Work, in context.
Selected projects and the evidence preserved with them.
01 / Course studyDOCUMENTED RECORD
Intro to Human-Centered Design (501B) / 2018
Making Dimensions of Human-Centered Design & Engineering
A framework for locating human-centered work across people, problems, process, and purpose.
Framework developmentFaculty-practice mappingReflective synthesis
Read the study →Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
My work moved from material and brand systems toward applications, then from individual interactions toward collective and institutional systems. Academic research added distributed cognition, actor-network theory, and sociomateriality to an increasingly systems-oriented design practice.
Source context
Course, year, presentation link, and reflection recorded in the portfolio’s research and writing collection.
02 / Course studyDOCUMENTED RECORD
PhD course — title to confirm (548) / 2018
Collaborative Sensemaking in Visual Analytics
PhD coursework with Cecelia Aragon
A literature review examining how groups notice cues, build interpretations, and act through shared analytical systems.
Literature reviewVisual analyticsCollaborative sensemaking
Read the study →Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
The literature concentrated on short, time-sensitive studies with limited group variation. Long-duration sensemaking, diverse and cross-functional teams, uncertainty, trust, and the unconscious work surrounding analysis remained underexplored. These gaps point toward distributed cognition, sociomateriality, calm computing, and better distinctions between data and information as productive directions for future inquiry.
Source context
Course, year, presentation link, and reflection recorded in the portfolio’s research and writing collection. Mathias confirmed this was a PhD class with Cecelia Aragon; he is locating its original title.
03 / Course studyDOCUMENTED RECORD
Seminar: Current Issues in Human Centered Design and Engineering (521) / Winter 2018
Eventual.ly
An early human-in-the-loop machine-learning proposal for event planning. Eventual.ly translated the planning journey—from choosing a direction through managing logistics, communication, and the event itself—into a system where people could accept, reject, and refine recommendations as the plan evolved.
Service journey mappingHuman-in-the-loop concept designData-pattern modelingSystem concepting
Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
The proposal treated machine learning as an adjustable collaborator rather than an autonomous planner: every human correction became another signal for improving the connected set of recommendations.
Source context
The title slide identifies Mathias Burton, HCDE 521, and Winter 2018. The remaining slides document the event-planning journey, human correction loop, recommendation categories, and proposed data patterns. The course title follows UW’s HCDE catalog; the specific seminar topic remains to be confirmed.
04 / Graduate projectDOCUMENTED RECORD
Intro to Human-Centered Design (501B) / 2017–2020 · Graduate program
Collaborative project
A ten-week project exploring how incoming college students describe stress, recognize their needs, and find appropriate support.
Student interviewsSurveysResearch synthesisConcept evaluation
Explore the ten-week project through RIPEN & TASTE →Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
When someone cannot name the service they need, design should begin with the experience they can describe.
Source context
Original Connectie presentation supplied by Mathias, alongside the project narrative and three images retained in the case study; methods also recorded in the work index.
05 / Graduate projectDOCUMENTED RECORD
Course attribution pending / 2017–2020 · Graduate program
SDOT parking-map usability
Collaborative project
A usability study of Seattle parking maps, examining where public information supported—or interrupted—a driver’s task.
Usability testingTask analysisPublic-information design
Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
This entry records the work represented in the available sources.
Source context
Graduate-research description, methods, and one annotated image retained in the portfolio work index.
06 / Graduate projectDOCUMENTED RECORD
Capstone / 2020
Sensed / Censed: nonvisual navigation
As UX Research Lead on a four-person UW capstone team, I explored how blind and low-vision travelers navigate urban environments. Our March 2020 plan used formative research and journey mapping to focus on situational awareness and obstacle detection, then proposed participatory co-design with audio and haptic prototypes.
Formative interviewsLiterature and market reviewJourney mappingParticipatory design planning
Explore the capstone →Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
The plan positioned travelers as experts and designers as facilitators. The central design challenge was to provide useful environmental information without overwhelming attention or replacing the tools people already trusted. This is an archive synthesis of the planning document; the source document is a plan rather than a completed evaluation.
Source context
Capstone-1a.pdf, issued March 20, 2020, planning through June 12, names the project Sensed and identifies Mathias as UX Research Lead with Cyrus Majd, Caitlin Karpinski, and Molly Olsen. Existing portfolio records use Censed and describe a later pandemic adaptation. The plan documents formative findings and proposed work, not final outcomes. Earlier concept images are retained on the full project page with separate provenance.
