KMDI - Knowledge Media Design Institute
Knowledge media are building blocks of a knowledge society
Research Projects
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1996
New Intellectual Property Guidelines and Awareness Form
New, extensively revised Intellectual Property Guidelines for Graduate Students and Supervisors at U of T.
New Fact Sheet on Licensing Open Source Software at U of T
An information sheet to assist the growing number of UofT faculty, students and researchers with an interest in this alternative method for distributing software.
top2007
This page is currently being updated.
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The Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project (CWIRP)
Date: 2006Funding:
Researchers: Andrew Clement (FIS, KMDI), Barbara Crow (Communication Studies, York U), Graham Longford (FIS) and Catherine Middleton (School of Information Technology Management, Ryerson)
Description: brings together an interdisciplinary team of academic researchers and community and government partners to engage in in-depth case studies of public/community-based ICT initiatives in which WiFi technology plays an important role. CWIRP seeks to document and assess the various models, best practices and benefits of public internet infrastructure provision in Canada. It is funded by Infrastructure Canada for two years.
Rethinking Media, Democracy and Citizenship: New Media Practices and Online Digital Dissent after September 11
Date: 2006-2009Funding: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Researchers: Megan Boler PI (Theory and Policy Studes, OISE/UT) & Jennifer Kayahara (Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology) and Elise Chien (Master’s Candidate, Faculty of Information Studies) and seven other graduate students
Description: This research examines how digital media use increases political dissent and civic participation, despite a climate in which mainstream media are increasingly restricted by both the narrowed channels for public participation due to media ownership concentration and the cultural repression following 9/11. The research team is focused on three sites of memes, blogs, and online political culture: (a) MoveOn’s Bushin30Seconds campaign, 150 independently submitted and digitally produced 30 second Quicktime memes that address a range of post 9/11 political concerns; (b) political weblogs that engage in debate about the U.S. invasion of Iraq; (c) blogs, chats, and lists that discuss Jon Stewart, The Daily Show and Stewart’s appearance on Crossfire as an icon of critical political commentary. After completing discourse analysis, the team will conduct a survey and interviews to investigate participants’ motivations for engaging in public online debate.
Project OS|OA Student Experience Program: "Open Knowledges" in OS|OA in the Humanities: Francophone Studies as a Case Study
Date: 2006Funding: Project OS|OA, KMDI, University of Toronto
Reseachers: Dominique Scheffel-Dunand (French Studies, York University, KMDI)
Description: This project approaches Open access, Open archiving and Open content principles by analyzing and assessing representations, discourses, and practices that are encountered in the humanities and, more specifically, in the networked community of French studies and Francophone studies programs within and outside Canada. During the course of the project, faculty and students will a) research and assess scholarly publishing on Open Journal Systems and Open Conference Systems, as well as on Cooperative Learning Environments supported by open technologies; b) reflect on policies and design that would translate into sustainable and new scientific and artistic models of Open archives (models that would be meaningful for scholars, artists and teachers/learners in the humanities); and c) survey scholars, artists, teachers, and learners on Open Journal Systems and Open Conference Systems proposed by the project team. The results of this study can be applied to existing applications in the domain of French and Francophone Studies, as well as to new interdisciplinary research and learning programs geared toward marginalized communities for large-scale collaboration.
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2005
Digital Libraries For and With Aboriginal Communities
Date: 2005-2006Funding: U of T Faculty of Information Studies and CRACIN
Researcher: Nadia Caidi, PI (Faculty of Information Studies,KMDI) and Brian Walmark (KORI). Research Assistant: Ether El Adnan
Description: This project is undertaken in collaboration with RICTA and CRACIN. The aim is to understand how to develop digital libraries that are culturally relevant and meaningful to the existing knowledge and learning infrastructure and initiatives of aboriginal communities. These communities face tremendous challenges in establishing libraries for their people in what are often remote and isolated communities. There have been several attempts to do so, but surmounting the “bricks and mortar” problem, for one, has been difficult. This project is examining the specific case of K-Net, and the researchers are working with members of the community on a strategy to create a digital library for elementary and secondary school students. Such a digital library would serve remote and isolated communities in Ontario's far North.
