1. No category

ISCC
Cover Sheet for Proposals
(All sections must be completed)
e-Learning
Programme
Name of Call Area Bidding For (tick ONE only):
Call I: Transforming Curriculum Delivery Through Technology (JISC funded)
X
Call I: Transforming Curriculum Delivery Through Technology (Becta funded)
Call II: Assessment demonstrators
Call III: Course description and discovery
Name of Lead Institution:
Middlesex University
Name of Proposed Project:
Information Spaces for Collaborative Creativity
Name(s) of Project Partner(s):
City University
Full Contact Details for Primary Contact:
Name: Bob Fields
Position: Reader in Computer Science
Email: b.fields@mdx.ac.uk
Address:
School of Computing Science
Middlesex University
The Burroughs
London NW4 4BG
Tel: 020 8411 2272
Fax: 020 8411 6943
Length of Project:
24 months
Project Start Date:
October 2008
Total Funding Requested from JISC:
Project
Date:
End
September 2010
£199.983.29
Funding Broken Down over Financial Years (April - March):
April 08 – March 09
20,828.40
April 09 – March 10
138,254.65
Total Institutional Contributions:
April 10 – March 11
40,900.04
£102,929.80
Outline Project Description
This project will address a recurrent problem in design education: that students are sometimes
disengaged from key ‘creative conversations’ and that this problem can be exacerbated by
learning technologies present in the classroom or the students’ wider networked world. The
project will deploy trial ‘information spaces’ that will provide learners with the appropriate
artefacts and modes of interacting with a learning situation, and with their peers and tutors, to
enable them to engage more flexibly and effectively in conversations characterised by
innovation and reflective, critical thinking. Key technological components of the proposal will be
the management and display of design information and critical feedback across a range of
appropriate display surfaces; the capture in appropriate media – audio, video, still images – of
significant design information; and the ability to replay, annotate and reflect upon such
captured content.
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I have looked at the example FOI form at
Appendix B and included an FOI form in
the attached bid (Tick Box)
YES
I have read the Circular and associated
Terms and Conditions of Grant at
Appendix D (Tick Box)
YES
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ISCC – Information Spaces for Collaborative Creativity
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1.1
Fit to Programme Objectives and Overall Value to the JISC Community
Background
1. The strategic importance of creativity has been acknowledged by many commentators, both at the
international level – the Nomura Institute's proposition is that "Creativity will be the next economic
activity, replacing the current focus on information” – and within the UK, where the Cox review,
commissioned by the Chancellor in 2005, sees exploitation of the nation’s creative skills as ‘vital to the
UK’s long-term economic success’. Indeed, the UK government has declared that in the current climate,
1
innovation can be seen as crucial to both productivity growth and social gain.
2. A typical and widespread frustration in Design education is a lack of peer engagement in the tutorial and
‘crit’2 process. This traditional process of verbal and visual interaction has a dual aim: design
development and design education. A fertile creative conversation requires many things, e.g. a freedom
of ideas, a willingness to quickly generate ideas and to release less promising ones, a focus
on evaluation and development of ideas and contributions rather than personality or position of the
proposer, a willingness to work with and enjoy uncertainty, a willingness to revisit and change earlier
decisions, etc.
3. However, if the interaction dynamic is disrupted, what is lost is the powerful dual benefit of the ‘creative
conversation’ within the student/tutor team: the design benefit of conception, iteration and embodiment
through verbalising; the educational benefit of students talking themselves into a better level of
understanding. Moreover, design by teams is the norm in much of the commercial sector as it is
efficacious when based on fertile and productive creative conversations. Our practice and learning
technology should support these conversations.
4. If the tutorial and crit process can be problematic with traditional design students then the situation is
exacerbated when ‘design thinking’ is introduced into other disciplines, such as engineering or computer
science, or when novel interdisciplinary design practices such as interaction design or service design
emerge. Our practice and learning technology should stimulate design thinking through creative
conversations rather than student presentation of complete concepts at inappropriately early stages.3
5. Many technologies that are being used to deliver curriculum have a negative influence on the
development of fertile creative conversations:
 A digital projection on to a traditional wall mounted screen does not afford physical interaction, rather
passive observation from a seated position; the presenter/presentee relationship affords challenge
and defence interactions; any conversation that takes place remains unrecorded in the public space
and connections between elements of the conversation are difficult to make, illustrate, discuss and
record.
 The introduction of laptops into the conversation space perpetuates and augments the individualised
nature of the experience of the tutorial and crit. process and also provides a rich source of alternative
time-filling activities! Even the simple act of diligently taking notes, vital to a student’s ability to reflect
on the tutorial, effectively removes them from the conversation.
 Moving outside the traditional tutorial or classroom space, VLE support is currently dominated by the
textual modes, sometimes augmented with simple pictures (e.g. discussion groups, Blogs, Wikis and
1
HM Treasury, 2002, ‘Investing in Innovation: A Strategy for Science, Engineering and Technology’, from
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
2
The ‘crit’ is a form of teaching session widely used in many design disciplines that can be described as a
“studio based formative or summative feedback in a small or large group situation with students and
lecturers” See the HEA-funded project ‘Critiquing the Crit’ http://www.adm.heacademy.ac.uk
3
See the following for a discussion of the importance of the design of learning spaces in facilitating the right
kinds of interactions: JISC (2006) Designing Spaces for Effective Learning: A guide to 21st century learning
space design.
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so on). However, the creative conversation is not effectively supported by such modalities. The
conversation accompanies a developing and emergent view of an artefact, with neither making
sense in isolation. Supporting such a conversation within a VLE is a challenge.
6. Our practice and learning technology should transform modes of delivery into ones that afford group
engagement in the creative conversation and support post experience reflection.
1.2
The partners
7. The Interaction Design Centre at Middlesex University is research centre in the School of Computing
science whose members are engaged in research in a diverse range of fields from collaborative
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technologies to cross-cultural design to user interactions in safety-critical systems. A growing theme in
the work of the centre has been the development and application of techniques for the design of creative
and innovative solutions. The Interaction Design Centre has strong links with the Product Design
Research Centre, a centre of excellence of Product Design Engineering practice and research, located
in Middlesex’s School of Arts and Education. The two centres work closely together on teaching (through
the provision of an MSc in Interaction Design) and joint research.
