For over ten years, Michael Downey has been a leader on the front lines of the Internet revolution. His introduction to computer technology came in 1987, when his parents purchased a Tandy 1000 EX. From that time, he became actively involved in computers and online technology. He was a system operator, or sysop, for Traders' Connection (TCON) BBS, a predecessor to the Internet as it is known today. TCON eventually became one of the first dial-up internet service providers in Indianapolis.
Later, Downey received two undergraduate degrees from Purdue University, majoring in electrical engineering technology (2000) and computer engineering technology (2002). During his undergraduate career, his interests in information technology matured, and in 2000, he started a career in Information Technology, working for not only Fortune 500 and Global 500 corporations, as well as an industry consultant for various projects.
As a graduate student in the Human-Computer Interaction program at the Indiana University School of Informatics in Indianapolis, his research has focused on user-centered design and testing, usability of open source software, and three-dimensional visualization of file systems. He has been a key member of the MountainView research team and is a co-principal investigator for FOSSUL - IU’s Free and Open Source Software Usability Laboratory.
An active participant in the technology community, Downey is a member of the Free Software Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Internet Society, Association for Computing Machinery, IEEE Computer Society and a charter member of the Usability Professionals' Association.
