Research

Description

For the last eight years, I have been working in the area of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Starting as a research assistant and postgraduate student, and later on, as an assistant professor (lecturer) and researcher, during this time I have been involved in a variety of HCI projects including: the evaluation of collaborative information visualization tools, the prototyping of information technologies for the home, the design (participatory) of context-aware and ubiquitous computing for hospitals, the development of ethnographic-based methodologies for systematic observation of work practices, and the analysis of adoption of mobile and web-based systems.

Working on these projects has given me expertise on different application contexts, and also a deep understanding of different HCI research approaches, from qualitative inquiries to quantitative content analysis, and from extended workplace studies to detailed lab-based experiments.

Trained as an Electronic Systems Engineer (BSc degree), and then on Information Systems and Telecommunications (MSc degree), I have a comprehensive understanding of the technical side of interactive systems, which was radically enhanced when I had the opportunity of studying an additional master degree and doctoral degree at the University of California at Irvine (UCI). The School of Information and Computer Science of UCI, from where I graduated, has a long time tradition on the study of the social and personal implications of computerization and people’s interaction with information technologies. After my education there, I was able to understand HCI from a truly socio-technical perspective, which now guides my research.

A particular area of personal interest of my research is the prototyping and development of software tools, in particular within the context of mobile, context-aware and ubiquitous computing. Through a number of previous projects, I have gained experience, envisioning, defining, developing and evaluating different types of prototypes (from paper-based to fully operational systems) with different levels of personal contributions to each project (from requirements gathering and definition of participatory design sessions to actual implementation and testing).

Current Research Projects


- Personal Productivity Tools and Strategies
- Community Connectednesss
- Habitat Computing
- Computer Mediated Communication

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