Information Practices of Ethno-Cultural Communities (IPEC)
Date: 2005-2006Funding: The U of T Faculty of Information Studies and the Joint Center of Excellence on Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS)
Researcher: Nadia Caidi, PI (Faculty of Information Studies, KMDI)
Description: The quality of information and a person’s efficiency in acquiring and processing it is critical to the adjustment of new immigrants to their adopted country. The aim of the IPEC study is to inform our understanding of the information practices of ethno-cultural communities in the Greater Toronto Area. The findings will provide insight into libraries and other frontline information-providers about the types of information needed by individuals to deal with situations encountered in their daily lives, along with the choice of information sources, and successful outcomes. The findings will serve to influence government programs and funding priorities concerning information provision and access strategies to improve inclusion of these communities into the Canadian social fabric.
Paramedics and the Elderly at Risk for Independence Loss: Development of a Tool Using Paramedic Observations to Assess Elders Home Environments for Risks of Failed Discharge
Date: 2005-2006 Funding: CIHRResearchers: Jacques Lee PI, Laurie Morrison, Rory Fisher, Peter MacIntyre, Richard Verbeek, Alexander Kiss, Gary Naglie, David Ryan (Co-PI’s)
Description: This project develops and tests a risk screening tool that formalizes the informal environmental risk scanning behaviors of Toronto Emergency Measures personnel.
Prosodic Gestures in Bimodal Communication
Date: May 2005-Funding: Research Grant Program Faculty of Arts, York University
Researcher: Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, PI, (French Studies. York University, KMDI)
Description: Online webcast lectures offer the possibility of highly distributed collaborative learning in many settings from university undergraduate education to continuing professional development. Unfortunately, distance learning systems that simply use webcasting as a scalable transmission medium can result in a disengaging experience for students. One way to combat this is to provide interactive features for students that transform the plain multimedia broadcast into a more engaging experience. Current research aims at evaluating audio interaction in webcast scenarios. The goal is to assess when and how interactive features, such as chats and audio spaces, can supplement webcasting, enabling students to conduct effective and relevant interactions with peers and instructors in distributed learning environments.
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2004
Community Networking and Libraries
Date:Funding: CRACIN Studies at U of T
Researchers: Nadia Caidi PI (FIS, KMDI) Graduate students: Elise Chien (MISt, FIS, KMDI)
Description: This study examines the relationship between community networking initiatives and libraries. How libraries use innovative technologies, including videoconferencing as a community resource, storytelling via webcams broadcast to remote areas, and enabling intergenerational storytelling to preserve the collective memory, will also be assessed.
Linguistic Modalities in Groupware-Based Interaction
Date: 2004-2008Funding: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).NECTAR (Network for Effective Collaboration Technologies through Advanced Research)
Researchers: Dominique Scheffel-Dunand ((French Studies. York University, KMDI)
Description: Current research concentrates on the perception of pragmatic cues such as conversational connectors to measure speakers’ awareness of listeners’ engagement in face-to-face and computer-mediated conversations. The main part of the research involves an investigation of linguistic and acoustic data indicating modality in question-answer interactions in media produced by webcasts such as the virtual commons and the presentation rooms in e-Presence. The research plans include a multi- dimensional approach to information retrieval and analysis as it investigates a) the role played by textual or vocal conversational cues that enhance or break down the flow of topics and interactivity in face-to-face and computer-mediated conversations; b) how prosodic cues manifest themselves acoustically (with the focus on intonation, loudness, articulation rate, and pauses) to modify modality and impact on flow of interaction; and c) how emotions affect the cognitive behaviour of speakers involved in face-to-face and mediated conversations/interactions at the auditory level. The methodology includes a cross-linguistic study of production and perception of verbal and vocal speech in both Canadian French and Canadian English.
Project OS|OA
Date: 2004-2006Funding: U of T Provost’s Academic Initiatives Fund (AIF)
Researchers: Gale Moore PI (KMDI, SOC), Charles Finley, Executive Director
Description: This KMDI-led project is dedicated to scholarly inquiry on all aspects of the "phenomenon of openness". In the first phase of the project, U of T expertise will be consolidated through the identification and development of a cross-divisional, tri-campus networked community of scholars and students interested in, and engaged with, a broad range of questions raised by this phenomenon. The project will foster awareness, coordination and knowledge mobilization locally by delivering a variety of programs and projects, and increasing awareness of the U of T’s participation in, and contribution to, the emerging international community. In broad terms, the goals are to enrich the student experience, explore how open source software and new business models might accelerate innovation through collaboration, pilot next generation open source applications in teaching, research and administrative practice, increase the awareness of U of T faculty of issues in digital scholarship and changes in academic practice, and, most importantly, raise the profile of U of T faculty by increasing the visibility of their research results through open access projects and institutional repositories that rely on open source software applications.
