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January 17, 2008
Internship!
Hey All,
So first I have utterly failed at adding a blog entry every week so I am sorry. However! Deadlines for Fall 2008 MSI applications are quickly approaching and I hope to add more entries that will be relevant and helpful for you all.
Soooo, I've gotten many questions about how students at SI obtain practical and relevant work experience. My answer there are two main ways...three really...coursework, internships (during the summer and during the semester), and projects on campus.
Today I'll touch on internships...especially because I just got hired as an intern for the UM Libraries' Usability Working Group (UWG). Go me ;)
Here's how it went down... ;)
Friday, I received a mass mailer email from Kelly in our Career Services office detailing the opening of the internship in the UWG.
I was definitely in need of a steady paycheck and getting usability experience was also a huge plus!
Saturday involved critiques to the ol resume (...I had some sad formatting and spelling errors) and formulation of a whole new cover letter. I was on a role and proud of myself for not procrastinating. Yes...that is a fault of mine but I aware of it...and as the GI Joes used to say...knowing is half the battle.
Anyway...Saturday night...submission of the resume and cover letter. Awesome.
Monday, received an email requesting an interview. Yes I am available heeelloooo! Scheduled it for the following day.
Tuesday, interview time. I wasn't too nervous and made sure I got there early.
The interview was about 40 minutes. I interviewed with two people. They asked general questions about my background and then dived into 5 scenario based questions relating to usability design, evaluation of systems etc. I was prepared for these sorts of questions based on my SI501 (Contextual Inquiry) project as well as from taking SI682 (Interface and Interaction Design). Both classes involved a team project working with a client, analyzing an existing issue, scoping requirements and performing usability methods (SI682). I'll talk more about these projects in a later blog.
I was nervous however because I did not have specific experience with a broad range of usability methods (such as card sorting or heuristic evaluations) so when they asked for examples of usability methodologies used previously I could only name a few. If I didn't get the job I figured that would be one of the reasons.
Wednesday, I got the internship!! Yeah! Apparently they didn't expect me to know everything upfront!
Basically my role as an intern with the library's Usability Working Group is to:
- Evaluate current and planned web resources, such as a new tagging application, MBooks, Search Tools (article finder), SFX (full-text linking service), Mirlyn (Library catalog), Ask Us (email & chat reference) and the University Library website
- Plan and conduct usability testing (formal & informal user testing, observation, comparative analysis, expert evaluations, survey, heuristic evaluation, personas and scenarios, use statistics, etc)
- User experience research
I'll continue to provide updates on my experience as the semester goes on.
Until then...
Posted by krosalia at January 17, 2008 11:02 AM