Writing

In the course of my nearly two decades as a mortgage loan processor, I encountered many processes that contained instructions. They covered how to enter data, calculate rental income, analyze tax returns, and much more. Every procedure manual, user manual, or instructions for assembling furniture is a set of instructions. However, the simplicity of the final product belies the work that goes into creating usable instructions. Steps must be sequenced accurately. Careful editing and testing of those steps maximizes usability and reader comprehension. Even something as simple as using the active voice makes a difference in the effectiveness of the final product.

Here, I have created two sets of instructions for common tasks. One is a simple how-to on creating a PDF with working links. The other is a more complex recipe. The heavy emphasis on layout, simplicity, and customized visuals helps make them usable instructions. The PDF instructions have manipulated screenshots. The recipe photos were all shot in my kitchen, which added another layer of planning complexity to the project. Creating the recipe instructions was easily the hardest, and most delicious, project in this portfolio. (I made a lot of mousse while verifying the steps!)

Academic writing does not seem like a real-life skill. Most of us assume that our days of writing papers are over at graduation. However, the same basic principles that make for a good academic paper apply to other forms of writing, such as journalism and business writing. For example, addressing an issue (a thesis statement), providing supporting evidence (the research and information), and giving an overview of next steps or solutions (a well-written conclusion) is the basic formula for writing a good memo.

I have chosen this paper for my portfolio because of its focus on Big Data and our susceptibility to algorithmic manipulation. This is a poorly understood concept that affects all internet and cellular data users. The paper specifically looks at Uber’s employment practices, but there are many other examples of how our data is used for profit, such as dynamic pricing and targeted advertising. My creation of a portfolio and your visit to it will be added to our digital profiles for later use, one perhaps not even thought of yet.