TILE: The Inclusive Learning Exchange (TILE)
Date:Funding: CANARIE Inc., Learning Program
Researchers:Jutta Treviranus PI (ATRC,FIS,KMDI)
Description: The Inclusive Learning Exchange is a revolutionary learning object repository service that responds to the individual needs of the learner. TILE provides the authoring tools, repository architecture, and preference schema needed to support this learner-centric transformation. The service is now available as a functioning prototype and will be implemented across Canada by a network of learning communities from many sectors. TILE demonstrates the potential benefits of personalized courseware for the learner and the impact this would have on the educator or content producer. Through this project we demonstrate the practical boundaries of transformable content and the tools needed to support the mastery of learner customizable teaching.
Website: www.barrierfree.ca/tile/
The State of Information Post 9/11
Date: 2004-2007Funding: The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Researchers: Nadia Caidi PI (Faculty of Information Studies, KMDI)
Description: This research examines the evolving role and conception of libraries, and situates 9/11 as a turning point for libraries in the West (and elsewhere). The research objectives are to examine the legislations and policies resulting from the 9/11 attacks, particularly as they relate to "information" and informational activities (e.g., its production, management, and diffusion), and assess their impact on libraries and librarians (both values and practices).
Website: www.fis.utoronto.ca/faculty/caidi/research.html
The Strength of Internet Ties
Date: 2004-2006Funding: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Researchers: Barry Wellman, PI (Sociology, KMDI) with Jeffrey Boase (SOC, KMDI)
Description: Construction and analysis of large national U.S. telephone survey, focusing on how the Internet intersects with people’s social networks and social capital
Website: www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=172
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2003
ATutor: Learning Content Management System
Date:Funding:
Researchers: Jutta Treviranus (ATRC), Greg Guy (ATRC)
Description: ATutor is an Open Source Web-based Learning Content Management System (LCMS) designed with accessibility and adaptability in mind. Administrators can install or update ATutor in minutes, and develop custom templates to give ATutor a new look. Educators can quickly assemble, package, and redistribute Web-based instructional content, easily retrieve and import prepackaged content, and conduct their courses online. Students learn in an adaptive learning environment.
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Audio Spaces for Internet Multimedia Webcast Communications: Implementation and Evaluation
Date: 2003-2005Funding: Bell University Laboratories at the University of Toronto
Researchers: Ron Baecker, PI, (KMDI, Computer Science), Mark Chignell, PI, (KMDI,Mechancial and Electrical Engineering), Dominique Scheffel-Dunand (KDMI/ French Studies, York University)
Description: The goal of this research is to assess when and how audio spaces can be a useful supplement to webcasting in improving collaborative effectiveness. In order to carry out this assessment, audio spaces are incorporated into the ePresence interactive webcasting system using the Vocal Village spatial audio system to faciliate the formation of formal, or ad hoc collaborative groups in what can be thought of as virtual ePresence “viewing rooms”. Experiments and field studies were carried out in order to determine design requirements and guidelines for use of auditory spaces in this fashion, and to identify tasks and contexts in which collaborative audio spaces may add value to webcasting.
CRACIN: Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking
Date: 2003-ongoingFunding: Initiative for a New Economy (INE), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Researchers: Andrew Clement PI (Faculty of Information Studies,FIS), Marita Moll (Telecommunities, Canada), Graham Longford (Post-doctoral Fellow, Faculty of Information Studies) and researchers at Concordia University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Alberta, UQAM, Telecommunities Canada, Industry Canada, HRSD, Canadian Heritage, St Christopher House, K-net, VCN, Communautique. Research Assistants: Robert Luke (PhD, OISE/UT), Adam Fiser (PhD Candidate, FIS, KMDI), Frank Winter (Ph.D., FIS), Matt Wong (MISt,FIS)
Description: The alliance is studying community-based information and communications technology initiatives. CRACIN brings together leading Community Informatics researchers from across Canada and internationally to investigate the main Canadian government programs promoting the development and public accessibility of internet services.
