CIS mixing with the best in the field
Everything is bigger in Texas, including the academic conferences.
Computing and Information Systems Professor Christopher Lueg and his PhD student Paris Buttfield-Addison, recently returned from presenting three papers at the prestigious i-conference, this year held in Fort Worth, Texas.
The iconference is the annual conference of the information schools, a new breed of academic schools staffed by faculty ranging from librarians, to computer scientists and economists, who examine the role information plays in society.
The conference is a chance for the best in the field to get together, present research and network.
Prof Lueg said CIS involvement is excellent, particularly as they are not an ischool. He has attended twice before.
"It's a great opportunity - youre able to sit in a workshop with the best names in the field and chat and have coffee with them, he said."
The iconference has a lot of features of computing conferences, including that all the papers that are submitted are peer-reviewed.
"We are generating a very good track record in the information field."
One of the papers presented, based on an aspect of Paris' PhD research, looked at how people use tablet technology to manage their personal information.
"This paper examined the different challenges and the ways that people co-opt the iPad interface to behave in the way they need it to.
"Tagging is becoming more prevalent in lots of software."My research has started suggesting that tagging might actually be a scary thing for many people because they feel like if they don't tag it, they won't be able to find it again or they might tag it with the wrong words, Paris said.
"So then they don't tag at all and the whole thing gets messier and messier- my research is addressing that problem."
Another paper detailed the findings of an interdisciplinary UTAS team to bring the old maps of Hobart to life with new technology, so they could be used for research, educational purposes and tourism.
"The Hobart Atlas project was a collaboration between CIS, History and Classics and the School of Architecture and Design.
"We created prototypes of what a Hobart Atlas iPad app might look like with feedback from Professor Pam Sharpe (History and Classics).
"A History research student looked at the history of the maps and determined how useful the map was, where it came from, how accurate it was- there is a huge amount of information not actually shown in a map that you need to know, Prof Lueg said.
"We had two CIS students on the team who were co-designing with people who had limited technical knowledge- it was an interesting and very creative collaborative process."
Another paper was based on a CIS Honours thesis that resulted in a prototype called "Ask Away" that was able to target questions to a specific location.
"If for example you were travelling and you liked pub music, how could you find out what bands were playing at your destination?
"If you could take your question and place it in that location, it would be answered with real, local knowledge at that location."
Prof Lueg also organised a "Design Jam" at the conference, an informal get-together of delegates for the purpose of sharing innovative design thinking and methodologies.
"People came together and we examined certain design problems; it's about generating broad, innovative ideas.
"It's not so much about the topic but how you approach it and how you bring ideas together.
"The perception of computing is that you think of a problem and then you solve it by hacking- the reality is quite different, Prof Lueg said.
"There is a lot of technical stuff, but in order to create something, you need a lot of creative thinking."
Prof Lueg was also honoured with an invitation to be a mentor in the US National Science Foundation sponsored Doctoral Colloquium.
He was the only one invited who does not work a North American research university and not working at an ischool.
Image: (left to right) Professor Christopher Lueg and PhD candidate Paris Buttfield-Addison.