Shailendra (Shailo) Rao

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON WEB: A/B + multi-level study design, questionnaire design, statistical analysis (SPSS), generating cognitive/ social design principles

USER RESEARCH: web/ mobile usability testing, ethnography, field studies, heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs, competitive analysis, expert reviews, information architecture, phone interviews

UI/ INTERACTION DESIGN: HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Photoshop

SOCIAL MEDIA: building, growing, marketing online communities, SEO

Shailendra (Shailo) Rao’s Experience

Co-Founder

Golden State of Mind (SB Nation)

(Sports industry)

May 2005 — Present (4 years 7 months)

NBA, Golden State Warriors, and basketball blog + community part of venture backed SB Nation

• Recruited team of 7 writers and artists
• Built a popular brand in the local sports scene and larger sports blogosphere
• Optimized content for search engines
• Wrote articles featured on San Jose Mercury, Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo! Sports, Deadspin, Slam, Dime, About.com, and FSN Bay Area
• Used social media (MySpace, message boards, Facebook, Twitter) to increase readership and user base to one of the highest among NBA blogs
• Monetized site with Google AdSense and negotiated ad deals with several ticket brokers
• Devised product offerings for GSoM Store 1.0/ 2.0
• Helped market and organize 6 GSoM Night Warriors games with upwards of 1,000 community members participating
• Co-organized GSoM Kid’s Day and t-shirt giveaway for 100 youth and chaperones
• Over 17 million page views to date

* http://www.sbnation.com/
Researcher

Stanford University: Communication between Humans and Interactive Media Lab (CHIMe)

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

September 2004 — Present (5 years 3 months)

Led 8 different multidisciplinary research teams comprised of PhD, Masters, and undergraduate students from engineering, design, and social science backgrounds.

Research areas: personalization, adaptation, recommendation systems, affective computing, emotion detection, mobile phones, online security, persuasion, car voice interfaces

Funders: AOL Time Warner, Dai Nippon Printing (Japan), Visa, Media X at Stanford University

* http://chime.stanford.edu/

(See Publications)
Co-Founder

SayHello!

(Internet industry)

January 2007 — June 2009 (2 years 6 months)

SayHello! is a group voice messaging and networking platform specifically designed for the Indian lifestyle. It takes advantage of the voice and text capabilities of the mobile phone along with the visual nature of the web to provide a service for friends to connect, communicate, and coordinate more efficiently and powerfully. It works on any mobile phone irrespective of handset or service provider.

• Involved in all aspects of startup formation and product development from incorporation to private beta release
• Conceptualized a mobile social networking service for users with limited internet access
• Co-designed a UI for IVR that can accomplish many of the communication and coordination tasks done in popular computer and web services such as email, calendar, message board, blogging, and recommendations
• Formulated functional specs and coded website front end
• Prioritized product directions and timeline
• Designed an audio web interface that merged functionality and UI principles from Gmail + iTunes

* http://www.sayhello.in/
User Experience Researcher

Google

(Public Company; GOOG; Internet industry)

July 2008 — November 2008 (5 months)

Research for Google Maps, Google Maps Mobile, Google Earth for iPhone, iGoogle, and Android during 4th internship

Google Maps
• Conducted My Maps expert review
• Designed, ran, and analyzed My Maps remote interviews
• Presented design implications
• Prioritized UI needs and fixes

Google Maps Navigation
• Researched competitive landscape and design guidelines
• Co-tested competitive systems
• Mocked up wireframes based on findings and product discussions
• Documented future directions for research

Google Maps Mobile
• Helped analyze user study
• Discussed next design steps with product team

Google Earth for iPhone
• Gave team important early feedback about product performance
• Designed, ran, and analyzed a usability test to generate fixes before initial launch

iGoogle
• Helped design field study to investigate how to make personalized Google more social
• Interviewed users in their natural settings
• Presented findings and product ideas to product team

Android
• Co-designed, ran, and analyzed usability study comparing different virtual keyboards
Advisory Board Member

Ballhype

(Internet industry)

February 2007 — July 2008 (1 year 6 months)

Social sports startup acquired by Future US

• Provided early stage feedback during product conceptualization
• Consulted with founders to improve site navigation and information architecture
• Proposed key features to help drive traffic to site
• Devised a strategy to increase user sign ups and retention
• Helped improve overall UI and page designs

* http://www.ballhype.com/
Researcher

Stanford University: Persuasive Technology Lab

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

January 2007 — June 2007 (6 months)

* http://captology.stanford.edu/
User Experience Researcher

Google

(Public Company; GOOG; Internet industry)

June 2005 — September 2005 (4 months)

