Project #3 Part 1: Current Web Presence Analysis
Table of Contents
Cover
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Table of
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The Future Professional
You…………………………………………………………………………………………………
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The Current
You…………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Conclusions: Bridging the
Gap…………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Executive
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The Future Professional You
Deciding my major of choice was no simple task for me when I first began college. After
changing my major several times I finally found a program that suited my interests and actually
saw myself having a future with that line of work. Finally my final year of being in the Applied
Psychology has started and I am one step closer to becoming that professional image I imagined
myself a few years back.
The Applied Psychology major encompasses psychological research for human factors
engineering, the science of understanding the properties of human capabilities. Most of the
research in human factors recently have been employed for helping to design airplane cockpits,
interior designs of automobiles, and computer interface programs to just name a few.
Three Professional Identities on LinkedIn:
Russell Branaghan: Applied Professor – Applied Psychology, Arizona State University
Professor Branaghan is actually my current Supervised Research (PSY399) professor and
is helping me do research that involves people’s perceptions when using driving simulators. He
has previously held jobs that were particular to applied psychology but also ran his own
company. He has also gone on to write and publish several articles and one book.
Brooke Castaneda: Human Factors Engineer at Intel
Brooke Castaneda is actually a graduate from the applied psychology from Arizona State
University. Currently she now works for Intel, performing user observations, task analyses,
heuristic evaluations, and focus groups.
Qiawen Wu: Human Factors Researcher at Cognitive Engineering Research Institute (CERI)
Qiawen is also an ASU graduate from the applied psychology program. At CERI, a
grant-funded program led by Professor Nancy Cooke, Qiawen develops usability analyses as
well as provides qualitative and quantitative synthetic data for heuristic evaluations.
All of the three people mentioned above all have a connection with Arizona State
University and have been contracted with different companies. Here are a few criteria to
evaluate what kinds of characteristics are qualified for this area of expertise.
Five Evaluation Criteria:
1. Solid foundation in psychology
2. Develop research questions through a user-experience
3. Have a thorough understanding of different principles such as sociology, engineering,
computer science, and more
4. Have a thorough background in performing and detailing research projects through APA
standards
5. Be able to interpret user expectations from an observational stand-point
The Current You
Using online search engines, you are able to find your online identity presence on the
internet. Mine however appears to be a small presence since I belong to very few online
subscriptions. I used google, bing, and yahoo as my three primary search engines. Honestly,
most of my online presence is from this very class. Here is a list of all self-identities of
myself:
Diigo: [Link]/profile/cmnicho5
Facebook: [Link]/coreymn87
LinkedIn: [Link]
ASU: [Link]
Criteria 1: Considering my major is in psychology and I have a good standing with most
of the professors in my program, I consider myself to have a solid foundation.
Criteria 2-5: The rest of my online identities have little to do with my major and
program. Considering this, I need to develop further with the online community of
professionals in my field, particularly starting with LinkedIn.
Conclusions: Building the Gap
With my online identity primarily focused on this single class for social networking, one
of my skills I can use further for my professional future is to build off of my connections.
Many of my friends are in majors that have strengths that work towards my major. Utilizing
their skills can help create a name myself when it comes time to find a job with my degree.
Second I have had experience with research projects I have presented at conventions but are
not listed on the web. My weaknesses consist of not belonging to any networks directly
applicable to my career. Joining these will help me create a better online presence that
companies can view. Another weakness builds off my first with my online presence
consisting of primarily social networking with friends.
Executive Summary
From the online research of my online identity and viewing LinkedIn profiles of
professionals in my field, I have realized how much more needs to be done for my future
direction I am heading with my career. While education is my primary concern, I need to
display my abilities to others in order to be seen over the countless others in the field.
Making a name for myself will be just as important in landing me a job in Human Factors.