Daniel Kamman — Information Consultant
(Information analysis that produces results — examples of my work)

Information
(Information: knowledge based on experiences; data based on measurements.)

• data (manufacturing, product development, quality control)
• experiments (equipment performance, product improvements)
• forms (experiment requests, survey answers)
• images (artistic, scientific)
• interviews (job applicants, computer users)
• lists (accomplishments, agenda topics, equipment users, errors, organization members, tasks)
• logs (equipment changes, website visitors)
• measurements (environmental conditions, experimental variables, goals, material properties)
• meetings (problem solving, project coordination)
• observations (data anomalies, department communications, procedural problems)
• online searches (companies, images, patents, people, products)
• procedures (data handling, manufacturing, quality control, work flow)
• progress reports (product development)
• spreadsheets (laboratory data, mathematical models)
• statistically designed experiments (product development)
• surveys (skill shortages, software needs)
• written communications (advertisements, conference papers, e-mails, letters, instructions, memos, reports, websites)
• and more . . .

Analysis
(Analysis: separation of a body of information into its parts, to study those parts and their interactions.)

• calculating (confidence intervals, correlations, regressions, t-tests)
• comparing (goals vs. progress, expectations vs. performance, product A vs. product B, requirements vs. capabilities, strengths vs. weaknesses, wants vs. budgets)
• correlating (causes and effects)
• diagramming (potential causes of errors, project assignments, relationships between ideas)
• editing (copyediting, proofreading)
• flowcharting (communication between groups, consultant-client interactions, employee conflicts, family trees, plan-do-check-act cycles, project management, website design)
• graphing (control charts, data vs. time, histograms, survey results, variable A vs. variable B)
• inventing (Poke-Yoke, TRIZ)
• mind mapping (conference paper topics, organization goals, project tasks, website designs)
• tabulating (experimental results, organization member data, product performance, survey results)
• and more . . .

Results
(Results: consequences of an action or sequence of actions.)

• Artists' group with a few pages on another website — needed a better way to publicize their open studio event.
  

  Results: Created a website that allows each artist to have an introductory page plus up to 9 images and that incorporates the existing logo. Previously there were a few pages and a few images on another organization's website. (The website, www.newbedfordopenstudios.org, provides publicity for the event and a year-round display of artists' work.)

• Environmental activist — needed a better letter to communicate complex environmental concerns to a government official.

  Results: Reorganized flow of ideas, removed unneeded words, clarified confused sentences, and added section headings. (The edits delighted the activist.)

• Environmental group with a tiny, badly-organized, and rarely-used Web site — needed a better way to provide news and archives.
  

  Results: Convinced the group a better website was feasible, created an overall design, edited e-mail notices and comments, combined ideas and information from group members, and agreed to maintain the website. (The website, www.alewife.org, now has more than 320 pages and has links to it from commercial and government websites, including a Cambridge, MA councilor and the Cambridge, MA government.)

• Facilities engineer — needed a better way to plan projects.
  

  Results: Demonstrated mind mapping software. (The engineer switched to using this software for planning and discussing projects and was pleased with the results.)

• Financial consultant — needed new financial planning software to provide new services.

  Results: Selected financial planning software based on an online search for product websites and reviews. Tested the most-applicable software. (The software output pleased the financial consultant.)

• Landscape photographer — needed a website but couldn't afford much money.

  Results: Selected easy-to-use free gallery software based on an online search for product websites and reviews. (The website, with more than 70 photos, www.walesphotographs.com, met the photographer's budget, because some of the work setting it up was so easy the photographer could do it.)

• Manufacturing — needed better ways to make complex products.

  Results: Invented two novel devices. (The company protected these inventions with United States patents 4,270,382 and 4,681,780 for which I am the sole inventor.)

• Parents of a young dyslexic child — needed voice-recognition software to help their child write.

  Results: Located a doctor, based on an online search, who: (1) is an authority in training dyslexic children in the use of voice-recognition software, (2) had doubted the feasibility of training a child this young, and (3) had recently accepted the possibility of training children almost this young. (The doctor successfully trained the child. The child became the first in the Cambridge, MA school system to use voice-recognition software in the classroom.)

• Product developers — needed more-reliable data for crucial laboratory measurements.

  Results: Identified major procedural errors, corrected and clarified procedural instructions, added drawings, and improved equipment. (Laboratory technicians said the changes made their work easier. The senior manager said the changes solved long-standing problems.)

• Product development manager — needed faster patent searches, but did not want to pay the high cost of standard pay-by-the-minute online search services.

  Results: Found a new, pay-by-the-year patent search service. (The manager said the patent information found in the first week paid for the entire year's fee.)

• Supervisor of a test facility for product development — needed faster, more-accurate generation and retrieval of directions for experiments

  Results: Designed a complex Microsoft Access database for entry, calculation, printing, and retrieval of the information. Working with a programmer, coded and debugged the database. (The database increased efficiency and accuracy and pleased everyone involved.)

• Supervisor of a test facility for product development — needed more-accurate predictions from a spreadsheet mathematical model.

  Results: Rewrote the spreadsheet calculations and user interface, eliminating calculation errors and reducing data-entry errors. (The improved spreadsheet reduced errors and saved valuable test time.)

• Supplier of an unusual industrial raw material — needed more inquiries from potential customers.

  Results: Created a website and wrote a conference paper, based on complex information that had to be organized and updated. (The website, www.ultradiamondtech.com, dramatically increased inquiries. The supplier sends the conference paper to prospective customers.)

• Wedding photographer in the Boston-area — needed a website.

  Results: Analyzed pros and cons of different ways of presenting information and photos based on an online search for websites of Boston-area and worldwide wedding photographers. (The website, www.johnheymannphotography.com, met the client's needs.)

• and more . . .

Contact me
danielkamman@information-consultant.com