8. City is establishing itself as a world-class centre of applied creativity research, building on existing
activities in computing, business, psychology, music and the arts. In 2003, creativity was the subject of
the most popular University-wide research event to date, attracting around 60 participants from many
different Departments. Creativity was the theme of the University’s annual report in 2004. In 2006, the
University was awarded an RCUK fellowship to develop this work.
9. Both City and Middlesex are very well equipped to undertake the work of this project. Both institutions
have excellent observation laboratory facilities that will be available to this project for conducting user
studies and observational evaluations.
1.3
Problem
Future scenario of use
10. To introduce the proposal we look first at a plausible scenario in which several students studying on a
Masters degree on Interaction Design are engaged in a ‘crit’ session, where they each present design
work to tutors and peers, and receive feedback from other group members. Such sessions are a central
part of teaching in many design disciplines, and provide a supportive setting for learners to receive
formative input through dialogue and discussion with the group as a whole. While the ‘crit’ may be a
standard tool in many Art and Design subjects, some elements of the crit are finding application in a
range tutorial, seminar and groupwork-style sessions in other disciplines, such as computer science and
areas of engineering.
“Sorry I’m late” apologised Saeed as he pushed his way through the studio door. “Central line’s screwed up.
What’ve I missed?” Saeed had just arrived late for a session on the Interaction Design Practice module he is
taking as part of his MSc degree.
“Glad you could make it” said Mark, the tutor. “Just finished talking about the data Maya collected during the
week for the tourist guide project.” The group of students were crowded around the table peering down at a
projected image showing a diagram alongside a photograph. The photograph showed two lost-looking
people at a London bus stop puzzling over an A-to-Z. Although Saeed didn’t know it because he’d missed
the discussion, the diagram alongside the photo showed one of Maya’s early design ideas for a handheld
electronic guide to London that might help the lost tourists. In the projection space and around the edges of
it, the tabletop bore evidence of the past half hour or so of group discussion in the form of annotations and
additions, both digital and using whiteboard markers, made by the students and tutors.
At Mark’s side of the table was a list of key issues that the group had pulled together from the materials
Maya had presented, and over at the other side was a sketch of a screen layout that one of the other
students had seen on an existing product. Also on the table were parts of paper prototypes that Maya had
been working with – pieces of cardboard and post-it notes.
“Can somebody capture this and put it over there” said Mark gesturing to a screen on the opposite wall of the
studio. “It might come in useful when John presents. We can have a look at what the differences are.” As
Saeed moved in to join the group, one of the other students picked up a camera, took a shot of the table,
complete with projected images and annotations. The captured image appeared on the wall screen a few
4
Rozzi, S., Wong, W., Woodward, P., Amaldi, P., Fields, B., Panizzi, E., Malizia, A., Boccalatte, A.,
Monteleone, A., Mazzuchelli, L. (2006) Developing Visualizations to Support Spatial-Temporal Reasoning in
ATC. Proceedings, ICRAT 2006.
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moments later. “Let me just get a close up of the mock-up” said another student, moving in on the
cardboard-and-post-it prototype with a camera phone. “I’ll put the pics up later on”. “Great” said Saeed, “I’ll
grab the podcast from InfoSpace and catch up on the train home”.
Later in the day, while Saeed is reviewing the bits of the session he missed, John is also looking at a record
of the part of the session where he received feedback. While reflecting on what was said, John is able to add
annotations that capture some of his reflections and make links to others students’ feedback. In this way, he
can make explicit the link to Maya’s part of the session, and if he chooses, he can mark these annotations to
make them visible to the other members of the group.
As the tube train trundles into Arnos Grove station, Saeed glances idly out of the window at the billboards
flashing past. As the train stops, one poster catches Saeed’s eye. “Clever,” he thinks “suppose we could use
that idea for data representation in the project.” He snaps the poster with his camera phone and proceeds to
send it off to the repository as a reminder to him and a catalyst for further thought and discussion among the
group.
11. This proposal seeks trial and evaluate solutions to the following widely reported problems and
challenges:
 Central to both the learning and practice of design is the facilitation of conversations. However, many
innovations, from digital presentations to text-based learning environments conspire to impoverish
rather than enhance the conversation. A challenge is therefore to provide an environment that
integrates digital and traditional information and artefacts to allow students to engage more
productively in design conversations.
 Review, reflection, and critique are significant elements of learning, across a range of disciplines,
and ones that are only partially supported by contemporary learning support environments. A
challenge is to allow reflective interaction, possibly at a distance and outside the classroom
environment, with artefacts of the design process.
 Students lead increasingly more ‘nomadic’ lives and may be less connected to the traditional
classrooms and studios of the past, making collaboration more fleeting and reflective conversation
more difficult. On the other hand, learners are increasingly equipped with technologies and devices
that could allow them to be more connected to their peers and tutors. A challenge, then, is to find
ways of harnessing such potential and allow nomadic learners to re-engage in the creative
conversation.5
12. The response to these challenges will allow us to transform the way that Interaction Design and similar
subjects are delivered in a variety of ways. Evaluation activities will collect evidence of the ability of the
technological innovations to:
 bring ‘design thinking’, iteration, and reflection to students who are not from traditional design
backgrounds;
 allow learners to engage with each other and with the design process through an appropriately rich
variety of methods and modalities;
 participate in learning flexibly and in a way that can fit in to the rest of their lives.
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2.1
Workplan
The proposal
13. The hypothetical scenario above highlights some of the significant elements of this proposal. The project
will configure and evaluate:
 Novel learning spaces that support flexible, multi-modal face-to-face interaction and dialogue to
enhance collaborative and creative activity.
 The ability to work flexibly using a range of display surfaces and interaction technologies suitable for
engagement in exploratory design thinking. In the above scenario, the participants are able to take a
snapshot of activities taking place in one space (the table) and render them visible in another (the
wall) as a record that can be referred to later on in the conversation (when the state of the table
surface will have changed).
5
For a number of innovations in this area see: JISC (2005) Innovative Practice with e-Learning: A good
practice guide to embedding mobile and wireless technologies into everyday practice.
