Judith Berck Communications, Inc.

 

 

Background

Marketing communications, website content development
and technical publications experience

Microsoft Corporation (Direct Vendor) 1999 - present: Write case studies for Midmarket Solutions and Partners Program. Write product reviewer guides, press backgrounders and articles for PressPass website, fact sheets, and web content for a variety of audiences with varying levels of technical background. Did long-term work for Windows 2000 Customer Reference Program, which involved writing over two dozen case studies for high-profile project on a fast turnaround basis..

Intel Corporation (Direct Vendor) 1999- present: Write marketing and technical white papers, case studies, articles, collaterals, web copy, data sheets for business, consumer, developer and IT audiences in hardware, software, networking, internet and telecommunications fields.

Intel Corporation (Employee and Contractor) 1998-99: Editor and Website Manager for the Mobile Data Initiative within the Mobile and Handheld Products Group. Responsible for all content for two marketing websites about wireless data computing: one for North American audiences, one for European and Asian audiences. Total impression rate of +20,000 a week. Created online journal about wireless data computing with original interviews, articles and papers for each regional website audience. Interviewed communications executives in US, Europe and Asia. Negotiated with market analysts for report excerpts from leading market research companies. Edited case studies. Hired freelancers for additional articles and graphics; solicited and edited additional content; resolved copyright issues. Also created additional website content to support exhibition demonstration. Marketed the websites via link campaigns and collateral tie-ins. Analyzed log files. Certified Web Author for Intel's external Corporate Presence Server. Legal, trademark and branding training.

1996-97: Senior technical documentation for Internet caching and compression software and video conferencing hardware and software. Senior technical publications member of three software development teams. Produced all end-user documentation, including manuals, installation guides, product and browser configuration instructions, troubleshooting, release notes and web-based Help files, under tight deadlines. Met very aggressive localization schedules. Participated in all engineering and marketing team aspects, including daily engineering and marketing meetings, user interface design, product usability evaluation.

Pixelworks (Direct Vendor) 1999 - present: Write brochures, white papers.

Nike, Inc. (Direct vendor and contract) 1995-96. Web Site Designer/ Project Manager: Designed intranet site for Advanced Technology Exploration Lab (Footwear Development) for presentation to Nike's internal "web council". Designed robust site with custom business applications, including a vendor database. Marketing communications: Wrote website overview and several top-level pages for Nike's external internet site (www.nike.com). Technical Publications: Editor of Handbook of Standards, Configurations and Operations. Documented the technical procedures of Banyan LAN support team; assembled written and graphic material for distribution to NIKE's global site teams.

Ziff-Davis Press (Macmillan/Que) Technical Reviewer for trade market books: WebMaster's Resource Guide and Virtual Reality Modeling Language 1995-96.

Intellectual property and legal writing experience

Intel Corporporation (Direct vendor) 2000 - 2001. Wrote and edited patent disclosures for publication. Worked with software and hardware patent applications written by engineers, often whose first language was not English. Clarified text and ideas and converted prose to standard written English.

Blakely Sokoloff Taylor & Zafman (Contract) 1999 - 2000. Wrote and edited patent disclosures for publication. Worked with software and hardware patent applications written by engineers, often whose first language was not English. Clarified text and ideas and converted prose to standard written English.

Newspaper, book and other writing experience

The New York Times 1992-current.

The Washington Post  National Desk. 1993. Front-page coverage of Iowa flood.

The Oregonian Sunday Arts and Books. 2000. Next Exit, IMAGO

Reuters News Service  Portland/Pacific-Northwest freelancer. 1996. Business and political features.

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. 1994. Staff writer of centennial history of the hospital. Wrote chapters for an audience of health care professionals.

Author of No Place to Be: Voices of Homeless Children (Houghton Mifflin: 1992. Foreword by Dr. Robert Coles.) Interviews with forty children living in welfare hotels and homeless shelters. Book named 1992 Notable Book by American Library Association; Booklist Editors' Choice; Hungry Mind Review 1993 Children's Books of Distinction Finalist. Book chosen for middle-school reading list by national educational standards body.

Remembrance and Poverty: The Road to Potter's Field (Coalition for the Homeless of NY: 1986.) Nationally acclaimed investigative report on welfare policy and indigent death, excerpted in J. Kozol's Rachel and Her Children (Crown: 1988.)

Education

B.A. in English, Harvard University, 1982 (cum laude). Harvard College Scholarship for academic excellence.

Computer Programming Certificate from New York University Continuing Education. Advanced computer programming coursework. 1987.

M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa, 1995.

Community Activities

Sisters of the Road Cafe (non-profit resource for homeless and low-income). Board member 1996 - 2000. Secretary 1999-2000.

Harvard Club of Portland Schools Committee interviewer.

Imago Theatre volunteer stage manager and sound engineer.

 

Samples

Case Studies:

Articles:

Press Releases:

White Papers:

Services Briefs:

Product Reviewer Guides:

Direct Mail:

Web Copy and Design:

Interviews:

Trade show/exhibition web support:

Fact Sheets/Data Sheets:

Manuals: