Faithe Wempen, M.A., is a Microsoft Office Master Instructor and an adjunct instructor of Computer Information Technology at Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, specializing in Microsoft Office and PC hardware. She is the author of more than 90 books on PC hardware and software, and teaches online courses in Office applications for corporate clients including Hewlett-Packard, Gateway, and Sony. She also owns and operates Sycamore Knoll Bed and Breakfast (www.sycamoreknoll.com).
About the Contributing Authors
Nicholas Chase has been involved in Web site development for companies such as Lucent Technologies, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Nick has been a high-school physics teacher, a low-level radioactive waste facility manager, an online science fiction magazine editor, a multimedia engineer, an Oracle instructor, and the Chief Technology Officer of an interactive communications company. He is the author of several books, including XML Primer Plus (Sams), and is currently a partner in the Backstop Media technical content production firm (http://www.backstopmedia.com).
Kathy Jacobs, Microsoft MVP in PowerPoint and OneNote, has been using Office since its earliest days. She started out using Word for newsletters, letters, books, and other documents in the late 1980s. She added PowerPoint and Excel to her areas of expertise in the early 1990s. She has been an active beta tester for Office since the 2002 release, and has been working with Office 2007 for many months. Kathy specializes in helping people from all backgrounds and all walks of life learn to use Office to make their lives easier. As a PowerPoint and OneNote consultant, trainer, and writer, she has written on Office topics for her own site (www.OnPPT.com), Office On-Line, LockerGnome, IndeZine, and the PowerPoint FAQ. She presents regularly on a variety of subjects at the Phoenix PC User Group, where she is currently vice president. She has been actively involved in PPT Live (the PowerPoint conference for users) since its inception. She has written a PowerPoint book, Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint, and co-written a OneNote book, Unleash the Power of OneNote. She is the creator of Keystone learning's OneNote 2003 training DVD. Right now, she specializes in helping people solve their Office emergencies through her service, Call Kathy Solutions.
Karen McCall is a respected author and speaker with extensive expertise in software accessibility and usability. She trains software and web design professionals around the world on techniques to improve the digital experience for people with disabilities. Her current book, Logical Document Structure Handbook: Word 2003, is the first in a series focusing on designing and generating accessible and usable word processed documents. She currently lives in Canada, sharing adventures with Barnaby Edmund and Olivia Zane.
Joyce J. Nielsen is the author or coauthor of more than 35 computer books and has edited several hundred more. She has worked in the publishing industry for 17 years as an author, development editor, technical editor, and project manager. Joyce also worked as a research analyst for a shopping mall developer, where she developed and documented computer applications used nationwide. She graduated with a B.S. degree in Quantitative Business Analysis from Indiana University and now resides in Arizona.
Patrick Schmid has been a OneNote MVP since 2006 and can be found constantly in many Microsoft Office community newsgroups. During the Office 2007 beta, he became an expert in RibbonX. His website and blog at http://pschmid.net are a premier resource for customizing the Office 2007 Ribbon. Patrick is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.