
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; ROXI; Computer Software industry)
November 2000 — July 2001 (9 months)
Managing the web content and community team, web content development (technical and marketing), HTML, navigation, administration (management/integration of work from in-house team and outside contractors), and maintenance. Also designed and managed implementation of Web-based applications. Email marketing. Online support and marketing.
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Consultant in Online Marketing and Customer Support
Adaptec
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; ADPT; Computer Software industry)
August 1995 — November 2000 (5 years 4 months)
Managing the web content and community team, web content development (technical and marketing), HTML, navigation, administration (management/integration of work from in-house team and outside contractors), and maintenance. Also designed and managed implementation of Web-based applications. Email marketing. Online support and marketing.
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Chief Technical Writer
Incat Systems Software
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
November 1991 — August 1995 (3 years 10 months)
• Responsible for all software manuals and online help, including planning, scheduling, software testing, writing, editing, layout, graphics, and maintaining a consistent style across different software packages. Worked with engineers from the beta stage, testing and reporting bugs, and making suggestions for interface and feature improvements. Also did marketing materials and other documentation, online customer support, sales support, and technical support.
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Director of Desktop Publishing
Team Technologies
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
March 1987 — February 1989 (2 years )
Systems integration and installation, sales, training, and technical support for DOS- and Windows-based DTP systems. Training courses were individually designed for clients, who included the U.S. Navy, trade associations in Washington, D.C., and two management training institutions in Africa (as a consultant for the World Bank).
Deirdré Straughan’s Education
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The Open University
MBA , Business , 1999 — 2004
Completed this MBA while also working full time.
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The University of Texas at Austin
BA , Asian Studies & Languages , 1982 — 1986
Graduated with high honors.
- Activities and Societies:
- Liberal Arts Council
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UC Santa Cruz
1981 — 1982
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Woodstock School
US high school , US high school , 1977 — 1981
This international boarding school in the Himalayan foothills in India was an important formative part of my life, resulting in a personal and professional network that spans many generations, geographies, and fields.
Additional Information
Deirdré Straughan’s Websites:
Deirdré Straughan’s Interests:
Social networking, community building/management, video, consumer-generated media, customer service, usability, interface design, travel, writing, photography, cooking.
Deirdré Straughan’s Groups:
Woodstock School alumni groups in the US and Europe, and secretary of the class of '81
Board Member of SAGE http://sageprogram.org/
Democrats Abroad Milan, past board member
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BlogHer -
WOSA (Woodstock Old Students Association) -
Girl Geek Dinners -
Sun Storage -
Woodstock School Alumni -
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
Deirdré Straughan’s Honors:
Publications:
Book: Publish Yourself on CD-ROM, co-authored with Fabrizio Caffarelli. A comprehensive guide to CD-ROM technology, for everyone from beginners to experts. Published by Random House Electronic Publishing, January, 1993. Included a CD-ROM containing software and a hypertext version of the book.
Articles: Many in Italian computer magazines, one article in CD-ROM Professional magazine (now Emedia Professional).
Viewer's Choice Vloggie Award (2006) - Best Collaboration
Deirdré Straughan’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
