The following portfolio is of research interests and projects I have worked on both professionally and academically.
Current Projects and Research Interests
Affect and Information Sharing
I am addressing this research topic in two concurrent ways. The first
is through an ethnographic study of affect and information sharing in an emergency department
which includes observations and interviews of medical personnel. The second is
through a laboratory experiment utilizing the hidden profile paradigm to study
information sharing practices and the PANAS to investigate group affect.
These two studies have two major contributions.
The first is what can we learn about affect in information sharing. Research questions include (1) how does affect influence information sharing,
(2) what affective information is conveyed during information sharing, and (3) how could the introduction of information systems influence information sharing.
The second contribution is methods for studying affect in HCI. Research
questions include (1) what methods can be used in the field vs. the lab, (2) what you can learn from each method
to inform interaction design, and (3) how are methods different
for gathering requirements as opposed to evaluation of system? CHI08 workshop paper on qualitative methods for studying
emotion, CSCW08 DC Abstract, CHI09 WIP of preliminary data
Multiple-view Geo-collaborative Visualizations to Build Common Ground
Building on prior research on common ground and teamwork, we use a theory-driven approach to inform the
design of a geo-collaborative prototype and develop laboratory methods for evaluating how collaborative
visualizations support teams in geo-spatial planning tasks. lab webpage,
ISCRAM 07 paper,
Group07 paper,
CHI08 paper,
ISCRAM08 paper
Past Projects
Provoking Sociability (2003-2006)
In this project we tested a networked agent that asked seemingly
innocent questions of users and then passed along a modified form of that
information, much like gossip. We were interested in the changes in the
social networks of those that interacted with this mediator. In essence, can
technology add to positive social climate? CHI07 paper.
Memory of the User Experience (2002-2005)
The importance of Affective Computing and of emotions in cognitive processing
has been growing in the HCI community. Steps have been made toward finding
reliable sensing interfaces and unique environments that would be appropriate
for affective machines. One issue that has not been dealt with is where do
different emotional reactions occur during the user's goal attainment. This
study gathered users recalled instances of frustration from using various
technologies and categorized those frustrating incidents with the User Action
Framework, an adaptation of Norman's seven stages of action for classifying
usability problems. We found that many recalled frustrating incidents occurred
while the user is in the Translation or Outcome phase and that most of those
incidents where intrusive in the user's cognitive flow. Link below
to subsequent publications. CHI03 paper &
CHI05 workshop paper on affective memories
TouchPad Sensing of Emotion (2001-2003)
This study sampled behavioral signals (touchPad pressure) as an indicator of user
affect. These measures of the user's state during application run-time could be
a sounder indicator in addition to it being less intrusive and not detected by
the user, event-elicited and in a real-world environment thus eliciting real,
internal emotions from the user. ICMI02 paper
Easy Access (2001)
When I was working at Philips Research I was given the opportunity to
help design and test some of their multi-modal entertainment systems for ambient
environment. The link leads to Philips' research website which describes the
Easy Access system more fully and under 'protoype' there is a picture of the
system. I did a lot of usabilty testing of this system for research and other
multimodal systems for pre-development at Philips. company project webpage
User Action Framework (1999-2000)
The User Action Framework (UAF) is a mostly hierarchical structured
knowledge base of usability concepts and issues, used as the underlying
foundation for a suite of usability engineering support tools. The tools are
used to analyze an interaction design and associated usability problems and
their causes in an interaction design. I worked on this project my senior year
at Virginia Tech and continued after I graduated for 6 more months. I was
responsible for a team of designers and programmers that built the explorer tool
shown in the link. Through our work on the explorer we also contributed to
changes in the overlying structure of the UAF. lab webpage
Visual Programming Environments (1998-1999)
This project involved exploring different concepts associated with
visual programming environments to ascertain requirements for a new visual
programming environment. It supported the development of an environment and
framework to support novice programmers, particularly grade school science
teachers. I was a junior/senior at Virginia Tech at the time and I was
responsible for running user tests and post-interviews.