07 / Graduate projectDOCUMENTED RECORD
Qualitative Research Methods (519) / 2019
Digital transactions: the expanded wallet
CLDMYTProject collaborators
A qualitative study of how people discover, choose, and make sense of payment methods. Our four-person team interviewed six participants, observed transactions in a coffee shop and movie theatre, and used role-playing to investigate the physical and social context of an expanded wallet. Cryptocurrency was one part of a broader study of money, identity, safety, and trust.
Constructivist grounded theorySix participant interviewsEthnographic observationRole-playingInitial and focused coding
Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
The recovered paper connects payment choices to habits, geography, social relationships, merchant constraints, safety, and trust. These are findings from a small qualitative study in its historical context, rather than claims about payment adoption today.
Source context
The recovered final paper credits Mathias Burton, Christy Liao, David Mondello, and Yeva Tynkova and supplies the methods and findings summarized here. The existing presentation-deck register associates Transactions with HCDE 519. Teaching slides are separately attributed supporting course material. The original archive anchor is retained. Sources recovered from the 2019 folder in October 2026; the paper itself does not print a term.
08 / Related presentationDOCUMENTED RECORD
Course attribution pending / 2019
Penny-Wise, Pound-Wise
A response to Susan Dray and David Siegel’s article on cost-effective usability practice, grounded in research experience at RefWorks and Socrata. Its connection to a particular HCDE class remains unconfirmed.
Critical readingResearch planningReflective practice
Read the response →Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
Every study makes tradeoffs. The important question is not whether to compromise an ideal process, but which compromises preserve credible participants, useful evidence, and team involvement.
Source context
Presentation link, year, and argument recorded in the portfolio’s research and writing collection; no course attribution is recorded.
09 / Course studyDOCUMENTED RECORD
Designing a Human-Centered Venture (534) / Spring 2019
Human-centered venture
Recovered reading journals connect human-centered venture design to business models, product development, design leadership, and environmental responsibility. The reflections test classroom ideas against my experience designing software and leading design teams, asking how a business can create value while remaining accountable to people and society.
Critical readingBusiness-model analysisReflective practiceSustainability analysis
Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
Across these journals, I kept looking for ways to turn broad frameworks into practical tools: a searchable collection of business models, clearer accounts of how product teams work, and ways to consider a product’s end of life at its beginning. This is an archive synthesis of the 2019 writing.
Source context
The HCDE 534 Week 3 slides and Reading Journal Assignment 534 Spring 2019 establish the course and term. The recovered journals follow that assignment’s reading, reflection, and discussion-question structure and align with its subject matter; their placement here is contextual because individual journals do not print a course number. Original writing is retained, including its historical workplace reflections. Recovered October 2026.
10 / Course studyDOCUMENTED RECORD
Experimental Research Methods (516) / Spring 2019
Experimental research methods
The recovered syllabus and five weekly slide decks document the course’s foundations in experimental design: defining research questions and variables, creating hypotheses, evaluating evidence, selecting analysis methods, and addressing research ethics. The syllabus identifies Liz Sanocki as instructor and Mia Suh as teaching assistant.
Experimental designHypothesis developmentResearch ethicsStatistical analysis
Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
This entry records the work represented in the available sources.
Source context
Course title, term, teaching team, and learning objectives are printed in the recovered syllabus; the Week 2 deck was also text-reviewed. Weeks 1, 3, 4, and 5 are catalogued from their filenames and metadata; their full contents remain unreviewed. These are teaching materials, not student-authored project deliverables. Duplicate copies of the syllabus and Week 2 deck were omitted. The existing deck register associates In-store Tracking with 516; no project findings are inferred from the syllabus.
11 / Graduate projectDOCUMENTED RECORD
Course title to confirm (520) / 2019
Information Flow — Beyond First Response
MDVDProject collaborators
A team project examining how information moves from traffic incident management to congestion management and population movement. The work traces the competing demands on first responders and proposes a research approach to clarify what second responders need, when they need it, and how a virtual command center could support coordination.
Information-flow mappingSystems analysisStakeholder research planningIterative problem framing
Reflection & archive notes +
Reflection on record
The drafts sharpen the problem from general information exchange to the bottleneck between first and second responders. The proposed value is better coordination while respecting first responders’ safety responsibilities; the recovered documents do not establish a measured reduction in incident-clearance time.
Source context
The team papers and final presentation credit Mathias Burton, Vincent Diep, and Molly Dalton. The existing presentation-deck register assigns Information Flow to HCDE 520. The 2019 folder supplies the year context. Guest lectures are supporting teaching material with their authors identified. A separate proposal example marked Confidential & Proprietary is not linked in the public collection. Recovered October 2026.