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Improving Colon Cancer Staging through a Blended Knowledge Translation Program aimed at Surgeons and Pathologists
Date:2003-2005Funding: The Change Foundation
Researchers: Andrew Smith and David Ryan, Co-PIs, Frances Wright, Calvin Law, Denny DePetrillo, Mahmoud Khalifa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Description:This randomized control trial, examines the effectiveness of a multi-method knowledge to practice program in improving colon cancer staging among the province of Ontario’s surgeons and pathologists.
Information Technology and Transnational Entrepreneurship
Date:2003-ongoingFunding: The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Researchers: Barry Wellman, PI (Sociology, KMDI) with Wenhong Chen (SOC, KMDI)
Description: An investigation of globalization and “glocalization”, studying how entrepreneurial networks in Toronto, Canada, and Beijing, PRC, are connected, online and offline. The researchers are examining how the Internet, and other means of transportation and communication, connect Chinese-ethnicity entrepreneurs doing business in these two cites/countries.
TELS (The Center for Technology Enhanced Learning in Science)
Date:Funding: U.S. National Science Foundation
Researchers: Jim Slotta (OISE/UT) and faculty from eight universities in the U.S. and Israel
Description: TELS was funded as a national Center for Learning and Teaching to bring university researchers together with middle school and high school educators to improve instruction in science. TELS includes eight universities, a nonprofit educational research and development organization, and seven school districts. Research questions include how to integrate models and simulations into science inquiry projects, how to support language learners with such innovative materials, how to design effective assessments for technology-enhanced learning, and how to design professional development opportunities for teachers.
Website: telscenter.org
The Spatiality of Personal Networks
Date: 2003-2007Funding:
Researchers:Barry Wellman, Co-PI (Sociology), Ranu Basu (Geography, York University) and Diana Mak (Geography, McGill University)
Description: Uses social network data to examine the extent to which physical distance between network members affects their sociability, emotional support, and material aid.
Researching UofT T-Space
Date:Funding: University of Toronto Libraries
Researchers: Leslie Chan (UTSC, KMDI
Description: T-Space is the U of T’s research repository. It showcases and preserves the scholarly work of the university’s faculty. Since 2003, this research has involved testing and evaluating T-Space and its use of DSpace software.
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Webcasting for Continuing Medical Education and Knowledge Translation for Physicians in Rural and Isolated Regions
Date: 2003-2004Funding: OMA – CME Program for Rural and Isolated Physicians
Researchers: David Patrick Ryan (PI), Lawrence Spero, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Description: This project examines usability issues in the deployment of the ePresence webcasting utility to support the continuing education of health professionals in rural and remote regions of Ontario.
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2002
Bell University Collaborative Effectiveness Lab
Date:Funding:
Researchers: Co-investigators: Mark Chignell (Dept. of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering), monica schraefel (Dept. of Computer Sscience), Ian Spence (Dept. of Psychology), Barry Wellman (Centre for Urban and Community Studies)
Description: The collaobrative Effectiveness lab is an electronic and Internet-enabled forum and workspace for collaboration between researchers. This lab will create online versions of the infrastructure normally found in a research institute, for example, there will be spaces for people and work groups to meet, facilities for storage and management of artifacts, and repositories for collaborative tools. Research will also be carried out on a variety of social and technological topics. It is expected that this infrastructure will provide results and prototypes that can be transferred to the development of corporate portals and tools for knowledge management.
The Bell University ePresence Lab
Date:Funding:
Researchers: Principal investigator: Ron Baecker (Computer Science); Co-investigator: Gale Moore (KMDI)
Description:ePresence Lab is a test-bed for research on new ways to support effective multi-location multi-institutional communication and collaboration. While a number of technologies exist today to support the activities of groups who cannot routinely meet face-to-face, this project will explore new ways in which these technologies can be used, in particular to support synchronous communication. A better understanding of the social factors inherent in the design and use of these environments is a major subject for research.
