
Onna Nelson
@onnanelson
I make technical and scientific material accessible through writing, learning design, and game design.
What I'm looking for
At Lynker, I support NOAA Fisheries by building Fish Online documentation and turning developer-created material into comprehensive user guidance for a mobile development framework.
I've designed cybersecurity workshops, self-paced training, instructor-led courses, and microlesson videos at Sumo Logic, and edited technical documentation across teams at Akamai Technologies.
I bring cognitive science, linguistics, game design, and statistics to stories, infographics, videos, and learning activities that help broader audiences understand complex material.
Through River City Editorial and my game-master work, I write, edit, teach new Dungeons & Dragons players, build characters and adventures, and create across web design and 3D printing.
Experience
Work history, roles, and key accomplishments
Support NOAA Fisheries to build Fish Online. Create documentation and edit and reformat documentation created by developers to provide a comprehensive body of user documentation for the mobile development framework.
Sole Proprietor
River City Editorial
Jan 2023 - Present (3 years 9 months)
https://www.rivercityeditorial.com/
https://www.rivercitydungeonmaster.com/
https://rivercity3d.etsy.com/
Dungeon Master
There And Back Again Cafe
Mar 2023 - Nov 2024 (1 year 8 months)
Teach new players how to play Dungeons & Dragons, build their first characters, and take them on their first adventures.
Worked as Senior Instructional Designer at Sumo Logic.
Design, create, and maintain workshops, self-paced training, instructor-led training, microlesson videos, and other training assets, primarily about cybersecurity.
Edit technical documentation across many teams. Curriculum developer, gamification expert, learning experience designer, writer, and editor for Akamai Launchpad.
Instructional Designer
MapR Technologies
Jun 2015 - Jul 2017 (2 years 1 month)
Work collaboratively with Curriculum Developers, Subject Matter Experts, and Interactive Designers to design, produce, and maintain customer-facing instructor-led and on-demand training. Tasks include:
* Create and edit course materials, including slides, lab guides, and audio clips, using Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Word) and Adobe Creative Suite (Captivate, Audition, Photoshop, Acrobat)
* Desi
Technical Editor
UC Santa Barbara
Apr 2015 - Jun 2015 (2 months)
Edit newsletters for the Department of Economics, adhering to strict style guidelines and ensuring material was written in accessible language.
Instructor
UC Santa Barbara
Jun 2014 - Jun 2015 (1 year)
Create the syllabus, homework, and exams; give lectures, hold office hours, create and update GauchoSpace (Moodle), and other duties for the following courses:
LING 20: Language and Linguistics (Summer 2014)
Writing 2: Academic Writing (Fall 2014, Winter 2015, Spring 2015)
Undergraduate Advisor
UC Santa Barbara
Jul 2012 - Jun 2015 (2 years 11 months)
Lead Linguistics Club meetings, advise students on course offerings at UCSB, and offer mentoring concerning career options beyond UCSB. I also created and currently maintain , a website with resources for undergraduates to explore careers and find interesting and entertaining websites about linguistics. Additionally, I am an administrator and active member of
Webmaster
UC Santa Barbara
Nov 2012 - May 2015 (2 years 6 months)
Update content, design, and maintain the websites for the Department of Linguistics at UCSB using both Drupal and GoogleSites.
http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/
http://www.ucsblinguist.org/
Teaching Assistant
UC Santa Barbara
Jun 2011 - Jun 2014 (3 years)
Grade homework and exams, lead discussion sections, hold office hours, update GauchoSpace (Moodle), and other duties for the following courses:
LING132: Language, Gender, and Sexuality (Spring 2014, Summer 2012)
LING137: Introduction to First Language Acquisition (Winter 2014)
LING136: African American Language and Culture (Fall 2013)
LING70: Language in Society (Spring 2013, Spring 2012)
LING138
Research Assistant
UC Santa Barbara
Nov 2010 - Jan 2013 (2 years 2 months)
Work under Dr. Carol Genetti, using tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PhotoShop, and Adobe InDesign to create diagrams, illustrations, flyers, and other materials for with the journal "Himalayan Linguistics", UCSB's new Introduction to Linguistics textbook "How Languages Work", and the Consortium on Training in Language Documentation and Conservation (CTLDC).
Tax Associate
H&R Block
Nov 2009 - Apr 2010 (5 months)
Prepared taxes for English and Spanish speaking clients.
Research Assistant
UC Davis
Feb 2008 - Oct 2008 (8 months)
Worked under Vineeta Chand on her doctoral dissertation, Who Owns English?: Political, Social, and Linguistic Dimensions of Urban Indian English Language Practices. Duties included transcribing audio files, reading spectrograms in Praat, and coding data in Excel spreadsheets.
Junior Basketball Coach
City of Davis
Jan 2007 - Mar 2008 (1 year 2 months)
Coached a team of 3rd and 4th grade girls' basketball, including twice-weekly practices and once-weekly games.
Education
Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework
Creating API Documentation
Issued Jan 2024
Programming Foundations: APIs and Web Services
Issued Jan 2024
UC Santa Barbara
C.Phil, Linguistics and Cognitive Science
2012 - 2015
UC Santa Barbara
Master of Arts (MA), Linguistics
2010 - 2012
University of California, Davis
B.A., Linguistics
2006 - 2009
Clayton Valley High
High School
2002 - 2006
Tech stack
Software and tools used professionally
Availability
Location
Authorized to work in
Website
rivercityeditorial.comPortfolio
rivercitydungeonmaster.comSalary expectations
Social media
Skills
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