Affect and Information Sharing
I am addressing this research topic in two concurrent ways. The first is through an ethnographic study of affect and information sharing in an emergency department which includes observations and interviews of medical personnel. The second is through a laboratory experiment utilizing the hidden profile paradigm to study information sharing practices and the PANAS to investigate group affect. These two studies have two major contributions. The first is what can we learn about affect in information sharing. Research questions include (1) how does affect influence information sharing, (2) what affective information is conveyed during information sharing, and (3) how could the introduction of information systems influence information sharing. The second contribution is methods for studying affect in HCI. Research questions include (1) what methods can be used in the field vs. the lab, (2) what you can learn from each method to inform interaction design, and (3) how are methods different for gathering requirements as opposed to evaluation of system? CHI08 workshop paper on qualitative methods for studying emotion, CSCW08 DC Abstract, CHI09 WIP of preliminary data
Multiple-view Geo-collaborative Visualizations to Build Common Ground
Building on prior research on common ground and teamwork, we use a theory-driven approach to inform the design of a geo-collaborative prototype and develop laboratory methods for evaluating how collaborative visualizations support teams in geo-spatial planning tasks. lab webpage, ISCRAM 07 paper, Group07 paper, CHI08 paper, ISCRAM08 paper
Provoking Sociability (2003-2006)
In this project we tested a networked agent that asked seemingly innocent questions of users and then passed along a modified form of that information, much like gossip. We were interested in the changes in the social networks of those that interacted with this mediator. In essence, can technology add to positive social climate? CHI07 paper.
Memory of the User Experience (2002-2005)
The importance of Affective Computing and of emotions in cognitive processing has been growing in the HCI community. Steps have been made toward finding reliable sensing interfaces and unique environments that would be appropriate for affective machines. One issue that has not been dealt with is where do different emotional reactions occur during the user's goal attainment. This study gathered users recalled instances of frustration from using various technologies and categorized those frustrating incidents with the User Action Framework, an adaptation of Norman's seven stages of action for classifying usability problems. We found that many recalled frustrating incidents occurred while the user is in the Translation or Outcome phase and that most of those incidents where intrusive in the user's cognitive flow. Link below to subsequent publications. CHI03 paper & CHI05 workshop paper on affective memories
TouchPad Sensing of Emotion (2001-2003)
This study sampled behavioral signals (touchPad pressure) as an indicator of user affect. These measures of the user's state during application run-time could be a sounder indicator in addition to it being less intrusive and not detected by the user, event-elicited and in a real-world environment thus eliciting real, internal emotions from the user. ICMI02 paper
Easy Access (2001)
When I was working at Philips Research I was given the opportunity to help design and test some of their multi-modal entertainment systems for ambient environment. The link leads to Philips' research website which describes the Easy Access system more fully and under 'protoype' there is a picture of the system. I did a lot of usabilty testing of this system for research and other multimodal systems for pre-development at Philips. company project webpage
User Action Framework (1999-2000)
The User Action Framework (UAF) is a mostly hierarchical structured knowledge base of usability concepts and issues, used as the underlying foundation for a suite of usability engineering support tools. The tools are used to analyze an interaction design and associated usability problems and their causes in an interaction design. I worked on this project my senior year at Virginia Tech and continued after I graduated for 6 more months. I was responsible for a team of designers and programmers that built the explorer tool shown in the link. Through our work on the explorer we also contributed to changes in the overlying structure of the UAF. lab webpage
Visual Programming Environments (1998-1999)
This project involved exploring different concepts associated with visual programming environments to ascertain requirements for a new visual programming environment. It supported the development of an environment and framework to support novice programmers, particularly grade school science teachers. I was a junior/senior at Virginia Tech at the time and I was responsible for running user tests and post-interviews.