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 The ability to capture using a range of appropriate media (audio, video, still photography) the events,
artefacts and conversations that take place in a design session. A common problem is that learners
need to take something away from a session in order to reflect and contemplate it at a more relaxed
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pace. Note-taking is the traditional means of doing this, but in a fast-paced session that makes use
of many visual media, this is often inadequate.
 Support for reflection and review during and after design sessions, using captured data and to allow
students to gain feedback and formative comments that are both relevant and timely allowing the
conversation to extend in time, and the ability to engage and reflect to extend in space beyond the
classroom or studio.
14. While some of the proposed ways of supporting delivery are novel, the underpinning technology will be
based stable and tested tools (e.g. off-the-shelf display and capture hardware, web server technologies,
podcasting, and so on). Therefore it is not expected that significant software development work will be
necessary and the principal technical challenges will be related to the integration of systems and
devices.
15. The technological elements of the proposal allow learners and teachers to act in at least three
information spaces: Face-to-face, for instance in the classroom or studio where collaboration and
conversation will be mediated by display surfaces, interactive tables, smart whiteboards etc that will
complement more traditional technologies such as laptops and projectors. In individual learning
spaces, students may select and view captured information, for instance allowing a student to view a
video podcast of the feedback session that relates directly to their own work on their iPod on the way
home from class. A networked social space will allow learners to share and comment on material
outside of the class, thus extending the opportunities for conversation and dialogue.
Networked
social learning
spaces
Discussion
sharing
and
Social
media
Discussion
2.2
Face-to-face space
Collaboration, interaction,
dialogue
Capture and recording
Individual
learning spaces
Review,
reflection,
playback
Personal technologies
Context of the proposal
16. Some of the ideas of this proposal follow from experience of members of the project team in other
teaching and research projects.
17. One source of inspiration has been teaching an MSc in Interaction Design at Middlesex, a programme
run jointly by the Schools of Computing Science and Arts and Education. On this programme, staff and
students have explored the use of a variety of technology configurations to support discussion, feedback,
and reflection in the context of design critique sessions. The experimental uses of technology have
included the projection of student presentations onto a table surface instead of a traditional screen, the
use of projection surfaces that can be drawn and written on, the use of video and still photography as a
means of capturing critique sessions, and the use of social media sites (principally Flickr) to share
captured materials. The results of initial explorations were very encouraging, and suggest a marked
improvement in the way that students participate and engage in critique sessions as well as an
enhanced range of materials and resources available to students for later review and reflection.7 A
6
Orr, S., Blythman, M., Blair, B. (2007) Critiquing the Crit - Staff Guide. HEAcademy Project Report.
Available from http://www.adm.heacademy.ac.uk
7
Fields, B. & Bardill, A. (2008). Novel technology configurations to support Interaction Design learning.
Middlesex IDC Technical Report.
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further influence has been research into teaching the skill of explanation, where the ability to create
layered, multimodal representations has proved highly beneficial.8
18. The City and Middlesex teams have conducted an initial study of the use of novel interactive table
displays in the context of creative design activities among children. Initial analyses have revealed
interesting patterns in the way that children are able to act and learn collaboratively in the presence of
and supported by particular technologies. The technology in question, a multi-user, multi-touch tabletop
display surface supports fine-grained collaboration and cooperation, allowing a number of different
patterns of turn taking and negotiation of an emerging design artefact.9
19. These pieces of work have allowed us to explore the feasibility and value of some of the key ideas in this
proposal, including the face-to-face, individual and social aspects of information space.
2.3
Project aims and deliverables
20. The project aims to develop and deliver a framework for the construction of Information Spaces that will
be demonstrated and evaluated through exemplar spaces at Middlesex and City Universities. The
project will deliver:
D1: Descriptions of delivery and support for interaction design and related areas of curriculum.
This report will make comparisons with current practice in the delivery of such curriculum and will
present a detailed rationale for the innovations that are being trialled as responses to the challenges
identified above.
D2: Case study detailing the deployment of Information Space technologies for the delivery of
curriculum at Middlesex or City (or both if appropriate)
D3: Evaluation report, reflecting on the issue encountered and articulating what has been learnt
through carrying out the project and what future questions need to be explored;
D4: Guidance for other institutions or curriculum areas seeking to deploy Creative Information Space
technologies (e.g. more traditional areas of computer science like computer programming).
D5: Six-monthly interim reports, and a final report.
2.4
Project methodology
21. The configuration of prototype deployments in this project will adopt a strongly user-centred approach,
emphasising the engagement of users and other stakeholders in design. Such an approach is entirely in
keeping with the research philosophy shared by the Interaction Design Centre and the Centre for HCI
design. The team has extensive experience in working on design projects where stakeholders and users
actively participate in the design and innovation process. Cornerstones of this approach will be:
22. User participation: The project team has a commitment to involving users (principally students, though
academic staff are also important stakeholders in the process) in a central way in the planning of new
delivery technologies.10 This means more than a simple analysis of ‘user needs’ early in the project or
user testing later on, but a continual and ongoing engagement of users in key design-decision making
processes. This could, for instance, be accomplished by allowing students to contribute to innovations as
part of their studies.
23. Research grounding: Where appropriate, design decisions will be draw upon state-of-the art research
in relevant fields including Interaction Design, Computer Supported Cooperative Work and relevant
pedagogical research. For example, we anticipate theories of teaching and learning may need
modification and re-purposing for in order for theories to continue to inform practice.11,12.
24. Iterative design: Key to a truly user centred approach do design is an iterative process that involves
cycles of
8
Loomes, M., Shafarenko, A., & Loomes, M. (2002) Teaching mathematical explanation through
audiographic technology. Computers & Education, 38:137-149.
9
Jones, S. & Fields, B. (2008) Children's use of an interactive tabletop in creative activities: observations
following a small-scale feasibility study. IEEE Tabletops and Interactive Surfaces 2008 (submitted).
10
Much has been written on the topic of Participatory Design, and one of the classic references is
Greenbaum, J. & Kyng, M. (1991) Design at Work: Cooperative Design of Computer Systems. Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
11
Barn B.S (2007) “An experiment with conversation theory as a candidate for a meta learning theory”,
IASTED Conference on Computers and Technology in Education, Beijing. 12
Barn B.S (2006) Conceptual Modelling of Educational Theories: An ontological approach. IADIS Conference on Exploratory Learning
in the Digital Age (CELDA), December, 2006. Barcelona, Spain. (Best Paper Prize).
