Sam Burns

IT Director at UT Austin School of Information. PhD Candidate (ABD) in Information Studies. Web accessibility advocate and technology mentor.

Samuel A. Burns

sburns@ischool.utexas.edu
Austin, Texas

Education

Ph.D. Candidate

The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Information Studies
2004 - 2018

After completing my MSIS degree, I enrolled in the PhD program while working full-time as a staff member. I elected to leave the program after my disseration proposal was approved.

Research Areas: Human-Computer Interaction, Metadata and Classification, Video Metadata, Video Surrogates, Social Media, Information Systems

Master of Science in Information Studies (MSIS)

The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Information Studies
2002 - 2004 | GPA: 4.0

During this program, broadened technical skills becoming proficient in unix/linux, bash, perl, PHP, SQL, Python, Ruby

Bachelor of Science

Florida State University
History & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
1992 - 1996 | cum laude

Certifications

  • ** () - ,

Professional Experience

IT Director

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2011 - Present

  • Lead IT strategy and operations for the School of Information

  • Manage IT team and resources

  • Oversee all technology infrastructure and services

  • Serve as primary liaison with university IT services

  • Support faculty, staff, and student technology needs

Web Content Coordinator

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2011 - Present

  • Design, provision, and maintain all UT School of Information Web properties

  • Develop and design communication strategies and implement solutions for Web, print, and other multi-media resources

  • Program Web applications and design content publishing workflows

  • Evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of Web services via user testing, data analytics, and survey instruments

  • Serve as Technical Support Contact with ITS/ISO for matters of inventory, ISORA, networking, security, and other UT/academic unit interactions

Technologies: PHP, MySQL, Drupal, WordPress, HTML5, JavaScript

Systems Administrator

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2006 - 2011

  • Provision and implement predominantly Linux server solutions dedicated to research, projects, teaching, and administration

  • Maintain School Website and Associated Web Applications

  • Serve as Technical Support Contact with ITS/ISO for matters of inventory, ISORA, networking, security, and other UT/academic unit interactions

  • Provide maintenance and support of servers and networking infrastructure at the UT School of Information

  • Support faculty, staff and students on hardware and software solutions including desktop, printing, purchasing, and personal electronic devices

Technologies: Linux, Unix, Server administration, Networking

Assistant Instructor

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2005 - 2006

  • Instructor & Systems Administrator for UT Austin’s largest online course

  • Author course curriculum

  • Design Web applications and implement content management solutions

  • Administer course Web server, chat server, and student system accounts

  • Host bi-weekly Webcasts with expert guests on a variety of information and computer science topics

Technologies: Web development, Content management systems, Video streaming/webcasting

Graduate Research Assistant

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2003 - 2006

  • Developed concepts and strategies for usability testing with Dr. Randolph Bias and the IBM Pervasive Computing Lab

  • Conducted usability evaluations of Microsoft’s ClearType font rendering technology

  • Support faculty, staff and students on hardware and software solutions including desktop, printing, purchasing, and personal electronic devices

  • Write and produce original technology-related video tutorials

  • Co-created the information architecture and original site designs for the University of Texas Utopia Web portal

Technologies: Usability testing tools, Video production, Information architecture

Graduate Assistant

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
Austin, Texas | 2003 - 2005

  • Supported and trained faculty, staff and students in the School of Information’s IT lab

  • Created Web presence for Dr. Don Turnbull’s Information Architecture and Knowledge Management courses

  • Designed a flash-based project library Web tool for the UT School of Architecture’s Urban Design Resources program

Technologies: Adobe Flash, Web development, Training and support

Business Planner

Texas Department of Insurance
Austin, Texas | 2000 - 2003

  • Lead state-mandated project initiatives for Financial, Consumer Protection and executive staff divisions of the TDI

  • Managed records and information systems projects with the technology services division of the TDI

  • Wrote business planning reports and managed projects in accordance with Business Planning and Redesign requirements of the TDI

  • Administered Business Planning and Redesign requirements of the TDI

Technologies: Project management, Records management systems

Records Management Consultant

Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Austin, Texas | 1998 - 2000

  • Trained state and local government staff and officials on records management laws and practices

  • Reviewed and authorized state and local records retention schedules

  • Developed records retention policies for the state and local government agencies

Technologies: Records management systems

Archivist

Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Florida Department of State
Florida | 1996 - 1998

  • Performed references services for researchers of the Florida State Library

  • Managed the genealogical library holdings of the Florida State Library

  • Trained state and local government staff and officials on records management and archives statutes

Technologies: Archival systems

Student Internship (Reference Archivist)

Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Florida Department of State
Florida | 1995 - 1996

  • Performed reference services for researchers of the Florida State Archives

  • Participated in one of the earliest and largest digitization efforts of archival photographic images

Technologies: Digital imaging, Archival systems

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Geisler, G. and Burns, Sam (2008). Tagging Video: Conventions and Strategies of the YouTube Community. Bulletin of IEEE Technical Committee on Digital Libraries (TCDL), 4. DOI:

Conference Proceedings

  1. Geisler, Gary and Burns, Sam (2007). Tagging video: Conventions and strategies of the YouTube community. In Proceedings of the 7th ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, 480. DOI: 10.1145/1255175.1255279

  2. Bias, R.G., Williams, J.P., Chung, D., and Burns, S.A. (2005). An experimental study of the effects of Microsoft’s Clear Type® on programmer productivity. In Annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

  3. Chang, Leggett, Furuta, Kerne, Williams, Burns & Bias (2004). Collection Understanding. In ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries.

Presentations

Conference Presentations

  • How do we perform usability testing when the tasks are so novel that users don´t even know they want to perform them?. Usability Professionals Association Conference, 2004. (with J.P. Williams)

Guest Lectures

  • INF 312: Various information and computer science topics. UT Austin, 2005-2006.

Skills

Technical Skills

Professional Interests

Web accessibility • User experience design • Information architecture • Open source software • Technology education

References

Available upon request.

Last updated: 2025-11-02