Ryan Mark

Education

Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Dec. 2008
Master of Science in Journalism
Sponsored by the Knight Foundation through a News Challenge Grant

Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
May 2004
Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science

Experience

Medill Innovation Project, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
September-December 2008

• Co-leader of the Crunchberry Project: a team of six journalism graduate students researching issues of online conversation around news
• Collaborated on the conception and design of News Mixer – a tech demo illustrating the conclusions of the groups research
• Co-wrote the News Mixer software in Python and Django
• Contributed to the final report detailing the conclusions of project’s research and development
• Deployed and managed the project’s blog

Medill News Service, Chicago, Illinois
Science Reporter
January – December 2008

• Built and deployed Envirovote.us to track the environment credentials of candidates during the 2008 national election
• Created an interactive map/timeline of accidents on the CTA rails
• Covered Comer foundation climate science conference in Wisconsin
• Reported daily science stories, with focus on consumer technology
• Developed source rolodex including technology experts and community activists
• Covered Astronaut Barbara Morgan’s visit to Chicago to speak to young women in science
• Wrote stories analyzing potential health implications of nanotechnology
• Evacuated from Chicago subway, reported on the spot and produced a photo essay
• Wrote a blog covering digital divide issues in Chicago and internationally
• Produced video and audio pieces to compliment written articles

ZapTel Corp., Rolling Meadows, IL
Technology Director
September 2005-January 2008

• Managed technology planning and infrastructure for a 10-person telecom business
• Researched and proposed plans on future direction of infrastructure, products and marketing strategies
• Reported directly to the president and assisted in the day to day of running an e-business
• Managed and customized Enterprise Level E-Business Web Application Suite
• Launched blog with Drupal to increase dialog with customers
• Designed rich user interface for the ZapTel’s e-commerce website
• Managed, designed, and developed custom contact management system
• Built and managed company’s virtual phone system from scratch using free software
• Integrated partner companies’ web services into our e-commerce platform

Freelance Web Design and Development, Chicago, IL
June 2004-Present

• Followed leads to find new clients, met and collaborated with potential clients to ascertain content and target audience of web sites
• Built accessible, standards compliant web sites, designed graphics, layout and navigation
• Developed custom web based applications using open source software
• Samples: Steamgard, NeoPharm, Arbour Group

Net On-Line, Inc. – American Academy of Dermatology, Schaumburg, IL
Web Specialist
March 2005-August 2005

• Worked with a team to develop web sites for members of the American Academy of Dermatology
• Managed client communication and assigned work to other members of the production team
• Collaborated with clients, developers, and account representatives to fulfill the needs of the clients
• Built web pages and designed graphics elements to compliment content
• Contributed HTML, CSS, PHP and javascript expertise to team environment

Save A Life Foundation, Inc., Schiller Park, IL
Webmaster
August 2004-March 2005

• Maintained the website and tech infrastructure for a 10-person not-for-profit
• Wrote and edited content for website and newsletter; delegated writing assignments
• Redesigned the look, layout, and architecture of the organization’s website
• Dramatically improved rankings on Google, Yahoo, and MSN with search engine optimization techniques

Skills

Design: Adobe Creative Suite ~ Web Graphics & Architecture ~ E-Mail ~ User Interface ~ Newspaper
Development: XHTML/CSS/Javascript/AJAX ~ SQL ~ PHP ~ Java ~ XML ~ Ruby on Rails ~ ColdFusion ~ Django/Python ~ Drupal ~ WordPress ~ Actionscript/Flash ~ Agile Development