Reflections on the Journey

Diane H. Sonnenwald

Job Ad:Intelligent, energetic, sensitive individual

with a bachelor’s degree…

• Collaboration with many different disciplines

• Collaboration with different hierarchical levels

• New ways of conceptualizing problems & behaviour

• Life-long friends in LIS

• Data collection in different countries

Purebasic

research

Use-inspiredresearch

Pure applied

research& development

Improved understanding

Improved practice, technology

Existingunderstanding

Existing practice, technology

Research Approach(Stokes, 1997)

Previous & Ongoing Projects

Traditional Technology R&D Cycle

Computer Science Research

Prototypes

Socio-technical research studies of use & non-use

Developers & Usability Engineers

IT ProductsStakeholders

Visioning Studies Approach

Visioning Studies Socio technical research

SW Developers & Usability Engineers

IT Products

Stakeholders

Intended Stakeholders

Computer Science Research

Prototypes

Visioning Studies

• Goals- Validate proposed benefits- Identify unintended consequences & unintended benefits-Identify deployment challenges & solutions-Provide insights regarding technology features-Inform funding decisions

• Two complementary approaches - Investigates future task performance - Identifies implications in the domain context

• Recent & ongoing visioning studies - 3D telepresence technology in emergency medical care - Future mobile technology in police work - Focus on complex and dynamic domain contexts

Some advice….

• Be helpful to others

• Collaborate well with others

• Ask yourself: Is it the right thing to do?

• It’s okay if challenges slow you down; don’t let them stop you

Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks to my mentors, collaborators, students and study participants and their organizations over the years!

My thanks also to the funding agencies who supported the projects.