Connected Lives: Netting Together
Date: 2002 & ongoingFunding: The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Researchers: Barry Wellman , PI (Sociology) with Kristin Berg (SOCW), Jeffrey Boase (SOC,KMDI), Juan-Antonio Carrasco, Wenhong Chen (SOC,KMDI), Bernard Hogan (SOC,KMDI), Tracy Kennedy (SC,KMDI)
Description: An analysis of Canadian, American and worldwide survey data about how the Internet affects friendship, community, social capital, domestic relationships and civic involvement. A follow-up study to the East York study of Community Ties and Support Systems, 19XX, which followed-up on the original 1976 study, Networking in the Global Village: The East York Study of How Personal Communiities are Used
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Digital Identify Constructions
Date: 2002 & ongoingFunding: Initiative on the New Economy (INE), Social Science and Humanities Research Council
Researchers: Andrew Clement, PI (Faculty of Information Studies). Research Assistants: Ana Viseu (PhD Candidate, OISE/UT, KMDI Fellow), Joseph Ferenbok (PhD Candidate FIS, KMDI), Brenda McPhail (PhD Candidate,FIS), Dave Ley (MISt Candidate ,FIS, KMDI)
Description: The project studies the accumulation of digital records of individuals, their constitution as ‘identities’ and the growing role these identities play with respect to pervasive surveillance practices and threats to personal privacy.
Institutionalising Interdisciplinary Innovation in Universities: The Emergent Field of Knowledge Media Design (KMD)
Date:2001-2002Funding: University of Toronto Sabbatical Grant
Researcher: Gale Moore (PI)
Description:Traditional university structures concentrate power in departments and faculties and can, therefore, have difficulty responding to innovations in knowledge production when traditional disciplinary boundaries are crossed. In spite of these challenges, a number of universities in the past two to five years, have established programmes, centers and institutes dedicated to research on and teaching about the design and creation of digital media technologies, and the social and cultural understanding of how these technologies are used in everyday life. To date, there is no comparative data on the factors motivating the establishment of these institutes, their intellectual content, or the nature of the institutionalisation within the university of which they are a part. This exploratory study of six centres and institutes is a first step in toward understanding this type of organisational innovation.
MYCE@utoronto: A Portal on Continuing Education
Date: 2002-2004Funding: University of Toronto, Medical Alumni Association
Researchers: David Ryan (PI), David Davis, Michael Evans, Lawrence Spero, Jay Keystone, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Description: This project developed a model for an online personalized continuing medical education manager for practicing physicians.
The Internet in Everyday Life: Canada and the World
Date:Funding: Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Researchers:Barry Wellman PI (SOC,KMDI) with doctoral students Jeffrey Boase(SOC,KMDI) and Wenhong Chen (SOC,KMDI)
Description: Analysis of Canadian, American and worldwide survey data about how the Internet fits in with friendship, community, social capital, domestic relationships and civic involvement.
The Online Learning Program in Systems-Based Practice and Practice-Based Learning and Improvement: A Curriculum Integration Project for Medical Education
Date: 2002-2005Funding: The Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, US Department of Education and Tufts University School of Medicine
Researchers: David Ryan (PI), David Davis, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Description: Tufts University Health Care Institute has developed an online campus to optimize knowledge transfer on systems based practice and practice based learning. This project provides a framework and processes to evaluate the effectiveness of the online campus in a multi-site, multi-university deployment.
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2001
Everyday Internet Project
Date: 2001-2005Funding: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Researchers: Andrew Clement (Faculty of Information Studies, KMDI) Research Associates: Ana Viseu (PhD Candidate, OISE/UT, KMDI Fellow), Laura O’Grady (OISE/UT), Jane Aspinall (Faculty of Information Studies)
Description: Using multiple, in-depth interviews, this research project is this research proposes to investigate everyday usage of Internet services in the light of three longstanding policy and design concerns: Universal Access and the ‘Digital Divide’,Privacy, Identity and Trust, and (De-)Personalization.
Knowledge Management in Networked Organizations
Date: 2001-ongoingFunding: IBM Institute for Knowledge Management, CITO and Sloan Foundation
Researchers: Barry Wellman, PI (Sociology, KMDI) in collaboration with Robert Cross, Lawrence Prusak and Anabel Quan-Haase (University of Western Ontario, Information Science and Sociology)
Description: Analysis of how members of a high-tech organization discover, access and use knowledge via email, instant messaging, and in-person contact. Evaluation of the extent to which ICTs foster networked organization.
