well, we are about to leave for Boston, to visit friends and attend CHI 2009. i present my note, which received an honorable mention in the ‘best note’ category, on Thursday morning, 9am in room 311. mine is the 4th presentation, so it will hopefully be toward the end of that session, but yes, it is very very early, on the last day of the conference.
the note is titled, “Yours, Mine, and (Not) Ours: Social Influences on Group Information Repositories” and is about some results from my dissertation research. i interviewed users of CTools, a learning management system that also includes support for creating sites for sharing files with a group of people, similar to shared folders. i think the most important finding from this research was the subtle, pervasive and enduring influence that social factors had on the information structure of the CTools sites, despite the perception that such information repositories are for “storage”, and not social systems at all.
also: i’m still on the job market, and looking for a postdoc position, or a permanent position in an industry research organization.
i’ve spent much of the last week rewriting my research statement—or, as i’ve started thinking of it—my manifesto. i have presented my dissertation research several times now, and talked with a bunch of people about it; i feel like my story has become more clear and focused, the more i have talked through it. dissertating can be a very isolating experience, so i guess one thing i’ve learned through all this is even if you’re not quite sure what you’re talking about yet, it *really helps* to get out and tell your story anyway. you’ll be glad you did.
