Sarah Horton

Profile

• Nearly 20 years of experience employing design to help people succeed in using information and communication technologies. Recognized international leader in applying universal design principles to website design.
• Domain expert in best practices for universal usability.
• Ability to successfully lead and accomplish cross-group initiatives with multiple stakeholders.
• Collaborative and team-oriented management approach based on transparency and integrity.
• Strong strategic analysis skills. Self-motivated, user-oriented. Excellent written and presentation skills.

Professional Highlights

• Established a web governance committee composed of senior leaders. Initiated several cross-group projects, including an outreach effort aimed at cutting costs and preserving the environment by transitioning the Dartmouth campus from print to digital.
• Successfully planned and launched Dartmouth’s presence on YouTube and Facebook. Developed supporting guidelines for social media, publishing media, and managing interaction.
• Led several large-scale, cross-disciplinary initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and diverse audience groups, including the Dartmouth home site and Arts at Dartmouth, a gateway site showcasing arts-related activities at the College. Followed a rigorous user-centered design methodology, utilizing goal analysis and usability testing.
• Developed a thorough plan for utilizing the web in case of an emergency, including provisions for notification, instruction, and communication when Dartmouth is either online or offline.
• With Patrick J. Lynch, authored Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, now in its 3rd edition. Online since 1994, Web Style Guide has sold more than 120,000 copies and has been translated into more than eight languages.
• Established expertise as writer, advocate, and practitioner of universal usability and user-centered design. Authored multiple works on web accessibility and usability, including Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, published in 2005 by Peachpit Press, and articles for the New York Times, Boxes and Arrows, Digital Web Magazine, and Peachpit’s Web Design Reference Guide. Presented at the International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A), WebVisions, World Usability Day, Academic Impressions, and the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory Annual Symposium.
• Consulted with organizations, including the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases of the World Health Organization, on website strategy, design, and usability.
• As a founding member of Dartmouth’s Curricular Computing team, fostered adoption of information technology for teaching and learning. Currently over 80% of Dartmouth courses make use of online course materials. Was a founding member of the team for the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning. Led an exploratory project to bring lecture capture technology into the classroom, and was designer/developer of many innovative web-based teaching resources.
• Drawing upon experience helping faculty, wrote Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites, published in 2000 by Yale University Press. Web Teaching Guide won the American Association of Publishers award for the Best Book in Computer Science.
• In the early days of interactive multimedia, worked with pioneers Carl Jaffe and Patrick J. Lynch at Yale’s Center for Advanced Instructional Media to develop award-winning software for teaching medical diagnostic imaging.

Current Employment

Director, Web Strategy, Design, and Infrastructure

• Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
• September 2007–present
• Providing overall leadership for the Dartmouth College web site, including design, architecture, accessibility and usability, standards, policies, application development and deployment, and infrastructure.

• Developing an overall strategy for the Dartmouth web environment and maintaining the College’s web master plan.
• Developing policies and procedures to support the College’s web strategy, such as social media, media publishing, and interaction guidelines.
• Convening web governance committees for the College, including the Web Strategy Advisory Committee.
• Designing key web sites and web applications, such as the Dartmouth home page, Dartmouth Daily Updates, Arts at Dartmouth, and Forever New: A Ten-Year Report.
• Promoting institutional partipation and innovation with social media websites, including Dartmouth’s YouTube channel and Dartmouth’s Facebook page.
• Providing essential web infrastructure to support the communication needs of the College, including search service and the web emergency plan.
• Participating on the senior management team for both Computing Services and the Office of Public Affairs, reporting to the Vice President for Information Technology/CIO and the Vice President of Communications.
• Managing the Web Services department, providing web design, development, and hosting services to the campus.
• Promoting the application of new web technologies to support the mission and goals of the institution.
• Promoting campus-wide adoption of best practices for web design through guidelines and outreach.

Web Consultant

• Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
• March 1996–present
• Promoting user-centered design and universal usability through presentations, workshops, publications, and consulting.

• Authoring books, including Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, co-authored with Patrick Lynch, Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites, and Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers.
• Writing articles and tutorials for various publications, including The New York Times, Peachpit, Boxes and Arrows, Digital Web Magazine, and IEEE Computer.
• Presenting at conferences and workshops, including World Usability Day, WebVisions, New Media Consortium, Academic Impressions, International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A), and Web Design that Works for Everyone.
• Consulting with the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases of the World Health Organization, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Pasadena City College, and Dartware.