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user research in order to better understand users and the settings they inhabit;
experience prototyping, employing appropriate prototyping technologies to explore and envision
novel user experiences; and
evaluation, where the fit of an emerging solution to the needs and capabilities of users and the
opportunities afforded by the context are assessed.
25. Evaluation: We recognise that evaluation of any educational intervention presents several challenges
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and we draw upon the evaluator guidelines developed by Oliver . Early in the project, we will develop an
evaluation strategy as a specific work package that will encompass both formative evaluation that is
critical to an effective iterative design process, and more summative assessments of the overall value of
and benefits derived from the project. The team’s close links with two innovative programmes, the MSc
Interaction Design (Middlesex) and the MSc Human Centred Systems Design (City), will provide ideal
opportunities for learner engagement in the design process and sites for evaluation activities.
26. Further curriculum development activities underway at Middlesex (several undergraduate modules on
HCI are being planned and will begin in the 2008/9 academic year) that will provide further opportunities
for testing and evaluating the transformations engendered by the information space technologies to be
deployed.
2.5
Work packages
27. WP1: State of the Art and Current Practice Review. This work package will review contemporary
research and practice in the field, and will also benchmark current delivery modes in the Interaction
Design HCI area at Middlesex, City and in the wider community. This will inform the selection of
technologies and their fit with pedagogic practice in WP2. [D1]
28. WP2: Initial prototypes and explorations. prototyping using off-the-shelf software and hardware
technology that can be configured to support initial in-class explorations. The purpose will be shape and
inform the analysis of user needs in a way that is grounded in a solid understanding of the practices of
teachers and learners and to explore initial design ideas. [D1]
29. WP3: User needs analysis. Captures the contexts in which innovative information spaces will be
employed. The analysis of needs will be developed and presented through a series of personas and
usage scenarios (like the one that introduced this proposal) that capture contexts and activities of users.
[D2]
30. WP4: Evaluation strategy. Defines criteria and methodology for assessing subsequent work, along the
lines identified in paragraphs 24 & 25 above. [D3]
31. WP5: Display, Capture and Recording prototypes. Configuration of display technologies, including
traditional projection, as well as Table Top interactive devices such as the MERL DiamondTouch
interactive table, along with the ability to capture activities (e.g. through the use of still photography, or
products such as Macromedia Breeze or Apple’s Podcast Producer). [D2]
32. WP6: Delivery and playback technologies. Provision of online access to captured resources. This
work will, as far as possible make use of established web server and related technologies to allow
access via a range of different platforms, ranging form standard web access to mobile or handheld
devices. [D2]
33. WP7: Annotation and reflection tools. Building on the work of WP6, deploy appropriate, available
web-based tools (e.g. Wikis) to allow the addition of annotations to recorded media and the creation of
links between different digital assets [D2]
34. WP8: Evaluation. While ongoing formative evaluation is central to the design philosophy underpinning
this project, the exemplars developed will be also evaluated more summatively according to the strategy
devised in WP4. Middlesex and City both have dedicated state-of-the-art observational laboratories that
will complement more naturalistic in-situ evaluations, allowing specific aspects of use to be explored
more closely. [D3]
35. WP9: Consolidation. This activity will collect together lessons developed throughout the project
(especially in WPs 5, 6, 7 and 8) in order to produce a framework comprising software and
methodological guidance that can be disseminated and re-used in other institutions [D4]
36. WP10: Dissemination. This ongoing activity will disseminate the results of the project through
appropriate channels to the wider community through a dedicated project web site and publication and
13
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/Evaluators.doc
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presentation at appropriate conferences and workshops. For instance the British Computer Society’s
Interaction specialist group holds the annual British HCI Conference and an Education and Practice
subroup HCI Educator’s conference, both of which would be excellent forums for disseminating insights
from the project.
37. WP11: Management of the project and production of the interm and final reports.
38. Overall management and leadership of the project and the work packages will be the responsibility of the
Middlesex team. The City team will make a significant input into WP2, WP8, and WP9.
2.6
Project plan
2.7
Project Management
39. The project team will meet regularly to monitor progress across work packages, monitor and manage
risks, agree changes and address major issues. Day-to-day project management will be coordinated by
the PI. The PI will use a set of instruments for documentation and management that will be set out in the
Project Plan but will include a Risk Register, a Quality Assurance Plan and an Issues Log.
40. A Project Steering Group will be set up to ensure that stakeholders from the partner institutions are fully
supportive and aware of the project and its demands.
41. Internal and external communications will be managed by a dedicated (external facing) website with an
integrated Blog and Wiki to support internal requirements. This structure is based on considerable JISC
project experience for example the Remora Project (http://samsa.tvu.ac.uk/remora ).
2.8
Statement on IPR
42. Any code produced will be published via the project website and made available under an appropriate
open source agreement and may be used within any educational establishment as per the terms and
conditions of JISC grants. Middlesex University and its partners will retain shared IPR on project
outcomes confirmed via a Consortium agreement for defining IPR arrangements.
2.9
Quality Management and Standards
43. The team already has experience of compliance with the JISC Software Quality Assurance Policy from
several JISC projects including COVARM, PSPEX and REMORA projects and this experience and
practical techniques from earlier work will be transferred to this project to address issues of
methodology, version and configuration management, and documentation guidelines.
44. Quality Control on this project will include the use of quality reviews where the software, models and
documentation will be reviewed by a subset of the team. Other elements of quality control will include the
regular maintenance of a risk register and issues log.
45. The project will utilize and conform to appropriate and relevant standards.
2.10 Potential Risks to the project
Risk
Availability
meetings
of
team
Loss of key personnel
for
Prob
(1-5)
Severity
(1-5)
Score
(P x S)
Action to Prevent/Manage Risk
3
2
6
Early continual planning. Use of collaborative technologies such
as Skype etc.
2
2
4
The project team has strength in depth and full institutional
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support.
Inability to recruit staff
2
4
8
Though recent experience suggests a good supply of applicants
for technical posts, existing research staff would be able to
conduct early work until suitable staff recruited.
Methodological framework
is inadequate.
