Monday, December 22, 2014

2014 Research in Review


This post summarizes the research I published in 2014. The work divides roughly into three components covering: 1) slow search, 2) crowdsourcing, and 3) face-to-face social interaction.

Slow Search
We live in a world where the pace of everything from communication to transportation is getting faster. In recent years a number of "slow movements" have emerged that advocate for reducing speed in exchange for increasing quality. These include the slow food movement, slow parenting, slow travel, and even slow science. Building on these movements we have been exploring the concept of slow search, where search engines use additional time to provide a higher quality search experience than is possible given conventional time constraints.
Four of the conference papers I published this year (at CSCW, WSDM, and SIGIR) focus on understanding and supporting slow search. We studied instances where people interact with search engines over the course of time - such as when they click multiple results following a query, issue many queries as part of a session, or even concurrently issue asynchronous queries to their friends - and discovered a number of ways that search tools might better support slow search. We then built a prototype search engine that provides different results depending on the time constraints of the task.
 
Crowdsourcing
This year I also devoted a substantial amount of time exploring the implications of crowdsourcing personal information tasks, including some of the risks (e.g., of exposing information about ourselves to unknown crowd workers) and opportunities (e.g., people may be able to support personalization where algorithms fail).
My interest in crowdsourcing grows out of my background in personal information management. I find it fascinating that we are figuring out how to break large, complex tasks down in to small, simple microtasks that can take as little as a few seconds each to complete. Research shows that concrete plans with actionable steps enable people to complete their tasks better and faster. However, while task decomposition previously had to be done by hand, it is now possible to do it algorithmically. I am starting to take the lessons we have learned from crowdsourcing, and apply them to instances where it is the task owner - and not the crowd - who performs the microtasks (called selfsourcing). Expect to see a lot more on this in the coming year!
 
Social Interaction
Mobile devices allow us to connect with the rest of the world, regardless of where we are. Ironically, however, while they connect us with the greater world, they often disengage us with what is directly around us. To address this, we developed an approach that allows people to physically signal their willingness to collaborate while on a mobile device. In this work, when people use their smartphones in the default portrait orientation they have a traditional mobile experience, but when they rotate into landscape orientation it signals - to the device and the people around them - that they are in a collaborative mode. Others around them can enter into this mode as well and share information across devices by simply rotating their phones. 

Finally, I am honored to have received the Anita Borg Early Career Award this year for making "significant research contributions while also having a positive, significant impact on advancing women in the computer-research community." The picture above is of my son Dillon meeting me on stage to present the award.

15 comments:

  1. This is a very creative idea to slow down the speed for quality! Nowadays everything is so fast paced that one cannot enjoy life to the fullest, this slow searching concept may give way to bigger and better things!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've just read like 10 of your blog posts and can completely understand why you have the traffic you do! Awesome blog

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a very helpful list for students requiring help in starting their assignments, or for those trying to juggle multiple projects. Also check out WordsRU.com if you have a finished assignment that you would like edited to make sure there are no typos or grammatical and syntactical errors. Their expert editors clean your copy and fintune it according to a particular citation style if required. They also give you great advice to rearrange your work to get the best results.
    Academic Editing and Proofreading Services
    Academic Editing Services
    Academic Proofreading Services
    Article Editing Services
    Article Writing Services
    Journal Article Editing Services
    Book Editing Services
    Book writing Services

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Dehradun Escorts is famous for the best services and client satisfaction. And to make our customers satisfied we provide all kinds of escort services at a very high level. We provide all the facilities later to escorts. If you will hire any escort services Dehradun from Escorts in Dehradun club then we will ensure that you will get the best services at the lowest prices.

    ReplyDelete
  5. this is really great post. can you tell me more about it. Visit Here Vet Recommended Puppy Food

    ReplyDelete
  6. Those subfields include epistemology, ethics, logic, metaphysics, philosophy of technological know-how, social and political philosophy, and metaphilosophy. Epistemology makes a speciality of the study of information, this is why our agency is continually assured about our essays being of pinnacle best. The assignments we provide for our customers continually include applicable records and information.

    Kerosene Trading Company In Ajman
    Kerosene Trading Company In Sharjah

    ReplyDelete
  7. Basically, I was searching for the best Assignment Writing Service when I landed on your site. I do not know why I have landed on your site, but I am glad I came here because it has provided me very useful and authentic information that I think I could not even get on the internet easily.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Students frequently aim to make an impact among fellow students and tutors from a high-level book. For that purpose, students read through many books and sources to grasp the subject. In this task, pupils forget that certain subjects are specifically limited, and explanted responses are not allowed in certain areas. To avoid this, a student should follow a solid format while drawing up the information to improve his score for financial tasks. It will not help you get good grades if you only fail to convey what is expected. As you know now, what to expect for your finance assignments to get better grades, you can only look for finance assignment writing help online. Many websites host finance assignment experts to complete your assignment for you. The best Finance Assignment Help for your career can make what you want from that course while focusing on what you wish to build.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jó honlap : Sinopsis Film Terbaru
    Jó honlap : One Piece
    Jó honlap : Zonahobisaya
    Jó honlap : Zonahobisaya
    Jó honlap : Terbanyak
    Jó honlap : Zonahobisaya
    Jó honlap : Zonahobisaya
    Jó honlap : Zonahobisaya

    ReplyDelete
  10. Others around them can enter into this mode as well and share information across devices by simply rotating their phones. Thanks for sharing this blog. Now it's time to avail factoring for trucking company for more information.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is a very creative idea to reduce speed for quality! Nowadays everything is so fast that one cannot enjoy life to the fullest.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A number of "slow movements" have emerged in recent years that advocate reducing speed rather than increasing quality. These include slow food movements, slow parenting, slow travel, and even slow science.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I am satisfy with your post. I highly rate your article. Now its time to avail boise airport shuttle for more information.

    ReplyDelete