Rob Anderson (he/him)
Senior Research Software Engineer
I work with computers and technology to craft rich experiences. My role in Open Lab is to design, build & run research software and to administer our systems and platforms.
I'm particularly interested in how software is designed and architected; whether to design, prototype or build something based on what is best suited. Currently, I'm exploring how federated technologies can make software more sustainable and how industry practises and international standards can improve resilience.
Some of my projects include:
- Deconf — Open Source virtual conferences system used by the IFRC & Mozilla
- make.place - A digital mapping and engagement platform
- ⚗️ Alembic — Our web design toolkit
- ScriptableThings — Empowering IoT devices with scripts and careful design
- DataDiaries — A virtual diary for collecting and annotating the websites you encounter
- Open Lab Hub — Our internal digital makerspace
- Not-Equal Catalyst - A brokerage system for creating & finding collaborators uniquely backed by Trello and Google Forms
- This website – Open Lab's public website
Away from the Lab, I enjoy hiking, playing the piano, making my own games and experimenting with technology.
Discover the Treasures of Lit & Phil
Digital Approaches for Gathering Student Opinions in School
EPSRC Northern Health Futures Digital Health Hub
⋯
IFRC climate:red virtual climate summit
Metro Futures: Co-designing the future of Tyne and Wear Metro
⋯
Let's Talk Parks: creating collaborative spaces to envision and transform public parks services
⋯
Connecting volunteers with community needs in Lebanon
WhatFutures: engaging youth volunteers using WhatsApp
⋯
Gabber: Collaboratively record and analyse audio conversations
⋯
H2020 gE.CO Living Lab: Tools for generating commons
⋯
Not-Equal: Exploring social justice in the digital economy
⋯
Spokespeople: helping cyclists record incidents on the road
⋯
Make Place: an open-source mapping and survey tool
⋯
2024
Design Implications for a Social and Collaborative Understanding of online Information Assessment Practices, Challenges and Heuristics
2024 – Proceedings of 22nd European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
2020
Metro Futures: Experience-Centred Co-Design at Scale
2020 – CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2019
Infrastructuring public service transformation: Creating collaborative spaces between communities and institutions through HCI research
2019 – ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
WhatFutures: Designing Large-Scale Engagements on WhatsApp
2019 – 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Gabber: Supporting Voice in Participatory Qualitative Practices
2019 – CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2018
Spokespeople: Exploring Routes to Action through Citizen-Generated Data
2018 – Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '18)
Streets for People: Engaging Children in Placemaking Through a Socio-technical Process
2018 – Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings