work

2007 - Present space Sr. Interaction Designer, Revit Architecture, Autodesk space User research, Autodesk logoUI design, usability

2005-2007 space Work Practice Designer/Team Lead, InContext Enterprises, Inc. space Led hybrid user-centered design teams and performed all aspects of contextual design including ethnographic interviews, data analysis, affinity, sequence, and flow consolidation and incontext logodiagramming, visioning, storyboarding, user environment documentation, paper prototype designs and tests, wire frame mockups.

1997-2005 space Usability/accessibility, Educational Technology Consultant, Team Lead space Massachusetts Institute of Technology space MIT_logoSpecialized in development, support, usability/accessibility, and promotion of technologies to support teaching and learning including Stellar , MIT's learning management system, Open CourseWare (OCW) and grant funded research projects such as ArchNet ; founding member of MIT's Usability Team; initiated and led project to draft MIT's web accessibility policy and guidelines, and conducted training on web accessibility; managed team of educational technology consultants

Progress_logo1995-1997 space Technical Support Engineer, Progress Software, Inc. space Helped customers use Progress Software's products; performed first and second line support specializing in the Unix platform. Proactively moved the technical support internal documentation to the Web.

1979-1989 space Patent Illustrator; Graphics System Administrator, AT&T Bell Laboratories space Created illustrations of inventions for submittal to U.S.bell_labs_logo Patent Office; led project to automate the Patent Illustration process, including researching systems, system installation, process design, coding, documentation, training, planning, system administration, user support.

water color self-portrait
Contact me
gargoyles on Notre Dame in Parisquote of the day

clouds objective

To make the world a better place for users of software, systems, web sites and products through the application of user-centered design.

interaction design

I believe that the best way to create highly usable products, web sites, applications, and even business processes, is through the use of user-centered design.

Conducting initial contextual interviews with real users ensures a thorough understanding of the work practice to be supported. Modeling of the interview data leads to iterative rounds of paper prototype testing which validates the design before coding, and so ensures that the right product gets built.

Projects I have designed or helped develop through usability activities include:

space MIT's Teaching with Technology website
space MIT's EdTech Times online newsletter
space Stellar, MIT's learning management system
space Archnet

awards

Society for Technical Communications (STC) Award of Distinction, 2005-2006 Online Communication Competition for MIT's Teaching with Technology web site

ACM SIGUCCS Publications Competition- Overall Winner - Quick Reference Guides for Educational Technology Resources at MIT - A Quick Guide (2002)

Progress Software Corporation - Peer recognition Award for creating web intranet for internal documentation (1996)

AT&T Bell Labs - Commendation for Automation of Patent Drafting Process (1985)


Last updated on January 22, 2012
drawing_of_einstein education

space 2007 - B.S. Technical Communications, Northeastern University space 2000-2002 - Human Factors in Information Design certificate program, Bentley University (All coursework but capstone) space 1982-1987 (attended) - BFA Illustration Program, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

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papers and presentations

Foster,J., Wilson, C. User Data is Like Gold...So why do we throw it away? UPA Idea Market, UPA Conference, Baltimore, MD, (2008, June)

Foster, J. (2005, July). Agile User-Centered Web Engineering: The Holy Grail of Web Development. HOT Topics Newsletter. (Publication of the Human Oriented Technology Lab, Carleton University). Retrieved from

Foster, J. UPA Idea Market Leader - Usability on Campus, UPA Conference, Montreal, CA, (2004, July)

Foster, J., & Cahill, K. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). (2001, January). Incorporating Universal Design into Usability Efforts at MIT. Syllabus Conference. Boston, MA

fun
I'm a technology fan and love spending most of my time using, designing and thinking about technology. However, when I need a break from technology I like gardening, reading, practicing yoga, traveling, biking, hiking, mountain climbing, and dreaming up my next adventure. I love just about any genre of guitar music but my first love was Mississippi delta and Piedmont blues guitar picking both listening to and learning to play it. My first guitar hero was Mississippi John Hurt.

bowling ball bowler hat

Most of the illustrations and photgraphs on this page are my original work and are licensed under Creative Commons. Creative Commons License