Amy Kern, senior technical writer and web site designer at Wordkraft/Webkraft, has seven years of technical communication experience, including five years as a senior-level writer and five years in web site design.

Amy's specialties of written communication, information analysis, and usability ensure superior results on every project regardless of format or tool used. She has won awards for both technical documentation and web site projects.

Amy has been employed as a technical communicator and web site designer by the following Des Moines area companies:

• Applied Art & Technology: Worked as a contractor on several projects.
  
  
  • Edited content for two new medical field web sites.
  • Created touch-screen survey for medical industry client.
  • Learned and documented two content management tools (Adobe Contribute and a proprietary tool) for medical field clients.

• Wells Fargo: Worked for several years as a contractor providing Wells Fargo Home Mortgage with online communications.
  
  
  • Edited documentation content for a new paperless application/system (CORE). Consulting/review of documentation site and sub-sites.
  • Designed a departmental intranet.
  • Designed, implemented, maintained content, and managed related communications for a nation-wide sales implementation intranet. Designed a smaller intranet site for a related audience.
  • Maintained the operation of an interactive content management FAQ site using a wiki tool.
  • Wrote context-sensitive help and other documentation for a web-based application in an iterative development environment
  • Designed a departmental intranet site using a third-party vendor content management application.
  • Produced general communications, articles, training materials, and documentation for a national sales implementation project.
  • Wrote a project vision document for a large, company-wide project.

• ITS/SHAZAM: Internet web site development and maintenance, intranet design and development, web-based manuals, application reference manuals.
  
  
  • Developed the internet web site redesign, including the addition of a complex ATM locator that updates from internal databases. Managed vendor-provided graphic design and special programming. (The SHAZAM internet redesign received a 2001 Apex Award of Excellence and a 2001 STC Award of Merit).
  • Created the company intranet from existing "islands" of information residing in various formats throughout the company.
  • Other projects included the conversion of paper employee handbook to web-based handbook residing on the intranet, a Windows help manual, usability testing, and consultation on application interfaces.

• GuideOne Insurance: Sales instructional design projects, intranet development.
  
  
  • As a contractor, consulted on LMS development of sales training course and wrote two modules for course.
  • Helped create a series of manuals instructing sales representative in selling company projects.
  • Created agent contract manuals illustrating the differences in the new sales contract and program. (1999 IABC Merit Award).
  • Other projects included consultation on intranet and extranet development and collateral materials supporting intranet and extranet development.

• The Principal Financial Group: Paper and online technical communication projects, intranet web sites.
  
  
  • Created a web-based manual on information protection and departmental web sites for the company's intranet.
  • Served as team leader for the conversion of a large sales paper reference guide to an online SGML tool.
  • Conducted usability testing.
  • Wrote paper manuals on insurance administration.
  • Other projects included inter-departmental training on indexing and word-processing tools.

To learn about specific tools and skills Amy has mastered, check out the technical documentation and web design information.

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