2
3
6
Framework will be reviewed and refined iteratively during early
stages of project. Much of the methodology has been widely
documented in the literature and deployed successfully on
previous projects
Technical problems in
system integration and
implementation
more
difficult than anticipated
2
4
8
Members of the project team possess significant software
development and technical skills, and are supported by excellent
technical support staff.
3
Dissemination and Engagement with the community
46. Dissemination of information and outcomes from the project activities will be achieved using a number of
methods. Project findings and the developed system will be promoted through national and international
forums, workshops, and conferences, and JISC meetings.
47. A Project Web site will be created at the start of the project and will contain current information on
activities (a blog with Atom and RSS feeds), reports on the tools developed, and evaluation reports.
Links to relevant articles and projects relating to the project will be added. Presentations and publications
derived from project work will also be available on the site.
48. The project will aim to organise workshops at appropriate point in order to disseminate results and
engage with the wider community. An appropriate way of doing this will be to organise workshops in
conjunction with Interactions, a specialist group of the British Computer society. Workshops could be run
as part of the annual British HCI conference, or under the auspices of the Interactions Education and
Practice subroup, with whom the project team has close links. Where appropriate, the project will aim to
work with relevant JISC CETIS specialist groups such as Enterprise and Pedagogy for both advice and
dissemination of outcomes.
49. Each dissemination activity will be designed to either raise awareness, inform/understand or create an
environment for engagement and use of the outcomes of the project.
50. A key aspect of this project is that it crosses two discipline boundaries: Computing and Design.
Dissemination of the project will consider this and will include engagement with relevant HE Academies
of both disciplines.
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4
Budget
Staff contributions and justification of resources
51. In order to conduct the proposed work, it will be important to have a coherent team in place for significant
parts of the project. Therefore an RA will be employed for one year in the middle part of the project, to
work principally on WP3-WP8. This will ensure that the team has sufficient resources to successfully
integrate and install the prototype technologies and begin the evaluation activities. Much of the
evaluation activity will be led by Drs Fields and Bardill at Middlesex, and Drs Jones and Zaphiris at City.
Because of these staff members’ direct involvement in delivering programmes relevant to this project, it
will be possible to make a significant contribution here, despite the relatively modest funding for
academic staff time.
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5
Previous experience of the project team
52. The project calls for extensive experience in collaborative system design, the study of creativity and
design education, relevant pedagogy, and a sound technological understanding of both current and
emerging technologies. The team assigned to this project brings together a strong blend of knowledge,
skills, experience and senior management strategy in a compelling case.
53. When these attributes are combined with large-scale project management experience (in both
commercial and academic research contexts) the quality and depth of the project team should provide
JISC with an appropriate level of reassurance on the capability of this team to deliver the outputs as
stated.
54. The team comprises the following individuals:
55. Middlesex: Dr Bob Fields, Reader (Principal Investigator, project manager): Bob is a Reader in
Computer Science and deputy head of the Interaction Design Centre, a research centre in the School of
Computing science at Middlesex. He teaches HCI and Interaction Design, and has a strong track record
in conducting and managing research into novel interaction technologies and the study and design of
collaborative technologies.
56. Middlesex: Dr Andy Bardill, Principal Lecturer (Co-investigator): Andy Bardill is Director of Product
Design and Engineering Programmes and Co-leads MSc Interaction Design. Andy has a former
industrial background in advanced avionic systems and has been working in Design Education for the
past 17 years; holding his current academic leadership and development role for the last 10. His Ph.D.
was in intelligent, dynamic virtual learning environments for design education.
57. Middlesex: Prof Martin Loomes, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of School of Computing Science
(Co-Investigator): Martin has substantial experience of academic leadership. His PhD was in the area
of Curriculum Design, and much of his research activity since has been at the cusp of Education, Design
and Technology. He has also managed the development of several cross-disciplinary programmes, and
a major on-line programme with a complex, pre-defined, VLE structure.
58. Middlesex: Prof. Balbir S Barn, Associate Dean (Co-investigator): Balbir is Professor of Software
Engineering at Middlesex. He has substantial experience in leading and participating in JISC funded
projects (e.g. COVARM, P-SPEX, COVa and REMORA). More recently Balbir is researching the viability
of Pask’s Conversation Theory as a candidate meta theory for supporting e-Learning. Balbir has also
contributed to the development of process modeling collateral on behalf of JISC.
59. City: Dr Sara Jones (Co-investigator): Sara Jones currently holds an RCUK Research Fellowship in
creativity applied to design and engineering, with a particular focus on software-based product design.
Before that, she was a lecturer, teaching and researching in the fields of human-computer interaction
and requirements engineering where she has worked for over 20 years.
60. City: Dr Panayiotis Zaphiris, Reader, Centre for HCI Design, City University, (Co-investigator)
Panayiotis is a Reader in human-computer interaction at the Centre for HCI Design. His research
interests lie in HCI with an emphasis on inclusive design and social aspects of computing. He is also
interested in internet related research (web usability, mathematical modelling of browsing behaviour in
hierarchical online information systems, online communities, e-learning, web based digital libraries and
finally social network analysis of online human-to-human interactions). He has published extensively and
managed several funded projects in this area, including the JISC-funded "Usability Studies for JISC
Services and Information Environment" and "Information Visualisation Foundation Study" projects.
10
ISCC
Contents of Appendices
The following appendices are provided for providing further supporting information:
A) One Page Curriculum Vitae of the core interdisciplinary team from both institutions
B) Letters of support from:
i. Middlesex University
ii. City University
11
ISCC
Appendix A: CVs of Core Staff Team
Name:
Dr Bob Fields
Job Title:
Reader in Computer Science
Expertise,
Research
and
Development
Bob Fields is a Reader in Computer Science in the School of Computing Science at
Middlesex University and is the deputy head of the Schools leading research group:
the Interaction Design Centre. He has conducted research and teaching in the field
of Interaction Design, Human Computer Interaction, and Computer Supported
Cooperative Work for over 15 years. He is currently involved in research projects
on novel technologies and support for collaboration – highly relelvant to the current
proposal.
Institution:
Middlesex University
Sample Relevant Projects and PhD supervisions
•
Co-investigator on a project commencing in 2007 on the development on ‘3Din-2D’ displays for Air Traffic Controllers that is funded by Eurocontrol
(€300,000 over 3 years).
