People
Associate Professor Toni Robertson
Associate Professor, FEIT
Toni Robertson established the Interaction Design and Work Practice Lab in 2002. Her research has focused on how an understanding of actual human activities (including, for example, work and cognition) can be developed and then used to design technology that is both useful and appropriate for its use. She is a specialist in the application of qualitative and participatory research and design methods and the use of phenomenological perspectives to understand actual human experience of technology use.
Read more about Toni’s work on her page: http://research.it.uts.edu.au/idhup/people/toni-robertson/
Dr Lian Loke
Senior Lecturer, FEIT
Dr Loke is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Software, FEIT and an Early Career Researcher in the IDHuP lab and the research centre for Human Centred Technology Design (HCTD). Her research is interdisciplinary and spans human-computer interaction, design and artistic practice, with the body as a central focus. Her doctoral research investigated the emerging field of movement-based interaction design and resulted in a design methodology, Moving and Making Strange, consisting of methods and tools to assist in the design of movement-based interactive technologies. The design methodology gives primacy to the lived experience of people interacting with technology and offers three perspectives for designers: the first-person experiential, the observer and the machine. Current projects include the Thinking Through The Body ensemble (http://thinkingthroughthebody.net), exploring aesthetic experience, interactive art and somatic bodywork (ArtLab 2008/2009). Future projects include Australia Council funded research into wearable technologies for costume and performance.
Senior Lecturer, FEIT
Dr Loke is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Software, FEIT and an Early Career Researcher in the IDHuP lab and the research centre for Human Centred Technology Design (HCTD). Her research is interdisciplinary and spans human-computer interaction, design and artistic practice, with the body as a central focus. Her doctoral research investigated the emerging field of movement-based interaction design and resulted in a design methodology, Moving and Making Strange, consisting of methods and tools to assist in the design of movement-based interactive technologies. The design methodology gives primacy to the lived experience of people interacting with technology and offers three perspectives for designers: the first-person experiential, the observer and the machine. Current projects include the Thinking Through The Body ensemble (http://thinkingthroughthebody.net), exploring aesthetic experience, interactive art and somatic bodywork (ArtLab 2008/2009). Future projects include Australia Council funded research into wearable technologies for costume and performance.
Professor Jenny Edwards
Adjunct Professor, FIT
Jenny Edwards is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of IT at UTS. She has worked widely in computing for many years in education and consulting. The technical aspect of her research is into large scale numerical algorithms for grid and supercomputers but she also has longstanding interests in computing education, in social and ethical implications of computers and in women in computing.
Adjunct Professor, FIT
Jenny Edwards is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of IT at UTS. She has worked widely in computing for many years in education and consulting. The technical aspect of her research is into large scale numerical algorithms for grid and supercomputers but she also has longstanding interests in computing education, in social and ethical implications of computers and in women in computing.
Associate Professor John Leaney
Adjunct Associate Professor, FEIT
John Leaney’s main teaching, scholarship and research focus is Computer and Software Systems Engineering (or the Engineering of Computer Based Systems, ECBS). John is Deputy Director of the UTS Institute for Information and Communication Technologies, Associate Professor Faculties of Information Technology and Engineering, Program Co-Chair, IEEE ECBS 2005 Program Committee and a member of the Architecture based Engineering (ABE) group of the IICT at UTS.
Adjunct Associate Professor, FEIT
John Leaney’s main teaching, scholarship and research focus is Computer and Software Systems Engineering (or the Engineering of Computer Based Systems, ECBS). John is Deputy Director of the UTS Institute for Information and Communication Technologies, Associate Professor Faculties of Information Technology and Engineering, Program Co-Chair, IEEE ECBS 2005 Program Committee and a member of the Architecture based Engineering (ABE) group of the IICT at UTS.
Julia Prior
Lecturer FEIT, PhD Student FEIT
Julia is a full-time lecturer in the School of Software, teaching database design, and an Early Career Researcher in the IDHUP lab and HCTD research centre. Her PhD thesis is an ethnography of software developers. She used a longitudinal study of professional software developers in an Australian company to develop an understanding and characterisation of software development as it is practiced in the workplace. The crux of the research is the embodied work of professional software developers, their lived experience of their daily work. Rather than looking to established theory of software development to investigate this issue, she researched it as situated action — observing professional software developers in their workplace and examining their work practice where and while it occurred.
