I believe that computers can do a much better job of making our lives easier.
Today we all have lives that are intertwined with the digital, but they are far too fragmented across different silos, platforms and providers, and if computers are really to live up to their potential, we need to build interfaces that reflect this, software with a better understanding of our data and of the scattered nature of our online existence. This is my research interest.
I have a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Sheffield University, as well as over 15 years’ commercial experience as a software developer in large companies (IBM, OpenText), startups and freelancing. Most recently as a staff researcher at Oxford University, I explored user behaviour and motivations at the Zooniverse, the Internet’s largest citizen science platform.
In my research I aim to draw on all these experiences, and the ideas of the Semantic Web, Personal Data Lockers and User-Centred Design, to explore and build systems to empower people to take control of their digital lives, and to allow communities to collaborate with fewer artificial barriers. You can read some of my ideas in my articles “Why Files Need to Die” and “We Deserve the Time and Space to be Human”.
Outside of work, I’m a dad of three, an improv player, movie geek, board gamer, half-marathon runner, writer and podcaster. I’m also a North-East native, born and living in Hexham.
Human-GDPR Interaction: Practical experiences of accessing personal data
Web augmentation for food delivery platforms
2023
Understanding and Improving Human Data Relations
2023 –
2022
Human-GDPR Interaction: Practical Experiences of Accessing Personal Data
2022 – CHI '22: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Web Augmentation for Well-Being: the Human-Centred Design of a Takeaway Food Ordering Digital Platform
2022 – Interacting with Computers
2021
Human-Data Interaction has two purposes: Personal Data Control and Life Information Exploration
2021 – CHI '21
Appetite for Disruption: Designing Human-Centred Augmentations to an Online Food Ordering Platform
2021 – 34th British Human Computer Interaction Conference
2020
Personal Data Use: A Human Perspective
2020 –
2019
Human-Data Interaction in the Context of Care: Co-designing Family Civic Data Interfaces and Practices
2019 – CHI EA '19: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
SILVER Family Health Data Interface: Demo screencasts / Showcase
2019 –
2018
Understanding the family perspective on the storage, sharing and handling of family civic data
2018 – Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Free Data Interfaces: Taking Human-Data Interaction to the Next Level
2018 – CHI '18
A Grand Vision for Post-Capitalist HCI: Digital Life Assistants
2018 – CHI '18
2017
Designing for Human Autonomy
2017 –
What does recent research in ethnicity and communication tell us about the theory and practice of communication in contemporary societies?
2017 –
onTrack: Mapping Trains Within an Urban Metro Network Through Crowdsensing
2017 –
2016
Empowering Users in a Fragmented World of Opinionated Technology
2016 – HCI for Digital Civics 2016
An Exploration of Usefulness in Smartphone Applications
2016 –
The Future of Computing is Programming for Individuals in their Environments
2016 – HCI for Digital Civics 2016