•
Co-investigator and Technical Manager of the European FP6-funded ‘AD4’
STREP project on Virtual Airspace Management (value €250, 000, Jan 2005Feb 2007)
•
Principal investigator on one EPSRC research project (value £136,000) in the
area of Digital Library usability (2001-2003).
•
Currently supervising or co-supervising 6 PhD students in the Interaction
Design area including one jointly with the Product Design group on: The Affect
and Effect of 3D Modelling Interfaces with Tangible User Interfaces Designed
for Juveniles
Sample Relevant Publications
•
Fields, B., Amaldi, P., Wong, W., Gill, S. (2007) Editorial: In-use, In-situ:
Extending Field Research Methods. International Journal of Human Computer
Interaction. 22(1):1-6.
•
Blandford, A., Keith, S. Butterworth, R., Fields, B. & Furniss, D. (2007)
Disrupting Digital Library Development with Scenario Informed Design.
Interacting with Computers Journal. 19(1):70-82.
•
Stelmaszewska, H., Fields, B., Blandford, A. (in press, 2007) Evaluating user
experience of using camera phones in social contexts. Chapter in Handbook of
Research on User Interface Design and Evaluation for Mobile Technology.
•
Jones, S. & Fields, B. (2008) Children's use of an interactive tabletop in
creative activities: observations following a small-scale feasibility study. IEEE
Tabletops and Interactive Surfaces 2008 (submitted).
12
ISCC
Name:
Professor Martin Loomes
Job Title:
Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean
of the School of Computing
Science
Expertise,
Research
and
Development
Martin is Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of Computing Science at Middlesex
University. He started his career as a Maths teacher, followed by a brief period as
an Engineering Lecturer for ICL, moving to Hatfield Polytechnic (now University of
Hertfordshire) in 1981, where he moved through the ranks from lecturer to
Associate Dean (Research). During that period he had extensive responsibility for
subject and curriculum development at all levels, including the development of
several cross-school programmes and a significant e-Learning MSc. He moved to
Middlesex University as Dean of Computing Science in 2005, and was made Pro
Vice Chancellor in 2006 in recognition of his University-wide roles and
responsibilities, which includes managing the campus at Hendon.
His PhD is in the area of Curriculum Design, and in particular the ways in which
“theory” interacts with design. He has held more than £1.5m of externally funded
grants, most of which are focused upon the ways in which theory and practice
interact
in
a
variety
of
domains.
Institution:
Middlesex University
Sample Relevant Projects and Consultancy
•
Developments in On-Line Learning (5 projects) – funded by Teaching and
Learning Development Fund: duration 2000-2005 Value £23,000
Imitation Technology and Computer Science - funded by EPSRC
(GR/M59129/01): duration1999 – 1999 Value £5,091
•
Multi-Cultural Software Development: a Teaching Company programme
between University of Hertfordshire and Rank Zerox – funded by Teaching
Company Directorate and Rank Zerox: duration 1995-1998 value £73,000
•
Cognitive & Organisational Processes in Software Eng. Methodologies for
Safety Critical Systems - funded by EPSRC (GR/J20234/01): duration 1994 –
1997 value £134,106
•
Software Development and Testing: a Teaching Company Programme between
University of Hertfordshire and Synergy (UK) Ltd - funded by EPSRC
(GR/J22634/01): duration 1993 – 1995 value £117,451
•
A Distance Learning Programme for Software Engineers: collaborative with
Sheffield Polytechnic, Loughborough University, ICL, BBC OU Productions –
funded by Alvey Directorate: duration 1989 –1991, value £48,000.
Sample Relevant Publications
•
Martin Loomes and Bruce Christianson (2006), Reflections on Academic
Leadership, Journal for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, Vol 3
Issue 1, ISSN: 1743-3932
•
Yi Sun, Timothy S. Butler, Alex Shafarenko, Rod Adams, Martin Loomes, &
Neil Davey (2004) "Identifying Word Boundaries in Handwritten Text"
Proceedings of the 2004 International Conference on Machine Learning and
Applications (ICMLA 2004), IEEE Catalog Number: 04EX970, ISBN: 0-780388213-2. Pages 5-9.
•
Richard Polfreman, Martin Loomes, Robert Wright (2003) Physically inspired
interactive music machines making contemporary composition accessible?,
Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Learning
Technologies, 224-228 IEEE Press ISBN 0769519679
•
Loomes, M.C., Shafarenko, A, & Loomes, M.J. (2002) Teaching
Mathematical Explanation through Audiographic Technology, Journal of
Computers and Education, Volume 38, Issues 1-3, pp137-149
13
ISCC
Name:
Dr Balbir Barn
Job Title:
Professor
Engineering
Expertise,
Research
and
Development
Balbir is Professor of Software Engineering at Middlesex University. Prior to
academia, Balbir worked extensively on CBD methods and design of component
modelling toolsets at Texas Instruments Research Labs. Here, Balbir was part of
the design team for the world’s first application generation toolset – the IEF™. This
product then formed the basis of business process modelling toolset – BDF™
which supported business process simulation for which Balbir was a lead
developer. Again at Texas Instruments, Balbir was the UK lead researcher on a
United States funded NIST research project (worth $5M) for research and
development into model based architectural description of software applications.
Balbir has extensive industrial experience, in leading and managing development
projects. More recently, Balbir has been investigating the design of UML based
methods to support the discovery, design and specification of web services.
of
Software
Institution:
Middlesex University
Sample Relevant Projects and Consultancy
•
Project Manager and PI for the JISC funded COVARM project on course
validation business process modelling. (2005-6) COMPLETED
•
PI for JISC PSPEX project (2007-2009) – Project exploring programme
specifications and their change.
•
PI for JISC COVa project (2007-8) – Project implementing COVARM scenarios
using a BPMN toolset.
•
Co-Investigator for JISC REMORA project (2007-9) with Southampton and
Royal Holloway. Mobile Applications for supporting Social Work Students
•
Consultancy to implement a CRM strategy for Thomas Cook by undertaking a
systems integration evaluation of the TC business.
