Patty has focused on several aspects of web and video production during her years of research and work experience. She looks closely at how an organization is managed to see how the use of web-based databases can streamline what it does. She finds the best way to manage any communications, putting together schedules and budgets, and utilizing blogs as collaborative work tools. She uses to-the-point writing techniques that fit an interactive medium, paying close attention to what is too often ignored—how the site is written. Patty incorporates fine-art-based design and illustration into her web and video productions, demonstrating that there is far more to web design than centered Times Roman and clip art. Her experience and training in video production enable her to create lively, very visual presentations with animation, sound, and recorded video, so that viewers understand complex topics instantly. She is intrigued by content management systems and wants to stretch them to their limit. She looks at how to follow federal rules, then go beyond, to make the web truly accessible to the disabled. She learned from research in e-commerce how to present products, manage inventory, and handle transactions. Most importantly, Patty examines everything that happens to the end user who sits at the screen, making sure it is clean, simple, and exactly what he or she needs.

BA in Radio / Television / Motion Pictures and Political Science. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1981. While studying for this degree, Patty learned in-depth, hands-on skills in directing, scriptwriting, camera operation, lighting, editing, and audio. She wrote, directed, and worked on the crew of several productions.

BrightArrow Technologies. 1/12 to 4/12. Patty set up and designed company web sites for computers and mobile devices. She installed Drupal sites, worked with modules and themes, handled all configuration, created images, did graphic design, wrote text, and did troubleshooting. She then planned future enhancements for utilizing online video and more. Careful thought into how to approach a niche market went into the web site text. She looked at how the site would fit and look on a variety of mobile phones and computer monitor screens, and utilized usability research. Patty handled initial set-up and design in 4.5 hours. This company offers a Voice Over Internet Protocol service.

American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. 3/12 to 4/12. She set up and designed web sites for computers and mobile devices for The Cornea Society. Patty initially created a suggested home page, then created web site prototypes by installing Drupal, working with modules and themes, doing configuration, creating and editing images, handling graphic design, and doing troubleshooting. She utilized usability research, and provided documentation on how the sites work.

Public Citizen. 3/12. Patty created a proposal and provided other marketing information for the organization's effort to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing Super Pacs. She put together a plan based on social networking to communicate with a complex network of volunteers via the Group and Page features of Facebook.

U.S. House of Representatives. 2/12. Patty wrote an in-depth proposal for Representative Marcy Kaptur on a plan to train returning war veterans in web design and development. This plan would alleviate both the problems of high unemployment among veterans and the large shortage of personnel in web-related jobs. She provided a thorough assessment of where web technology is moving and why, including how content management systems such as Drupal are used and what skill sets are required.

G.E.C., LLC. 11/11 to 1/12. She wrote marketing text for an e-commerce web site. The site sells a variety of products, both by national mail order and by local installation. Patty interviewed sales staff to find the most effective approach, and wrote templates for emails sent to customers.

Research and development. 4/11 to present. She does research and produces prototypes, working with others, to help invent the next generation of web sites. This includes new, advanced uses of online video, such as utilizing modules stored in databases and incorporating a high degree of moving visual information into CMS sites. It also includes closely studying how to advance in the use of content management systems such as Drupal, and how to more fully utilize high-end illustration. She looks at how to manage production workflow for both computer and mobile, based on past media production experience.

Enterprise Solutions, Inc., contractor to General Services Administration. 7/10 to 4/11. Patty wrote, designed, and produced several web-based projects using HTML / CSS, Flash, Drupal / Web 2.0 / cloud computing, Illustrator, GarageBand, and Gimp photo editing. She was part of an eight-person team assisting GSA with the transition to Electronic Contracting—keeping track of federal contracts online instead of as individual documents. The team uses Business Process Management and agile development to quickly provide innovative, high quality software solutions to GSA. The web-based projects she created included a prototype demonstrating how online training about Electronic Contracting could be produced at GSA. The training module provided step-by-step instructions that explained one facet of Electronic Contracting, both in web-based text and graphics and via a Flash animation. Using the prototype, she wrote and produced three online training modules. These training modules used her own narration recorded in GarageBand, screen images, text she wrote, images she made, and other elements that she incorporated into Flash files. In a similar way, Patty also created an animated explanation of how to procure products via a newly developed system. She produced a Flash-based, easy-to-enlarge version of a large flowchart explaining how Electronic Contracting works, designing many images in Illustrator, and creating Flash files for each section. She developed a Flash- and Drupal-based prototype of an interactive overview that shows the status of elements of Electronic Contracting. She wrote and designed a blog explaining usability issues in web and software design by installing a Drupal site, altering it with CSS and modules, and intensively researching what well-designed studies have found on this subject. Patty edited, wrote sections of, and created graphics for an internal GSA presentation that pinpointed areas of software development procedure that needed improvement. She created a prototype for a universal GSA user interface for Electronic Contracting, and worked on other prototype user interfaces. She researched how GSA could use blogs as an interactive workflow tool, and created a central site using Flash and HTML for GSA to view the web-based projects that she had produced. She also wrote sections for and helped organize the proposal that won the team the long-term contract.