Julia’s research is strongly human-centred in that it explores technically-savvy people’s engagement with technology, where this engagement has the specific purpose of producing more technology (i.e. the development of software products). Further, it is research that aims to challenge the artificial dichotomy between ’soft’ people and ‘hard’ technology by focusing on the use of specific technology by people as situated action and by advocating ethical technology design.
Lecturer FEIT, PhD Student FEIT
Julia is a full-time lecturer in the School of Software, teaching database design, and an Early Career Researcher in the IDHUP lab and HCTD research centre. Her PhD thesis is an ethnography of software developers. She used a longitudinal study of professional software developers in an Australian company to develop an understanding and characterisation of software development as it is practiced in the workplace. The crux of the research is the embodied work of professional software developers, their lived experience of their daily work. Rather than looking to established theory of software development to investigate this issue, she researched it as situated action — observing professional software developers in their workplace and examining their work practice where and while it occurred.
Julia’s research is strongly human-centred in that it explores technically-savvy people’s engagement with technology, where this engagement has the specific purpose of producing more technology (i.e. the development of software products). Further, it is research that aims to challenge the artificial dichotomy between ’soft’ people and ‘hard’ technology by focusing on the use of specific technology by people as situated action and by advocating ethical technology design.
Astrid Twenebowa Larssen
PhD Student, FEIT
Astrid Twenebowa Larssen investigates characteristics of human-computer interaction when movement of the human body becomes the input for interaction. New input and interaction options are becoming possible as a result of technological developments. These new forms of interaction are enabling interaction without the constraints of the desktop paradigm, and they allow increased or different physicality for the user. This research then is seeking to understand how to use the body as a resource in design by considering ways of describing the movements taking place in the interaction, and exploring ways of evaluating systems that rely on movements as their source of input. Astrid has a background as an athlete and an analytic chemist.
PhD Student, FEIT
Astrid Twenebowa Larssen investigates characteristics of human-computer interaction when movement of the human body becomes the input for interaction. New input and interaction options are becoming possible as a result of technological developments. These new forms of interaction are enabling interaction without the constraints of the desktop paradigm, and they allow increased or different physicality for the user. This research then is seeking to understand how to use the body as a resource in design by considering ways of describing the movements taking place in the interaction, and exploring ways of evaluating systems that rely on movements as their source of input. Astrid has a background as an athlete and an analytic chemist.
Kirsten Sadler
PhD Student, FEIT
Kirsten Sadler has a background in Engineering, specialising in wireless communications. After 5 years in industry Kirsten returned to University to explore the gap between the technology design world and the world of the everyday practices of technology users. Kirsten’s research interests are in the area of mobile HCI. These include qualitative mobile research methods, narrative, and the social implications of technical design. In her PhD she is exploring the concept of “mobility” within the Mobile HCI literature and how this concept is currently being used to inform mobile technology design. Her research involves a series of empirical studies of the practices of freelancers in Media industries.
PhD Student, FEIT
Kirsten Sadler has a background in Engineering, specialising in wireless communications. After 5 years in industry Kirsten returned to University to explore the gap between the technology design world and the world of the everyday practices of technology users. Kirsten’s research interests are in the area of mobile HCI. These include qualitative mobile research methods, narrative, and the social implications of technical design. In her PhD she is exploring the concept of “mobility” within the Mobile HCI literature and how this concept is currently being used to inform mobile technology design. Her research involves a series of empirical studies of the practices of freelancers in Media industries.
Penny Hagen
PhD Student, FEIT
Penny Hagen is a Design Strategist specialising in participatory and collaborative approaches to design with a particular focus on design for social change. Penny’s perspective on design is grounded in her work as an interaction and interface designer, digital media trainer, researcher and strategist across community and commercial projects. Her interest in emerging interaction design methods and participatory design led to a research position at IDWOP investigating mobile methods. Penny is currently completing her PhD on participatory design methods for creating social software.
PhD Student, FEIT
Penny Hagen is a Design Strategist specialising in participatory and collaborative approaches to design with a particular focus on design for social change. Penny’s perspective on design is grounded in her work as an interaction and interface designer, digital media trainer, researcher and strategist across community and commercial projects. Her interest in emerging interaction design methods and participatory design led to a research position at IDWOP investigating mobile methods. Penny is currently completing her PhD on participatory design methods for creating social software.