Research for Google Talk, Gmail Mobile, Google Base during 3rd internship

Google Talk
• Researched how people manage multiple IM conversations for main summer project by analyzing IM usage in workplace and recreation
• Co-presented findings and design recommendations
• Published in HCI International 2009

Gmail Mobile
• User tested different versions of UI
• Wrote up design implications

Google Base
• Co-designed, ran, and analyzed usability study
• Identified user questions and concerns pre-launch
User Experience Researcher

Google

(Public Company; GOOG; Internet industry)

December 2004 — January 2005 (2 months)

Research for Gmail, Blogger, Google Transit during 2nd internship

Gmail Help Center
• Utilized card sort to redesign information architecture
• Co-designed, conducted, and analyzed an experiment to test redesigned information hierarchy

Blogger
• Tested paper prototypes of publishing process to elicit early-stage design feedback

Google Transit
• Provided early-stage feedback with cognitive walkthrough
User Experience Researcher

Google

(Public Company; GOOG; Internet industry)

June 2004 — September 2004 (4 months)

Research for Google SMS, Google Desktop, Google Local, Froogle during 1st internship

Google SMS
• Co-designed and ran user studies
• Helped devise mobile lab testing setup
• Co-authored Google’s first HCI publication

Google Desktop
• Co-constructed field study methodology to investigate initial user experiences with first product version
• Reported on findings and next steps for design

Google Local
• Ran participants and wrote up results from user study

Froogle
• User-tested and analyzed introduction of merchant ratings
Researcher/ UI Designer

UCSD- Interaction Cognition Lab

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

April 2002 — June 2004 (2 years 3 months)

Research projects: Context Aware Office, E-Learning, Collaborative Environments

Interactive Course Design
A highly successful online web-programming course at UCSD covering Document Structure (XHTML), Formal Layout (CSS), Interactivity (JavaScript), and Structure of Content (XML), which received a 95% approval from students.
• Managed and directed project team towards creating web friendly programming tutorials
• Co-wrote tutorial for CSS
• Editor for XHTML, JavaScript, and XML lecture content
• Developed web layout for programming lectures
• Designed templates for interactive exercises, polls, and quizzes to make programming languages more dynamic and hands-on
* http://interactivity.ucsd.edu/projects/eLearning.html

External Lab Website Revamp
• Conducted a usability analysis and competitive intelligence report which lay the foundation for revised information architecture and presentation of site
• Created a clean and highly visual interface for revamped website

* http://interactivity.ucsd.edu/
Web Developer

The Knowledge Team

(Internet industry)

April 2002 — June 2004 (2 years 3 months)

Web design/ development, usability analyst, UI designer and information architect for Inter-American Development Bank and Multilateral Investment Fund site redesigns.
Research Assistant

UCSD: Autism Research Lab

(Educational Institution; Research industry)

January 2000 — August 2000 (8 months)

Conducted and helped analyze effects of Pivotal Response Training (PRT) on 4-7 year old children with autism

* http://psy3.ucsd.edu/~autism/

Shailendra (Shailo) Rao’s Education

Stanford University

PhD , Human Computer Interaction , 2004 — 2009

Dissertation topic: Making personalization feel more personal with HCI and social science

Advisors: Clifford Nass, Jeremy Bailenson, Byron Reeves

GPA: 3.96

* http://www.communication.stanford.edu/

Teaching Assistantships
• Experimental Research in Advanced User Interfaces
• Media Psychology
• Computers and Interfaces
• Media Technologies, People, and Society
Stanford University Graduate School of Business

Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship 2008 — 2008

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOIzXVa8XXQ
* http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/sie/

Additional GSB coursework
• Sports Business Management
• Sports Business Financing/ Sports Investment
• Sports Marketing
Stanford University

MA , Media Studies , 2004 — 2007
University of California, San Diego

BS , Cognitive Science (Human Computer Interaction) , 1998 — 2003

Honors Thesis: Understanding Office Ecologies: Distinguishing Between Different Office Dweller Types (Ethnography for Context Aware Office)

Advisors: David Kirsh, Aaron Cicourel, Jeff Elman

HCI Specialization GPA: 4.00
Major GPA: 3.80

* http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/

Minor, Ethnic Studies
* http://www.ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu/

Teaching Assistantships
• Cognitive Aspects of Multimedia Design
• Cognitive Science: Intro to Web Programming: XHTML, CSS, Javascript, XML
• Cognitive Science: Language and Reasoning
• Contemporary Issues: The University in Society (OASIS- Summer Bridge)

Activities and Societies:

Co-Founder Coalition of South Asian Peoples (CSAP), Hindu Students Council
The Athenian School

High School , 1994 — 1998

* http://www.athenian.org/
University of California, Berkeley

Academic Talent Development Program 1996 — 1996

* http://atdp.berkeley.edu/