Welcome.
I am an HCI Masters graduate from Carnegie Mellon University (I also have a BS in Information Systems with a concentration in Communication Design). I am enrolled part-time in the MHCI program, and am a full-time employee of the Software Engineering Institute. There, I work as an Interaction Designer providing information architecture, design and customer support to the CERT Virtual Training Environment Team. I have taught two courses, Computer Basics for Communication Design (51-223) for the School of Design as well as Practical Web Skills (62-415) for the College of Fine Arts.
My current research interests include interaction technologies for the web, social web networks, as well as physical and digital environments that support collaboration in key environments. While a valuable pursuit, I also enjoy spending time with my family, swimming, basketball and playing guitar.
The interaction between humans and technology fascinates me. I love exploring how we shape and are shaped by the digital world. I ponder these questions daily—What technology can we develop to make our lives better? How can design and psychology principles be used to solve user problems?
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Information Gap Theory
Posted on September 3, 2009
During my MHCI Capstone Project, I became fascinated with visualizing networks and information. As a team, we used several methods to visualize networks (speed dating, participatory design, peer critiques, etc.), we came up with many ways to visualize networks in the form of people, content, and resources. But, what I think is even more interesting is identifying information that is not there and visualizing ways to represent these "gaps".
Information can be presented in a manner that is straightforward or curious. If we opt for curious, we are guaranteed not only attention, but likely higher engagement as well. As human beings, we demand to know more. What was known information (a book we’ve read many times) that might have been ignored has been converted into something unknown, something mysterious, something that demands resolution (a movie adaptation of said book where the ending has been changed).