Previous Employment

Senior Instructional Designer

• Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
• March 1996–September 2007
• Assisted faculty in creating and using computer-based curricular resources in support of learning, with a focus on web design and development, usability, and accessibility. Managed the development of web applications and web sites, including several redesigns of the main Dartmouth site. Managed the design and production of online and print publications, including newsletters, posters, brochures, and the online journal, CREATE: Computing, Research and Teaching. Researched instructional technologies and their impact on teaching and learning, and represented Academic Computing on campus committees, including the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning.

Courseware Programmer

• Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Division
• Farmington, Connecticut, USA
• October 1995–February 1996
• Served as programmer on a courseware design team to develop programs for the grade school market teaching phonics at varying levels of difficulty in an accessible and playful setting.

Designer/Programmer

• Yale University School of Medicine
• Center for Advanced Instructional Media
• New Haven, Connecticut, USA
• March 1991–December 1992
• Designed and developed award-winning instructional CD-ROMs for medical and continuing education, including Atlas of Myocardial Perfusion Imaging and Introduction to Cardiothoracic Imaging.

Designer/Programmer

• Yale University
• Academic Computing Services
• New Haven, Connecticut, USA
• July 1990–March 1991
• Served as production manager for Omnibus, a monthly computing supplement to Yale’s Weekly Bulletin and Calendar, and designed and developed publications and applications.

Special Projects Coordinator

• Yale University
• Academic Computing Services
• New Haven, Connecticut, USA
• February 1989–July 1990
• Designed documents, articles, and graphics for computing publications, and developed application interfaces.

Education

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

• Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA
• Graduate Liberal Studies Program, Humanities

Bachelor of Music

• University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
• Music Theory and French Horn

Special Activities

• ASSETS 2006 Computers and Accessibility Program Committee
• ASSETS 2007 Computers and Accessibility Program Committee
• Committee on Standards, Dartmouth College
• Copyright Working Group, Dartmouth College
• Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, Dartmouth College
• Education and Outreach Working Group (former member), Web Accessibility Initiative, World Wide Web Consortium
• Provost Division Diversity Committee, Dartmouth College
• Section 504/ADA Committee, Dartmouth College
• W4A 2007 Program Committee
• W4A 2009 Program Committee
• W4A 2010 Program Committee
• Web Access Group, Dartmouth College

Awards

• Best Book in Computer Science, Web Teaching Guide
  American Association of Publishers/Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, 2000
• Bronze Award, Training and Support Web Site
  NewMedia Magazine INVISION Multimedia Awards, 1997
• First Place, Interactive Media
  Health Sciences Communications Association, 1994
• Silver Medal, Higher Education Applications
  NewMedia Magazine INVISION Multimedia Awards, 1994
• Certificate of Merit, Scientific Paper
  Radiological Society of North America, 1993
• Silver Medal, Professional Training
  New York Festivals International Interactive Multimedia Competition, 1993
• Gold Medal, Corporate Applications-Medical Training
  NewMedia Magazine INVISION Multimedia Awards, 1993
• Award of Excellence
  NewMedia Magazine INVISION Multimedia Awards, 1993
• Certificate of Merit, Scientific Paper
  Radiological Society of North America, 1992
• First Place, Interactive Media
  Health Sciences Communications Association, 1992
• Elmer Friman Best-in-Show Award
  Health Sciences Communications Association, 1992