Cognitive Reading Strategies. 4/10 to present. Patty assisted Dr. Kathleen Thompson in developing on-screen materials for training teachers. Dr. Thompson has invented a unique method of teaching reading to children with learning disabilities that includes visual cues, songs, and cartoon characters. The training materials were originally based on text and pictures, but Patty helped Dr. Thompson add the use of advanced animation and other visual elements. This allows the teaching methods to be instantly accessible and intriguing, instead of requiring text-based explanations. She continues to work with Dr. Thompson on fully using online video and animation methods for teaching the instructors and the children themselves. The program is being used by flagship school systems, and will be distributed nationally in the future. Software used included advanced PowerPoint, Gimp photo editing, and MSWord.

Green Living. Patty wrote and produced this popular blog that explains, step-by-step, how to live on $10,000 or less per person per year. The site provides a detailed how-to on managing household finances, cutting expenses drastically, installing solar, and growing food. It explains what is really happening in the economy today, and what to do about it. To produce the site, Patty installed Drupal, set up the site, then altered the CSS file, theme, and modules. She created images with Corel Draw and Gimp photo editing. She then arranged that excerpts from the site appear widely on the internet, including on blogs focused on consumer education, public policy, economics, and the environment, and on FaceBook and LinkedIn pages. She used search engine optimization and web analytics to promote the site and track response. She also participates in online forums on the subject. She regularly hears from readers who positively comment on the writing, how easy the site is to use, and how they benefited from the information on the site.

"Why your web site will probably fail, and how to stop that from happening." Article published online March 12, 2010, and distributed widely via blogs focused on business management, marketing, and web design, and featured on LinkedIn pages. This practical yet controversial article on how to make web sites effective spurred a lively response from readers. It explains underlying problems with sites that you don't hear elsewhere, and challenges conventional wisdom in a down-to-earth, humorous way.

"Healthcare reform can start now with no high price tag." Article published online February 11, 2010, and distributed widely via blogs focused on public policy (including those published by the Tea Party movement), consumer issues (including Consumer Reports), economics, and healthcare. It was also featured on LinkedIn and FaceBook pages. The article received attention during the congressional debate on healthcare reform, becoming distributed well beyond the sites where Patty originally placed it. It explains exactly what healthcare reforms can be put in place immediately with little or no cost to the taxpayers.

Classes taught by Patty Zevallos. She wrote, designed, and produced this web site that promotes her classes and regularly provides information to her students. She photographed and scanned images, cropped and adjusted them in a photo editor, and worked directly in HTML code to create and update the site. She used script from a Javascript library to produce an online slide show of her own artwork, and uploaded art galleries of her students' artwork. Customers have responded positively to its ease-of-use and overall look.

Sold It, LLC. 5/07. She wrote item descriptions and helped manage sales for this e-commerce business, using copywriting techniques that made the text both easy to read and convincing to the customer.

GeoLogics. 8/98. She converted files to JPG and PDF for use on the web.

21st Century Software. 4/98 to 5/98. Patty designed, illustrated, and produced this site that was to be first used by potential employees and beta-testers, then expanded to attract potential customers and press contacts. The screen size is small because computers had lower screen resolution at that time.

Spring-Mar. 2/97 to 3/98. She organized, wrote, designed, and produced this web site, including uploading files and troubleshooting. The site promoted and provided a schedule for this nonprofit organization. The screen size is small because computers had lower screen resolution at that time.

Quyen Systems, Inc. 11/96 to 12/96. She wrote and organized web tech support text for netViz, a software application used to diagram and document computer networks. Patty developed the list of common problems and their step-by-step solutions, with all information verified by internal tech support. She created a sample flow chart (GIF illustration via Corel Draw) as a way to explain more complicated solutions.

Executive Presentations, Inc. 10/95. She produced on-screen forms for online law school applications.

Walcoff & Associates. 8/95. Patty did illustrations for web pages.

Old City Group Inc. 5/85 to 12/86. As part of the marketing strategy for ad agency clients, she wrote television and radio commercials and managed productions. She used ratings information from television and radio stations to carefully plan targeted campaigns. She handled scriptwriting, production planning, lighting, audio, editing, and more.

Encore Casting. 12/85 to 12/86. Patty directed and managed the post-production of 60 actor promotional videos. She first auditioned actors, then screened and tracked the photos, music, actors' previous work, and new video shoots that went into the acting portfolios. Her work included directing video shoots and running editing sessions.

Department of State. 11/85. She set up shots and operated audio equipment for an instructional video for Department of State employees on how to process passports.

Impact Advertising, Inc. 5/84 to 4/85. Patty wrote and coordinated the production of radio and television commercials for Iverson Mall, Bootlegger Shoes, Jacobs Gardner, Sanz School, and others. She did media research and ad placement.

American Telecommunications Corp. 2/83 to 8/83. She wrote, directed, and edited a weekly television program cablecast in the Research Triangle area in North Carolina. She supervised a 20-member production crew and 40-member cast. She used or directed the use of cameras, lighting, audio equipment, and switcher, including set-up and troubleshooting.

Patty has done writing, directing, and editing of audio, including radio commercials and public affairs programming. She has also studied music, and utilizes this knowledge when incorporating music into audio and video productions.

In recent years, Patty has directed children's theater as part of teaching drama classes. She has written scripts, done casting, and run rehearsals. She managed props, sound effects, and costumes. Her young actors have successfully performed many plays in front of audiences.