My Research Projects
I am presently working or starting work on four main research projects.
Computer-supported Collaborative Work
How can we support computer-supported data analysis? The tools are out there but are people using them? I have been working on this with Daniel Lemire.
Human Factors of Collaborative Virtual Reality
With my CRC co-workers, John Stewart and Sarah Dumoulin, I am exploring various ways of improving the human factors of collaborative virtual environments (CVEs). We have looked at adding haptic feedback and informational cues to CVEs. We also looked at the impact of contradictory emotional information on people's opinions of others. Future work includes looking at the impact of tangible interfaces on avatar control.
Sensors and Ubiquitous Computing
John Stewart and Sarah Dumoulin are also working on setting up a sensory array and we will be doing research on using sensor arrays. I am also sketching out a project on chronic disease and ubiquitous computing.
Online Social Networks
I have worked with Russell Beal on the use of tags in social web sites, and in particular in the social citation site CiteULike. I am presently sketching out a project on the use of online social networks to support creative, artistic, and crafting activities.
Smartphones
I am presently sketching out projects on the use of smartphones as ubiquitous computing technology.
Past Research Projects
Collaborative Writing and TellTable
My Masters in Human Factors was on collaborative writing. I also worked for several years with John Nash, a now retired University of Ottawa professor, and Andy Adler now at Carleton University on TellTable, a cross-platform, open source network application system that makes it possible to collaborate on office applications over the web.
Videoconferencing and Quality of Experience
I worked with researchers at the National Research Council's Institute for Information Technology, at the New Media Innovation Center in Vancouver and at the University of Victoria on improving the participants' quality of experience during group-to-group videoconferencing sessions.