Dean Hargreaves
PhD Student, FEIT
Dean Hargreaves is passionate about the potential for technology to improve people’s lives. Dean has 10 years experience as an Information Systems researcher with Australia’s CSIRO, where he led a number of research activities that investigated the potential for collaboration technologies to support remote group work. This included an activity that used low-cost, low-bandwidth ICT to connect scientists in Australia with their counterparts in rural Indonesia, South Africa and Bangladesh. He also initiated a major national research initiative that designed, implemented and commercialised a tele-health system that allowed cardiologists to undertake remote consultations using high-quality video, audio and image transmission. Dean holds a Bachelor or Arts in Film and Media, a Master of Philosophy in computer science from the University of Queensland, and is now undertaking a PhD on transaction-based collaborative systems. His research focuses on people’s collaborative planning and decision-making activity, with a major case study on travel planning.
PhD Student, FEIT
Dean Hargreaves is passionate about the potential for technology to improve people’s lives. Dean has 10 years experience as an Information Systems researcher with Australia’s CSIRO, where he led a number of research activities that investigated the potential for collaboration technologies to support remote group work. This included an activity that used low-cost, low-bandwidth ICT to connect scientists in Australia with their counterparts in rural Indonesia, South Africa and Bangladesh. He also initiated a major national research initiative that designed, implemented and commercialised a tele-health system that allowed cardiologists to undertake remote consultations using high-quality video, audio and image transmission. Dean holds a Bachelor or Arts in Film and Media, a Master of Philosophy in computer science from the University of Queensland, and is now undertaking a PhD on transaction-based collaborative systems. His research focuses on people’s collaborative planning and decision-making activity, with a major case study on travel planning.
Susan Hansen
PhD Student, FEIT
Susan Hansen is a PhD student investigating the role of ICT (Information Communications Technologies) for delivering services to underserved communities. In her previous role as a researcher for the CSIRO ICT Centre she was involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of telemedicine systems to facilitate the delivery of health services to rural and regional Australia. Her current thesis involves working in partnership with Rhodes University in South Africa to explore how ICT’s can facilitate the delivery of health, education and other fundamental services to rural South Africa.
PhD Student, FEIT
Susan Hansen is a PhD student investigating the role of ICT (Information Communications Technologies) for delivering services to underserved communities. In her previous role as a researcher for the CSIRO ICT Centre she was involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of telemedicine systems to facilitate the delivery of health services to rural and regional Australia. Her current thesis involves working in partnership with Rhodes University in South Africa to explore how ICT’s can facilitate the delivery of health, education and other fundamental services to rural South Africa.
Jane Li
PhD Student, FEIT
Jane is a research scientist at CSIRO ICT Centre. She works in the interface field of designing and applying information technologies to workplaces. Her PhD explores how new interaction technologies can be designed to enhance the collaboration and interaction in complex applications. Her research involves a series of studies in understanding the work practices and using socio-technical insights to inform the design and implementation of interaction technologies facilitating distributed information sharing and decision-making.
PhD Student, FEIT
Jane is a research scientist at CSIRO ICT Centre. She works in the interface field of designing and applying information technologies to workplaces. Her PhD explores how new interaction technologies can be designed to enhance the collaboration and interaction in complex applications. Her research involves a series of studies in understanding the work practices and using socio-technical insights to inform the design and implementation of interaction technologies facilitating distributed information sharing and decision-making.
Dr Linda Leung
Senior Lecturer, IML
is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute for Interactive Media & Learning and director of postgraduate programs in interactive multimedia. She has been a Chief Investigator for the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) in Interaction Design (ACID). Her research examines digital media development processes and technology design practices, and particularly how these impact on the ways that minority groups and marginalised communities access, appropriate and experience technologies. She recently completed an 18-month study on refugee and asylum seekers’ use of communication technologies during flight, displacement and settlement. She received the 2009 UTS Shopfront Research Fellowship to disseminate the findings of the study to organisations which provide support and services to refugees and asylum seekers.
Read more at:
http://mim.iml.uts.edu.au/staff/leung.cfm
Senior Lecturer, IML
is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute for Interactive Media & Learning and director of postgraduate programs in interactive multimedia. She has been a Chief Investigator for the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) in Interaction Design (ACID). Her research examines digital media development processes and technology design practices, and particularly how these impact on the ways that minority groups and marginalised communities access, appropriate and experience technologies. She recently completed an 18-month study on refugee and asylum seekers’ use of communication technologies during flight, displacement and settlement. She received the 2009 UTS Shopfront Research Fellowship to disseminate the findings of the study to organisations which provide support and services to refugees and asylum seekers.
