Heather Hedden's Curriculum Vitae

Hedden Information Management

Heather Hedden’s Curriculum Vitae

SKILLS

Experienced using MS Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project), WebEx, Synaptica, MultiTes, SKY Index, Dreamweaver, HTML, XML, and various proprietary database systems.
Skilled in giving oral presentations, writing training documentation, and conducting online research though web search engines, command-line Dialog, and subscription periodical databases.
Basic knowledge of German, Russian, and Arabic

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

VIZIANT CORPORATION, Boston, Massachusetts, January 2007 – present
Information Taxonomist
Manage and direct all taxonomic content, including terms, manual and auto-generated keywords, and training documents. Oversee editorial assistant work in these areas and the file management system.

Develop and maintain general and vertical market taxonomies, including relationships and definitions, as a content component of an enterprise search & discovery system.
Identify and edit sample training documents for each taxonomy node.
Write taxonomy development policies and guidelines.
Test taxonomy-maintenance user interface; make recommendations for enhancements.
Developed system of taxonomy tags, as user-specified relationships and categories within the taxonomy tool MultiTes and then also as xml tags within xml files for auto-categorization of content.
Initiated and facilitated initial discussion with selected taxonomy vendor with which a partnership was subsequently established.
Contributed to Product Requirements Document and Functional Design Specifications.

SIMMONS COLLEGE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE Boston, Massachusetts, 2006 – present
Continuing Education Lecturer
Design, write and teach continuing education workshops: “Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies," “Creating Website Indexes,” and “Teaching Findability to Kids” both online and onsite. Evaluated software products and services to include in the workshops.

HEDDEN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, Carlisle, Massachusetts 2004 – 2007
Principal
Provided contract services in taxonomy development, term mapping, indexing, and web site information architecture (including search engine optimization). Developed online courses and offered training in web site indexing.

THE GALE GROUP (formerly Information Access Company), Belmont, California, 1993 – 2004
Working remotely from Massachusetts since 1998

Senior Vocabulary Editor, Editorial Standards Department, 1996 – 2004
Developed and improved controlled vocabulary used in database indexing to ensure indexing consistency. Identified and researched potential new terms, created cross-references, analyzed large subsets of the vocabulary, and made changes. Developed and documented indexing policies.

Accomplishments:

Developed hierarchy of over 2500 topics for a new online search interface, making document retrieval easier for school market. Worked with software developers on interface design. Managed participation of six remote editors.
Integrated legacy hierarchies of indexing vocabularies, increasing document retrieval results.
Mapped company vocabulary to that of strategic partners to expand business markets.
Isolated and categorized sets of vocabulary for new, market-specific database products.

Senior Editor, Industry Express indexing group, 1995 – 1996
Responsible for all vocabulary and editorial policies within group to ensure indexing consistency. Answered questions, edited, and provided feedback on indexers’ work to improve product quality. Acted as liaison with other departments on vocabulary, policy, documentation, and training issues. Developed and communicated policies to indexing staff to improve workflow. Coordinated distribution of indexing work to indexers in other groups.

Accomplishments:

Played key role in establishment of new group and launch of new current awareness product.
Developed effective quality control procedures to meet department goals.
Established procedure to address vocabulary questions and test new terms.
Coordinated vocabulary-testing project.
Managed title record count project, searching information online and sorting data spreadsheet.
Mapped product codes to Industry Express topics for internal indexing guide.

Indexer/Abstractor, Business Publications and PROMT indexing groups, 1993 – 1995
Indexed and abstracted articles from various magazines, trade journals, newsletters, and newspapers for InfoTrac periodical index databases. Edited work done by peers, newly trained indexers, and overseas vendors. Trained and indexed in three different indexing methods/vocabulary systems and on four different computer-based production systems.

RICOH - CALIFORNIA RESEARCH CENTER, Menlo Park, California 1992 – 1993
Library Assistant
Catalogued technical reports, papers, conference proceedings, and books in the technical library using FileMaker Pro on the Macintosh. Designed databases and entered data in FileMaker Pro for accounting department.