•
Consultant with one of the world’s foremost methodologists – Desmond
D’Souza to define and develop a model based Software Architecture Method
for a leading international investment bank utilising work on Component based
development from Texas Instruments. .
•
Product management of commercial products used by major blue chip
companies – COOL:SPEX™Consultancy to capture business processes and
functional architecture models for British Telecom.
•
Research on component based approaches to software architecture and the
development of design methods to support component-based design. NIST
project ($5M).
Recent Dissemination from the JISC projects includes:
•
Oussena, S, Sparks, D and Barn, B.S, (2007). Implementing Reference
Models using Service Oriented Architectures and XML Rules. International
Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, June 2007.
•
Barn, B.S (2007) “Supporting and enhancing the course validation process
using a software driven process workflow application”; Association of University
Administrators Conference, Nottingham.
•
Barn B.S (2006) Conceptual Modelling of Educational Theories: An ontological
approach. IADIS Conference on Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age
(CELDA), December, 2006. Barcelona, Spain. (Best Paper Prize).
•
Barn B.S., Dexter H., Oussena S. Petch J. (2006) “A Synthesis approach for
deriving reference models for SOA frameworks” In IADIS INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL ON COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS, pages
100-116. Vol. 1, 2.
•
Barn B.S., Dexter H., Oussena S., Sparks D. (2006) “SOA MDK: Towards a
Method Development Kit for Service Oriented Development”. Information
Systems Development 06 (ISD 06), Budapest, Hungary. Published as LNCS
Proceedings.
14
ISCC
Name:
Dr Andy Bardill
Job Title:
Principal Lecturer
Expertise,
Research
and
Development
Current Post
Institution:
Middlesex University
Director of Product Design and Engineering and Member of Product Design
Research Centre (PDRC)
Qualifications
PhD
Intelligent Hypermedia VLE 2003
BEd
Design and Technology 1991
HND
Aerospace Studies: Avionics 1984
Main Areas of Teaching
Interaction Design; Furniture and general consumer product design; Mechatronic
systems for experience prototyping; Computer aided design, visualisation and
manufacture
Research and Scholarly Activity
Product Design, Emotional ergonomics; New Urbanism, regeneration and
designing pleasurable places; Mass customisation; E-learning Intelligent
hypermedia VLE using dynamically constructed semantic networks.
Current Research Supervision
Ph.D. - The Development of Design Process Methods and tools for Mass
Customisation
Ph.D. - The Affect and Effect of 3D Modelling Interfaces with Tangible User
Interfaces Designed for Juveniles
Selected Recent Publications
•
Herd. K., Bardill. A., Karamanoglu. M 2008 The co-design experience:
conceptual models and design tools for mass customization (In Press)
•
Bardill. A., Herd. K., Karamanoglu. M. 2007 Product Envelopes: Designing
Positive Interplay between Brand DNA and Customer Co-Designers;
International Journal of Mass Customization
•
Herd, K., Bardill, A., Karamanoglu. M. 2007 Designing for co-design: using the
product envelope model as a framework for reflection; Proceedings of the
World Conference on Mass Customization & Personalization (MCPC),
Innovation and Research Conference, MIT Cambridge/Boston, Massachusetts,
USA
•
Bardill, A. and Herd, K. 2006 Maintaining Positive Interplay between Brand
DNA and Customer Co-Designers in Mass Customised Products: International
Conference on Strategic Innovation and Design Management November 2006
Soeul, Korea.
•
Bardill. A., Karamanoglu. M., Herd. K. 2005 Pleasure Based Design
Approaches to the Built Environment; The Municipal Engineer (Institution of
Civil Engineers)
•
Bardill. A. 2005 4x4 Making Places: Mindsets – compact and dispersed
[www.makingplaces.com] The regeneration forum.
•
H. Rodrigues, T. Gaspar, S. Odedra, M. Costa, J. C. Metrôlho, S. Prior, A.
Bardill, C. Silva3, A. Tavares and C. Couto, "Development of Mobile Platforms
using PDA Bluetooth Control", IEEE International Symposium on Industrial
Electronics - ISIE'2005, 20-23 June of 2005, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
•
T. GASPAR, H. RODRIGUES, S. ODEDRA, M. COSTA, J.C. METRÔLHO, A.
BARDILL and S. PRIOR, 2004 "Handheld Devices as Actors in Domotic
Monitoring System", in Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Conference
on Industrial Informatics 2004 - INDIN'04, 24-26 June of 2004, Berlin,
Germany. pp. 547-551.
15
ISCC
Name:
Dr Sara Jones
Job Title:
RCUK
Fellow
Expertise,
Research
and
Development
Since 2006, Sara has held an RCUK Research Fellowship in creativity applied to
design and engineering, with a particular focus on software-based product design.
She has recently been working in the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction
Design at City University on applying creative requirements techniques in a range
of large-scale software development projects. Before that, she was a Principal
Lecturer, teaching and researching in the fields of human-computer interaction and
requirements engineering at the University of Hertfordshire. She has worked in
these areas for over 20 years, producing over 70 refereed publications, supervising
5 PhDs, and carrying out consultancy work for a number of major organisations.
Academic
Research
Institution:
City University
Sample Relevant Projects and PhD supervisions
•
Multi-Cultural Software Development: a Teaching Company programme
between University of Hertfordshire and Rank Zerox – funded by Teaching
Company Directorate and Rank Zerox: duration 1995-1998 value £73,000
•
The Use of a Student Model in a Multimedia Application to Configure Learning,
PhD completed by student at University of Hertfordshire 1999.
•
The Impact of Multimedia on Students’ Learning Experience in Kuwaiti Higher
Education, PhD completed by student at University of Hertfordshire, 2000
•
Facilitating and measuring older people’s creative engagement in the user
centred
design
process,
PhD
ongoing
at
City
University.
Sample Relevant Publications
•
N. Maiden, S. Jones and M. Flynn, “Innovative Requirements Engineering
Applied to ATM”, in Proceedings of ATM 2003, 5th USA/Europe R&D Seminar,
http://atm2003.eurocontrol.fr/ Budapest, June 23 – 27, 2003.
•
Maiden N.A.M. and Jones, S., Creativity in the Design of Complex Systems,
presented at the Workshop on Complexity in Design and Engineering,
University of Glasgow, March 2005
•
Norden, B., and Jones, S. ‘Screenwriting for Requirements Engineers’, in IEEE
Software, May/June 2007.