Read more at:
http://mim.iml.uts.edu.au/staff/leung.cfm
Dr Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson
Lecturer, HSS
Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson designs and delivers courses (postgraduate and undergraduate) in information retrieval and organisation as well as in social informatics. She is an active researcher with interests in the interplay between emerging technologies & work practices and structuring information for re-use within digital collections. Her core research focuses on representation and relevance assessment processes. Her PhD thesis, “Understandings of relevance and topic as they evolve in the scholarly research process” contributes both to understandings about the ways relevance is assessed from a user’s perspective and to the development of a framework for exploring relevance. It demonstrates the strengths of ethnographic research & creative analytic practices for information behaviour research.
Lecturer, HSS
Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson designs and delivers courses (postgraduate and undergraduate) in information retrieval and organisation as well as in social informatics. She is an active researcher with interests in the interplay between emerging technologies & work practices and structuring information for re-use within digital collections. Her core research focuses on representation and relevance assessment processes. Her PhD thesis, “Understandings of relevance and topic as they evolve in the scholarly research process” contributes both to understandings about the ways relevance is assessed from a user’s perspective and to the development of a framework for exploring relevance. It demonstrates the strengths of ethnographic research & creative analytic practices for information behaviour research.
Dr Tim Mansfield
Senior Researcher, Smart Services CRC, QUT
Tim Mansfield is a socio-technical systems designer and researcher working in Sydney, Australia. He leads a foresight project called “Services 2020″ about the future of Australian service industries for the Smart Services CRC. In 2008, he taught web technology at UTS and led research in the HxI initiative (http://www.hxi.org) at NICTA. Between 2005 and 2007, he consulted with both commercial and non-profit organisations on social software and collaborative work. Between 1995 and 2005 he was a Senior Research Scientist at DSTC Pty Ltd. Dr Mansfield is a nationally renowned pretend ethnographer, in the same month as he submitted his PhD he also staged an improvised pantomime about the life of Harold Holt and in May 2008 he was ordained a priest in the Apostolic Johannite Church. He is the IDHuP lab chaplain.
Senior Researcher, Smart Services CRC, QUT
Tim Mansfield is a socio-technical systems designer and researcher working in Sydney, Australia. He leads a foresight project called “Services 2020″ about the future of Australian service industries for the Smart Services CRC. In 2008, he taught web technology at UTS and led research in the HxI initiative (http://www.hxi.org) at NICTA. Between 2005 and 2007, he consulted with both commercial and non-profit organisations on social software and collaborative work. Between 1995 and 2005 he was a Senior Research Scientist at DSTC Pty Ltd. Dr Mansfield is a nationally renowned pretend ethnographer, in the same month as he submitted his PhD he also staged an improvised pantomime about the life of Harold Holt and in May 2008 he was ordained a priest in the Apostolic Johannite Church. He is the IDHuP lab chaplain.
Dr Jeni PaayVisiting Fellow. FEIT
Jeni Paay is a Visiting Fellow at IDHuP UTS. She is also working as a Senior Research Scientist – Interaction
Design Lead with CSIRO on the HxI Braccetto Project about Blended Interaction Spaces. Jeni is interested in theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of interaction design, development, and use of socio-technical systems combining ideas from HCI, CSCW and Architecture. She has used architectural and sociological methods and theories to study existing situations for social interactions in public places for the purpose of informing the design and implementation of pervasive computer systems facilitating social interactions between groups of friends situated in city environments.
Dr Jesper Kjeldskov
Associate Professor, Aalborg University
Jesper Kjeldskov is Associate Professor in Computer Science at Aalborg University (Denmark) within the area of Human-Computer Interaction. He has a cross-disciplinary background spanning the humanities, social sciences, and computer science. Jesper has published widely in the HCI literature primarily within the area of mobile and ubiquitous computing and has been a frequent visitor to Australia since 2001 collaborating with colleagues at UTS and The University of Melbourne. From 2008-09 Jesper headed the User Experience Group at CSIRO ICT centre in Sydney and was a leader in the HxI/Braccetto project.
Associate Professor, Aalborg University
Jesper Kjeldskov is Associate Professor in Computer Science at Aalborg University (Denmark) within the area of Human-Computer Interaction. He has a cross-disciplinary background spanning the humanities, social sciences, and computer science. Jesper has published widely in the HCI literature primarily within the area of mobile and ubiquitous computing and has been a frequent visitor to Australia since 2001 collaborating with colleagues at UTS and The University of Melbourne. From 2008-09 Jesper headed the User Experience Group at CSIRO ICT centre in Sydney and was a leader in the HxI/Braccetto project.