MIDDLE EAST TIMES, Cairo, Egypt 1991 – 1992
Senior Writer
Wrote two feature articles per week on business, economic, political, and social topics, totaling over 100 articles. Originated article topic ideas, made contacts, conducted interviews, and attended press conferences. Selected and abstracted news briefs from the daily press. Edited articles contributed by freelance writers.

SIMULTRANS (formerly American Translators International), Palo Alto, California 1990 – 1991
Project Coordinator
Coordinated translation projects of business, legal, technical, and company-internal documents. Managed an average of 10 projects per week, ranging from same-day rush to month-long jobs. Prepared project cost estimates and ensured that projects were profitable. Selected and managed remote freelance translators, proofreaders and desktop publishing specialists.

CONTRACT EXPERIENCE

Taxonomy Editor, PlaceLinks, Waltham, Massachusetts, 2006 – 2007
Edited thesaurus of products and services for web-based yellow pages.

Taxonomist-Consultant, Earley & Associates, Inc., Needham Massachusetts, 2006
Developed basic taxonomies and extracted terms from sites for corporate enterprises.

Vocabulary Consultant, Factiva (Dow Jones & Reuters), Princeton, New Jersey, 2005
Mapped thousands of logged search phrases to the controlled vocabulary

Taxonomist-Consultant, Tiny Engine Inc., San Francisco, California, 2005
Developed of news classification taxonomy and created a total of 1142 terms in a four-level taxonomy.

Indexer/Lexicographer, Synapse Corp., Franktown, Colorado, 2004
Indexed reference book essays and state science curriculum standards. Added new indexing terms to the databases.

Editorial Analyst, MeansBusiness, Boston, Massachusetts, 1998 – 1999
Selected extracts and indexed concepts from business management books.

Web Site Researcher/Reviewer/Indexer, Gale Research , Detroit, Michigan 1996
Searched and reviewed 25 company web sites for Cyberhound Internet directory. Summarized and evaluated the sites, obtained company information, and assigned subject headings and SIC codes for database entries.

Contributing Editor/Writer, Multilingual Computing Magazine, Sandpoint, Idaho 1993 – 1995
Wrote original articles about foreign language and foreign script software. Selected and rewrote press releases for product announcement and news briefs. Copyedited feature articles and reviews. Compiled calendar of events.

Contributing Writer, St. James Press, Detroit, Michigan 1992 – 1995
Independently researched online databases and other sources, and wrote 42 original essays (2000-9000 words each) for reference books: International Directory of Company Histories, Encyclopedia of American Industries, Global Industry Profiles, Encyclopedia of Business, and Annual Obituary.

EDUCATION

Princeton University, M.A., Near Eastern Studies, May 1990
Cornell University, B.A., Government, May 1987; Phi Beta Kappa honor society

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Web Site Indexing, Broccoli Information Management online course
Writing Indexes for Books and Websites, Middlesex Community College, Bedford, Massachusetts
Achieving Top Search Engine Positions, Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education
Imaging for the Web using Fireworks, Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education
Introduction to Dreamweaver MX, Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education, Concord, Massachusetts
Creating Web Pages, Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education, Concord, Massachusetts
Project Management seminar, Foster City, California
The Internet: A Step by Step Approach, U.C. Berkeley Extension, Menlo Park, California
Online Searching and Electronic Research, U.C. Berkeley Extension San Francisco, California
Introduction to Copyediting, U.C. Berkeley Extension, San Francisco, California
Computer-Based Systems for Libraries, Foothill College, Los Altos, California

AFFILIATIONS
American Society for Indexing (ASI)
Taxonomies & Controlled Vocabularies SIG of ASI, Manager (2007 – present)
Web Indexing SIG of ASI, Manager (2005-2006)
New England Chapter of ASI, President (2006)
Information Architecture Institute
Content Management Professionals

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