Welcome to my home on the web.
A summary of my research activities and interests, both current and in the past. You have landed on my blog ramblings. Please use the navigation tabs (bio, presentations, publications and so on…) to see what I have been up to professionally. __________________________________________________________________________________
Vintage Values
We got some press for our project on vintage shopping. That makes my heart sing! eBay is a commerce platform that embraces new, old, vintage, consignment….. all kinds of goods are circulated through eBay satisfying instrumental needs, nostalgic revisitations, sentimental acquisitions, aspirations fulfilled. I call our more recent project into this Vintage Values – playing… More »
Scrupulous, Scrutable and Sumptuous: Personal Data Futures
This is a draft of a column I wrote for ACM interactions magazine. It was inspired by conversations I had at the User Modeling and Personalization (UMAP) conference in Aalborg in July 2014. More »
Reasons to be Cheerful
This is a draft of a column I wrote for ACM interactions magazine. I have been thinking a lot recently about physical and emotional health, and especially about the tricks we play on ourselves to uplift mood and perspective in challenging times. I have an “earworm” for challenging times, a 1970’s single that was released in the UK by Ian Dury and The Blockheads. This column is named after that song, Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3. More »
The Currencies of Paper Currency
This is a draft of a column I wrote for ACM interactions magazine for early 2014. I have thinking about the “greenback”, the US’ banknote, and its design–instantly recognizable and horribly challenging from a usability standpoint because of the uniformity of the notes. I have also been thinking about the future of banknotes more generally. As virtual currencies emerge and more and more of our transactions are through credit/debit cards and online services like digital wallets, I am wondering what will happen to paper banknotes, often a “billboard” for a country, showcasing people and things that are seen as central to that country’s identity–the face of Queen Elizabeth II, Dame Nellie Melba, Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms, starfish, a chollima, a bee pollinating a flower…… More »