Modelling and Developing Tools for AdHoc Networking: Computer, Communication, Work and Community
Date:Funding: Communication and Information Technology Ontario (CITO) and Mitel Networks
Researchers: Barry Wellman PI (Sociology, KMDI) with doctoral candidate Anabel Quan Haase (FIS, KMDI Fellow)
Description: How do people communicate and acquire knowledge in situations where they work and find community in fragmented, sparsely-knit, multiple social networks?
Projecte Internet Catalunya
Date:Funding: Generalitat [Government] de Catalunya and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Researchers: Barry Wellman (Sociology, KMDI) in collaboration with Manuel Castells (Principal Investigator) and Imma Tubella
Description: Analysis of a 3,000-adult survey of Catalans, inquiring into the relationship between Internet use and social networks, identity, self-enhancement, self-empowerment, and social mobilization.
The HIVE: Home information Visualisation Environment (ICTs and Home-based Health Care)
Date: 2001-2002Funding:CITO; Communications and Information Technology Student Internship
Researchers: Gale Moore (PI), Dan Keating (OISE/UT, KMDI) Anita Zijdemans (PhD Candidate OISE/UT, KMDI Fellow) and the Hospital for Sick Children. Autism Research Unit
Description: The primary goal of this research is to gain insights into the communication practices and map the interactions among a team of therapists, caregivers, and family members supporting an intensive home-based therapy program for children diagnosed with PDD: Pervasive Development Disorder. The longer-term goal is to use these insights to design a home-based information technology (The HIVE) to support the families who are primarily responsible for the coordination, management and exchange of information among members of a team that is organisationally independent.
UNESCO Open Access Directory
Date:Funding: UNESCO
Researcher: Leslie Chan
Description: (this is from the UNESCO portal, but I need you to make the connection to your research.) The Budapest Open Access Initiative, founded in December 2001, tries to accelerate the international effort to make research articles in all academic fields freely available on the internet. The Open Access Initiative is a statement of principle, strategy and commitment, which was signed by the participants of the meeting and by a growing number of individuals and organizations from around the world who represent researchers, universities, laboratories, libraries, foundations, journals, publishers, learned societies, and kindred open-access initiatives.
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2000
Application software for access by users with disabilities
Date:Funding: Nortel
Researcher: Jutta Treviranus (Centre for Academic and Adaptive Technology)
Double Digital Divide
Date:Funding:: Office of Learning Technologies, Human Resources Canada; Advanced Micro Devices
Researchers: Barry Wellman Co-PI (Sociology, KMDI) with Eric Fong (SOC) and doctoral candidate Wenhong Chen(SOC, KMDI)
Description: Uses survey data from Canada and the U.S. to analyze the extent to which the spatial segregation of the poor and visible minorities reinforces their relative lack of access to computers in general and the internet in particular. Reviews literature on subject.
IML web platform for rapid prototyping and deployment of user-customisable web sites
Date:Funding:BUL
Researchers: monica schraefel (CS, KMDI), Graeme Hirst (CS, KMDI)
Personalisation of unified messaging
Date:Funding: BUL
Researchers: Mark Chignel (MIE, KMDI), Barry Wellman (SOC, KMDI)
Description:
Survey 2000 & Survey 2001: Information technology's impact on community, culture and conservation
Date:Funding: US National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society
Researchers: James Witte PI (Clemson University), Barry Wellman (SOC, KMDI), Catherine Mobley, Keith Hampton (MIT), doctoral candidates Jeffrey Boase (SOC, KMDI), Wenhong Chen (SOC, KMDI Fellow), Tracy Kennedy (SOC,KMDI Fellow), Anabel Quan-Haase (FIS, KMDI Fellow) and master's students Bernard Hogan (SOC, KMDI) and Nathaniel Simpson
Description: Design and analysis of social network, internet and community questions on The National Geographic web survey (Millennium 2000) of 60,000 adults worldwide: their mobility, connectivity, civic involvement, and tastes. Follow-up study compared web visitors/users with a control sample.