Publications

• Horton, S. Why Research-Directed Website Design Will Make Your Website Better. Web Design & Development Articles, Peachpit, 9 November 2009, www.peachpit.com/topics/topic.aspx?st=61442.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 2008. Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, 3rd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Horton, S. and L. Leventhal. 2008. Universal Usability. In Web Accessibility: A Foundation for Research, S. Harper and Y. Yesilada (Eds). Springer.
• Horton, S. Cascading Style Sheets Part 6: Styling for Small-Screen Devices. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 21 November 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Cascading Style Sheets Part 5: Styling for Print. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 2 November 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Cascading Style Sheets Part 4: Selective Printing. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 21 September 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Cascading Style Sheets Part 3: Media Style Sheets. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 17 Aug 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Cascading Style Sheets Part 2: Shorthand. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 6 July 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Cascading Style Sheets Part 1: Browser Styling. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 25 May 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Writing Alternate Text for Images. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 2 February 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Writing Link and Heading Text. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 12 January 2007, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Working With Large Images. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 15 December 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Data Tables. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 17 November 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Pages for Linear Access. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 6 October 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Usable Forms. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 8 September 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. 2006. Designing Beneath the Surface of the Web. In Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A): Building the Mobile Web: Rediscovering Accessibility? W4A, vol. 134. ACM Press, New York, NY, 1–5.
• Horton, S. Designing Accessible Text – Part 4: Typeface. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 11 August 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Accessible Text – Part 3: Color. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 21 July 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Accessible Text – Part 2: Text Size. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 19 May 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Accessible Text – Part 1: Structure. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 31 March 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Accessible Audio. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 24 February 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Flexible Layouts. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 20 January 2006, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Forms for Keyboard Access. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 19 December 2005, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. Designing Navigation with Lists. Web Design Reference Guide, Peachpit, 11 November 2005, www.peachpit.com/guides.
• Horton, S. 2005. Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers. Berkeley, CA: New Riders. [See also www.universalusability.com]
• Horton, S. Forging a Partnership between Designer and User. Digital Web Magazine, 1 September 2004, www.digital-web.com.
• Horton, S. Beauty is Only Screen Deep. Boxes and Arrows, 14 October 2002, www.boxesandarrows.com.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 2004. Guia de stilo da Web, Spanish ed. Barcelona: Ediciones G. Gili.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 2004. Web Style Guide: Basic design principles for creating Web sites, Japanese ed. Tokyo: Tokyo Denki University Press.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 2004. Základní prüvodce webdesignem, Czech ed. Brno: Zoner Press.
• Horton, S. Making Web Accessible to All. The New York Times, 10 June 2002, C4.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 2002. Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press. [See also www.webstyleguide.com]
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 2001. Principios de diseño básicos para la creatión de sitios Web, Mexican ed. Naucalpan: Ediciones G. Gili.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 2000. Web Style Guide: Basic design principles for creating Web sites, Korean ed. Seoul: AGBooks.
• Horton, S. 2000. Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites. New Haven: Yale University Press. [See also www.webteachingguide.com]
• Horton, S. 2000. Interfacing Media: User-Centered Design for Media-Rich Web Sites. Syllabus 14(3) 22–26.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1999. Erfolgreiches Web-design, German ed. Ulm: Humbolt Tashenbuchverlag.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1999. Web Style Guide: Basic design principles for creating Web sites, Indian ed. Hyderabad: Universities Press (India) Limited.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1999. Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1998. Hypertext Markup Language as an Authoring Tool for CD-ROM Publication. Journal of Biocommunication 25(2) 20–25.
• Horton, S. and P. Lynch. 1998. Typography in Web pages. Syllabus 11(7) 42–55.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1998. Refining Web Pages: Effective Design Strategies for Educators. Syllabus 11(6) 39–43.
• Horton, S. and P. Lynch. 1997. Web Multimedia: Turning the Corner. Syllabus 11(4) 16–20.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1997. HTML vs Multimedia Authoring Tools. Syllabus 11(3) 16–20.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1997. Internet Watch: Imprudent Linking Weaves a Tangled Web. IEEE Computer 30(7) 115–117.
• Lynch, P. and S. Horton. 1997. C/AIM Web Style Guide, 2nd ed. info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual.
• Jaffe, C., P. Lynch, P. Simon and S. Horton. 1995. Introduction to Cardiothoracic Imaging: Essentials Edition. New Haven: Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media. CD-ROM. Philadelphia: Mosby.
• Jaffe, C., P. Lynch, P. Simon and S. Horton. 1995. Introduction to Cardiothoracic Imaging: Comprehensive Edition. New Haven: Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media. CD-ROM. Philadelphia: Mosby.
• Wackers, F., ed. 1993. Atlas of Tc-99m Sestamibi Myocardial Perfusion Imaging. New Haven: Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media. CD-ROM and videodisc.
• Lynch, P., C. Jaffe, P. Simon and S. Horton. 1992. Multimedia for Clinical Education in Myocardial Perfusion Imaging. Journal of Biocommunications 19(4) 2–8.

