Dan Bashaw Portfolio | Résumé

My portfolio and résumé

Portfolio

Several samples of web development and e-learning work that I’ve done:

BC Legislative Assembly Website

I was the lead developer and information architect on the 2003 redevelopment of the BC Legislative Assembly website. This was the first large web project undertaken by TM NewMedia, and my first significant experience as a project lead with the responsibility of coordinating and facilitating several staff and contractors.

Specific tasks that I was directly hands-on responsible for were:

  • Developing the project proposal and presenting it along with the TM MewMedia CEO, successfully winning the work over several larger system development firms.
  • Analysis, including over a dozen research reports covering metadata, search engine recommendations, site audiences, and architecture and navigation.
  • Developing scripted and workflow processes for Hansard (debate transcript) conversion from hardcopy to digital online with full original page images.
  • Creating Dreamweaver templates and managing several contract staff in use of the templates to populate the site.
  • Client management and engagement with multiple competing stakeholders within the Legislative Assembly.
  • Training Legislative Assembly staff to maintain the site, along with associated intranet sites.

Key design and technical challenges included:

  • assessing and processing over 10,000 pages of existing web content, bringing it up to then-current technical, usability, and editorial standards.
  • designing and implementing a new navigation system and information architecture, based on a user-oriented redesign of the site’s information architecture.
  • integrating existing information silos and sub-sites – often organizationally structured and closely held by independent branches of the Legislative Assembly – into a single unified site structure, while still meeting the organizational and structural needs of the various units.
  • The project included the conversion of over 70,000 pages of bound hard-copy Hansard transcripts to a custom-designed online system that offered links to high-resolution scans of each hard-copy page, while still maintaining fully searchable and semantically tagged HTML text to the user.

In 2009, TM was again contracted to analyze and propose core changes to the site to update server technologies, review the audience and organizational analysis to ensure the site remains in alignment with the Legislative Assembly’s needs, and to address emerging opportunities to apply Web 2.0 technologies and enhance mobile device access to the site. I was the sole analyst and author of this report.

AECIS

AECIS II, the Aboriginal Engagement Corporate Information Site, is a multi-stakeholder document-sharing portal designed for the coordination and sharing of public and confidential documents amongst 12 BC Government ministries and agencies that engage in negotiations and interactions with BC’s many First Nations.

AECIS II is a secure Internet site built in SharePoint 2007 MOSS Enterprise. The site uses customized collaboration portal templates and a custom-coded tabbed search interface created in ASP.NET C#.

I was the lead developer and information architect for this project, taking on project management and various roles through all phases of analysis, design and production. Specific hands-on tasks included:

  • Developing the project proposal and presenting it along with the TN MewMedia CEO, again winning the work over several large system development firms.
  • Analysis, including carrying out all technical research and primary authorship of all reports.
  • Developing hardware and software specifications for the server farm system.
  • Developing requirements for the system and its custom search interface.
  • Developing site branding (theming) and site functionality in SharePoint and SharePoint Designer and managing several contract staff responsible for custom programming.
  • Training BC Government staff to maintain the site.

AECIS is a secure extranet site, with no public access. However you can view a somewhat cheesy Flash presentation describing the system and its features here: http://clients.tmnewmedia.com/demo/aecis

The Natural Step Canada – Sustainability: Step by Natural Step training

The Natural Step, Canada, an international non-profit with its Canadian office in Ottawa, retained TM NewMedia to write, design, and build in Flash a sophisticated, three-hour, rich-media online course which is being delivered to a wide range of adult learners world­wide.

My roles in this work were relatively minor, and included:

  • Contributing substantially to the Analysis report that launched the project.
  • Conceptual design of the introductory ‘500 years of history’ sequence that starts the course. Visual design and animation were done by TM NewMedia art director Gordon Draibye.
  • Flash animation as part of a team of four Flash developers.
  • Subsequent management of the LMS that has served the TNS courses since launch.

I include this sample because I find the intro sequence makes a nice thirty-second break, and as an example of the many projects in which I have contributed in multiple ways under the leadership of others. Here it is: http://clients.tmnewmedia.com/tns/demo/

CUEE

CUEE is a straightforward Dreamweaver and Contribute project, with a simple page layout based on the 960 grid system. I was responsible for coding the template and site HTML/CSS and implementing the JavaScript menus.

View the site and source code at http://www.evaluationeducation.ca/

 

 

 

SMUS

I was the lead analyst/developer in migrating SMUS, a k-12 private school based in Victoria BC from a static HTML site with a mix of technologies driving different sub-sites to a unified site built in the Drupal 6 CMS.

My roles in the SMUS site projects include:

  • Developing the project proposal and schedule/budget documents.
  • Analysis, including migration planning as well as the usual technical and architectural tasks.
  • Developing site structure, content types and roll-up views in Drupal 6
  • Coordinating contractors in template development and directly carrying out subsequent CSS and template code tweaks and additions.
  • Site maintenance, including patches, updates, and feature enhancements.
  • Training SMUS staff to maintain the site.

My current work for SMUS includes site maintenance and upgrades, coding a HTML newsletter in MailChimp Template Language, and architecting and developing an online archive site aimed at alumni engagement.

View SMUS at http://www.smus.ca

Additional samples are available on request.