| w. Patrick Gale |
Phone: 919-843-1296
Address:
UNC - Gillings School of Global Public Health
222 Rosenau Hall
CB# 7400
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400
Contact Me
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| Current Position |
| Since: 2004 |
Web Developer |
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Instructional and Information Systems
Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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| Summary of Research Interests |
As a web programmer and
design expert here at the
School, my
main role is to improve the
speed, efficiency,
effectiveness, and security of
information we communicate
over the web. In
order to make these improvements I must have an interest in a myriad of things such as:
- Web browser differences
- Website hacking
- Graphic design layout
- Image sizing, cropping, & contrast
- Usability issues (what users like & do not like)
- Database management
- Web scripting
- Marketing for the web
...just to name a few.
How these interests relate
to my work
In mid-2006, I became the chief mechanic for the SPH website after performing a major overhaul on it. The overhaul fixed a myriad of problems plaguing the site such as:
- Doing away with the need for content managers to install or learn editing and ftp software on their computers
- Extensive broken navigation across the site due to difficult to manage content templates
- Proprietary software which frequently caused system errors
While the overhaul fixed the above problems, it improved things such as:
- Instant website template changing (by separating the content from the website templates)
- Easier website URL mapping and editing
- Common secure campus authentication so there is no need for password management
- Faster content editing and updating
- More effective website searching using the campus Google Search Appliance to handle our website searches
Since the SPH website
contains thousands of pages and thousands upon thousands of website
links, the overhauled changes represent a huge savings in management
and training time.
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| Educational Background |
| 1997 |
East Tennessee State University |
BSc. Design Graphics & Digital MediaGraphic Design Technology |
| Expertise |
|
I design and manage numerous web
applications for the School using PHP as the primary scripting language. These
applications are usually written to
communicate with an Oracle or MySQL
database which I also design and
manage. As the technical lead on most
projects we develop, I determine the
technology to fulfill client needs.
When I am not directly involved with a
particular project, I step in as a
Development Auditor and examine the
project design and functionality to
ensure high quality in the final product
or service. To audit, I rely on my
graphic design background to review the
composition, choice of graphics, and
consistency within our designs. My
programming background enables me to
find programming and logic holes in our
designs. This allows me to offer
solutions to design problems and not
just point at problem areas.
Certifications:
Brain-bench certified Adobe Photoshop 5.5
Brain-bench certified PHP 4
Online courses completed: Perl/CGI, Java 2
Expert in:
video and still graphics editing
software testing
web technologies
data storage and manipulation
web marketing
Awards:
SPH IIS Department - Godzilla Award for Technical Excellence (April 26, 2007)
UNC Campus - Information Technology Award (April 17, 2007)
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| Previous Positions |
| 2003-2004 |
Quality Assurance Lead |
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Instructional and Information Systems, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health
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| 1999-2002 |
Web Application Developer & Graphic Designer |
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Cisys, Inc.
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