User-sensitive, video-enabled software help systems
Date:Funding: BUL
Researchers: monica schraefel (CS,KMDI), Ron Baecker (CS,KMDI)
Description:
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1999
The PP1-PP4 Digital Personae Projects were funded by Bell Canada University Labs (BCUL)
Date: 1999-2000Funding: Bell Canada University Labs (BCUL)
Project PP-1. Psychometric analysis and application of user types with respect to requirements for technology mediated relationship management.
Researchers: Mark Chignell (Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, KMDI), Ian Spence (Psychology, KMDI)
Project PP-2. Mapping and using relationships based on network analysis and related behavioural and sociological assessment and modeling techniques.
Researcher: Barry Wellman (Sociology, Centre for Urban and Community Studies, KMDI)
Project PP-3. Customized text generation for persona
Researcher: Graeme Hirst (Computer Science)
Project PP-4. Assessment of personal and social implications of the use of persona technology
Researchers: Andrew Clement (PI, Faculty of Information Studies, KMDI), Gale Moore (SOC,KMDI)
Description: To investigate a number of ways in which digital personae might be constructed and to explore how people experience the relationship between their digital and real-world persona, elaborating this relationship in particular with respect to issues of privacy and control.
The Intelligent Guide
Date: 1999Funding: Bell Canada University Labs
Researchers: Robert Wright PI (Architecture, Landscape and Design, KMDI), Graeme Hirst (CS), Mark Chignell (MIE, KMDI)), Jutta Treviranus (ATRC,MED)
Description:
The Interplay between Social Networks and Computer-Supported Communication Networks
Date:Funding: Bell University Laboratories
Researchers: Barry Wellman PI (SOC, KMDI) with Faculty Collaborator Howard White (Drexel University) and doctoral candidate Emmanuel Koku (SOC)
Description: Analyzes a variety of datasets studying social networks of work and community to discern regularities in kinds of social relationships and social networks, using different kinds of communication media.
The Role of Institutions in Shaping Innovation
Date: 1999 - 2000Funding: Ontario Government
Researchers: David Wolfe PI (Political Science, PROGRIS, KMDI), Meric Gertler (GEOG,PROGRIS), Gale Moore (KMDI)
Description:
Project Achieve
Date:Funding: Industry Canada/SchoolNet
Researchers:Jason Nolan PI (KMDI Scholar =-in-residence), Rhonna Robbins-Sponaas
Description:Project Achieve is a polysynchronous virtual learning environment that allows participants to create representations of people, places and things and share them with others. Achieve is an open source project with hundreds of participants from around the world working on projects of their own design within our larger virtual community.
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1998
Learning Complex Software: Experiencing Word Processing (1st grant administered by KMDI)
Funding: Communication and Information Technology Ontario (CITO)Date: 1998 -
Researchers: Gale Moore PI (KMDI), Ron Baecker (CS, KMDI), Dan Keating (OISE/UT, KMDI) Research Associates: Joanna McGrenere (PhD Candidate, CS), Anita Zijdemans (MA Candidate, OISE/UT, Bruce Homer (Postdoctoral Resident, OISE/UT)
Description:
WISE: The Web-based Inquiry Science Environment
Funding:U.S. National Science FoundationDate:
Researchers: Jim Slotta (OISE/UT) and Marcia Linn (University of California, Berkeley)
Description: This project investigates the most effective designs for technology-enhanced learning in the classroom. Substantial research addressed the structure of inquiry-oriented curriculum, the design of a powerful Web-based learning environment, and the most effective teaching practices for implementing such curriculum. WISE currently supports thousands of teachers and students in 50 countries and 6 different languages
Website: wise.berkeley.edu
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1996
Wired Suburbs
Dates:1996 – 2006Funding: The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and CITO (Communications and Information Technology Ontario)
Researchers: Keith Hampton (PhD Candidate, Sociology) and Barry Wellman, (Sociology, KMDI) co-PIs
Description: Ethnographic and survey-based study of how living in a new Toronto-area suburban development (“Netville”) with excellent broadband connectivity affects women’s and men’s relations vis-a-vis work and community online and offline in the home, neighbourhood, and non-locally. In 2006, the PIs will compare Netville with Herbert Gans’ historic Levittowners and Urban Villagers studies, to be published in a festschrift for Herbert Gans.
Copyright © 2006 KMDI, a research institute in the School of Graduate
Studies, University of Toronto.
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