Professional Activities

• Workshop: Usability through User-Centered Design. Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, October 2008.
• Presentation: Adaptive Design for Web Environments, with Patrick J. Lynch. World Usability Day New England 2007, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, November 2007.
• Keynote: Access Great and Small. World Usability Day New England 2006, Landmark College, Putney, Vermont, USA, November 2006.
• Workshop: Universal Usability, with Jonathan Lazar. Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory Annual Symposium, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA, June 2006.
• Keynote: Designing Beneath the Surface of the Web. International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A), Fifteenth International World Wide Web Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, May 2006.
• Presentation: Universal Usability for Websites. Extreme Makeover: Collegiate Edition, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, USA, March 2006.
• Webcast: Designing Accessible Websites. Academic Impressions, January 2006.
• Presentation: Universal Usability for Websites. World Usability Day New England 2005, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, November 2005.
• Presentation: Making Good Design Decisions. WebVisions 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA, July 2005.
• Workshop: Universal Usability. WebVisions 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA, July 2005.
• Workshop: Access by Design. New Media Consortium Summer Conference, University of Hawaii, Oahu, Hawaii, USA, June 2005.
• Presentation: Reaching and Working with Mainstream Faculty – 2005. New Media Consortium Summer Conference, University of Hawaii, Oahu, Hawaii, USA, June 2005.
• Presentation: Universal Usability. 2004 University Web Roundtable, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, November 2004.
• Presentation: Universal Usability: Usability for All Users. University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut USA, November 2004.
• Workshop: A Basis for Making Design Decisions and Guiding Principles for Accessible and Usable Websites. University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA, July 2004.
• Workshop: Web Accessibility. Center for Educational Technology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, USA, November 2003.
• Symposium: Meet Them Where They Are: Designing Functional Library Web Pages. Annual River Campus Libraries Symposium, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA, March 2003.
• Workshop: Designing an Accessible Online Campus. SIGUCCS 2002, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, November 2002.
• Presentation: Universal Design for Websites. Built Environments on the Web: Structure, Access, Wayfinding, and Delight, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, October 2002.
• Presentation: Access in the Academy. Web Design that Works for Everyone, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, October 2002.
• Presentations: The Information Evolution: How to Survive with the Fittest and The Usable Web: A User-Centered Approach to Website Design. Association of Vermont Independent Colleges, Norwich, Vermont, USA, June 2002.
• Presentation: Usability: How to Build Web Sites that People Can Use. Vermont Library Conference, Burlington, Vermont, USA, May 2002.
• Teleconference: Universal Design for the Web: Designing and Creating Accessible Web Environments. Accessibility: The New Y2K Teleconference for California Community Colleges, May 2002.
• Presentation: Is Your Website Accessible? Design Guidelines for Web Developers. ADA Issues for Libraries, NELINET, Southborough, Massachusetts, USA, April 2002.
• Presentation and Workshop: Universal Design and Usability. Academic Technology Roundtable, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA, April 2002.
• Workshop: Universal Web Design and Web Teaching. Conference on Teaching with Technology, The Leading Edge: Issues in Technology and Society, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, USA, March 2002.
• Presentation: Accessible Web Design and Adaptive Technology. Teaching All Students: Using Universal Instructional Design to Reach a Diverse Student Body, The Ivy Access Initiative, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, December 2001.
• Keynote: Toward a Usable Web: Striving for the Ordinary. Fifth Annual October Conference for New England Librarians, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, October 2001.
• Presentation: Accessible Design: Just Do It. Fifth Annual October Conference for New England Librarians, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, October 2001.
• Presentation: Practical Accessibility in Web Page Design. NERCOMP Web Accessibility Workshop, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, October 2001.
• Presentation: Accessible Web Design. New Media Centers, California State University, Monterey Bay, California, USA, June 2001.
• Presentation: Riding the Wave: Shifting Currents in Faculty Support. Syllabus Boston, Danvers, Massachusetts, USA, November 2000.
• Presentation: Reaching and Working with Mainstream Faculty. New Media Centers, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, June 2000.
• Workshop: Web Document Design: Creating Web Pages that Communicate. New Media Centers, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, June 2000.
• Presentation: The Process of Web Teaching: From Planning through Assessment. Syllabus Boston, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, November 1999.
• Presentation: Website Design. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, September 1998.
• Presentation: Faculty Support Successes and Challenges. New Media Centers 1998 Summer Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, June 1998.
• Poster Session: Poetry in Motion: The Rilke Site. CAUSE ’97, Orlando, Florida, USA, December 1997.
• Presentation: Website Design. Creative Web-Based Library Education Projects Mini-Conference, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, October 1997.
• Scientific Exhibit: Myocardial Perfusion Imaging Atlas and Videodisc. Radiological Society of North America Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA, November 1992.
• InfoRADExhibit: Strategies for Computer-Based Teaching and Testing. Radiological Society of North America Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA, November 1992.
• Presentation and Workshop: Health Sciences Symposium, with C. Jaffe and P. Lynch. Kodak Center for Creative Imaging, Camden, Maine, USA, June 1992.
• Workshop: Graphic User Interface Design, with P. Lynch. Health Sciences Communications Association Annual Meeting, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, June 1992.
• Technology Exhibit: Myocardial Perfusion Imaging Atlas and Videodisc. European Congress on Radiology, Vienna, AUS. September 1991.