•
Jones, S., Maiden N.A.M., and Karlsen K. ‘Creativity in the Specification of
Large-Scale Socio-Technical Systems’ in Proceedings of CREATE 2007, the
conference on Creative Inventions, Innovations and Everyday Designs in HCI,
13-14 June 2007, London, UK, D. Golightly, T. Rose, B.L.W.Wong and A. Light
(eds), pp 41 – 46, Ergonomics Society, 2007.
•
Schlosser, C., Jones, S. and Maiden, N.A.M., ‘Using a Creativity Workshop to
Generate Requirements for an Event Database Application’, to appear in the
Proceedings of REFSQ 2008, the International Working Conference on
Requirements Engineering: Foundations for Software Quality.
•
Jones, S. Lynch, P., Maiden, N.A.M. and Lindstaedt, S., ‘Use and Influence of
Creative Ideas and Requirements for a Work-Integrated Learning System’, to
appear in proceedings RE08, 16th International IEEE requirements
Engineering Conference
•
Jones, S. & Fields, B. (2008) Children's use of an interactive tabletop in
creative activities: observations following a small-scale feasibility study. IEEE
Tabletops and Interactive Surfaces 2008 (submitted).
16
ISCC
Name:
Dr. Panayiotis Zaphiris
Job Title:
Reader in Human Computer
Interaction
Expertise,
Research
and
Development
Panayiotis is a Reader in human-computer interaction at the Centre for HCI Design.
He got his B.Sc (Electrical Engineering) and M.Sc. (Systems Engineering) from the
University of Maryland College Park (USA). Panayiotis got his Ph.D. (HumanComputer Interaction) from Wayne State University where he was also a Research
Assistant at the Institute of Gerontology.
Institution:
City University
Research Interests
•
Social Aspects of Computing: Computer Games and their social and
pedagogical dimensions; E-learning and sociability around e-learning;
Computer Mediated Communication (CMC); Computer Supported Collaborated
Work (CSCW)
•
Inclusive Design: Web accessibility; Design of interactive systems for the
elderly and the disabled; Cultural issues/differences and the design of
interactive systems; Participatory Design (especially as it applies to e-learning);
Computer Aided Language Learning
Funded Research Projects
•
Principal Investigator: “Mathematical modelling of age-related differences in
web browsing". SPARC/EPSRC Total: £41,317. Fall 2006 (for 12 months)
•
Co-Investigator. "Personalisation of learning: constructing an interdisciplinary
research space". ESRC Total: £57,644.53. Fall 2006 (for 6 months)
•
Principal Investigator: "Information Visualisation Foundation Study". JISC Total:
£44,967. September 2003 - February 2004
•
Co-Investigator. "An in-depth study of the current state of web accessibility"
Disability Rights Commission Total: £112,000. April 2003 - October 2003.
•
Co-Investigator: "Usability Studies for JISC Services and Information
Environment". JISC Total: £33,483. December 2002 - April 2003.
Publications
•
Zaphiris, P., Sarwar, R. (accepted) Trends, Similarities and Differences in the
Usage of Teen and Senior Public Online Newsgroups. ACM Transactions on
Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), ACM Press.
•
Mohamedally, D., Zaphiris, P., & Petrie, H. (2005). "PROTEUS: Artefact-Driven
Constructionist Assessment within TabletPC-Based Low-Fidelity Prototyping".
To Appear in Proceedings of HCI 2005 Edinburgh, British HCI Group, British
Computing Society, UK.
•
Zaphiris, P., Gill, K., Ma, T.H-Y, Wilson, S. and Petrie, H. (2004) Exploring the
Use of Information Visualization for Digital Libraries, New Review of Information
Networking, 10(1): 51-70, Taylor and Francis, London, UK.
•
Zaphiris, P., Shneiderman, B., & Norman, K.L. (2002) Expandable Indexes
Versus Sequential Menus for Searching Hierarchies on the World Wide Web.
Behaviour and Information Technology, 21 (3), 185-201, Taylor and Francis,
London, UK.
•
Zaphiris, P., Kurniawan, S.K., & Ellis, R.D. (2001). Usability and Accessibility
Comparison of Governmental, Organizational, Educational and Commercial
Aging/Health-Related Web Sites. WebNet Journal, 3 (3), 45-52.
17
ISCC
Appendix B Supporting Letters
18
Professor Margaret A House BSc PhD
Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Academic
26 July 2008
Our ref: ATDB/JF
Dear Sir/Madam
JISC Circular 08/08 Transforming Curriculum Delivery Through
Technology
Project Proposal: Information Spaces for Creative Conversations
I am pleased to write in support of the project ʻInformation Spaces for
Creative Conversationsʼ (ISCC) being proposed by Dr Bob Fields in the
School of Computing Science at Middlesex University. The School has an
excellent record of research and teaching in fields that will directly underpin the
work of the project.
The ISCC project directly addresses problems that are relevant in several areas
of our provision at Middlesex. The MSc Interaction Design programme, run
jointly between the School of Computing Science and the School of Arts and
Education, is an excellent example of the inter-disciplinary opportunities that are
available for exploring the impact of innovative learning technologies. The
Masters programme will provide a focus and testbed for the proposed learning
technologies at an institutional level. The collaborative nature of the bid with our
partner institution – City University will allow us to provide further evaluative
experience as City run a similar programme.
The project proposed is timely as it coincides with the recently completed
developments of our Hendon campus which will provide new enhanced teaching
and learning spaces for computer science and other disciplines. This bid will
allow us to explore the use of new physical spaces in an innovative manner
which I am sure will lead to enhanced teaching and learning practice.
Our commitment to the project is demonstrated by the involvement of senior
staff at Professor and PVC level and the collaboration across two Schools of the
University. The partner institution, City University are also strongly supportive of
the proposal.
We wish Bob and the team every success.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Margaret A House
Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic)
The Burroughs
Hendon
London
NW4 4BT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 8411 5398
Fax: +44 (0)20 8411 5597
e-mail: m.house@mdx.ac.uk
www.mdx.ac.uk
JISC Proposal: Information Spaces for Creative Conversations