John Waterworth PhD, CPsychol, Professor of Informatics
Department of Informatics at Umeå University in Sweden
jwworth@informatik.umu.se, mobile: +46 (0)73 8111 440

I've been doing interaction research since 1980, investigating people interacting with computers and using other communication devices. See my publications.

I'm a member of the Q-Life research group. We explore ways in which ICT can be used to enhance quality of life and health, often by designing and developing working prototypes and exploring them in use. I am currently involved in the RICHARD and SILHOUETTE projects, and I coordinate the AGNES project.

My research focuses on personal experience and well-being and how they are affected by interactions with and through information and communication technology (ICT), which is evolving fast. Without these devices and systems, we would not be the people we are. But for technology to be worth having, it must match and extend the nature and needs of individual people. Research is needed to explore both the subjective reality of living with technology, and the potential for improviing quality of life.

I have a PhD in Experimental Psychology (1984), and I'm a Chartered Psychologist of the BPS. My doctoral research was about how our experience of time-in-passing is affected by conscious information processing.

My professional experience includes consulting for many commercial and governmental organisations, and reviewing research projects and proposals for funding bodies in several countries. I also have experience organising courses for industry on psychology and HCI design and evaluation.

I've been part of this department since 1994. From 2000-2006 I also worked for the Interactive Institute Tools for Creativity studio, as Research Director. Before 1994 I worked in Singapore for 6 years at what was then called the Institute for Systems Science, and from 1980-88 in the UK, at British Telecom Research Labs at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk, England.

All materials on this web site © J A Waterworth, unless otherwise.
Last modified May 2013.

 


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Some research interests ....

ICT and Older People
Older people are too often excluded from the use of new information and communication technology (ICT), a fact which contributes to their tendency to become socially isolated and under-stimulated. Yet a growing body of evidence emphasises the potential of new interactive technologies to maintain health and independent living, and even improve some cognitive functions in the elderly.

On the Sense of Presence
We view the feeling of being more or less present in a mediated environment as reflecting the functioning of a universal animal faculty to distinguish self from other. In people this has evolved to enable us to separate the internal or conceptual (the self) from the external or perceptual (the other), even though both may engender emotional or intellectual engagement.

Embodied Interaction
Linking the body directly to interactive media (by sensing movements or physiological changes) has a powerful impact - on the physical body (and mind), on the emotions, and on the sense of presence within the electronic medium.

Transformed Sensory Experiences
Our experiences are increasingly mediated through technological devices. This opens up a potential universe of altered sensations and perceptions of the world around us.

Information Exploration
classic (i.e. old) papers
- Experiential Design of Shared Spaces
- Dextrous and Shared Interaction with Medical Data
- Effects of Desktop 3D World Design
- Exploring public information space in a private vehicle
- Personal Information Spaces
- A model of information exploration
- WIMPs and NERDS


New & Recent

2013
Two co-authored book chapters to appear in the Oxford Handbook of Virtuality (2013)

July 2013
Paper to be presented at 13th European Congress of Psychology, Stockholm

April 2013
Coauthored paper in Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces

December 4 2012
Invited presentation to 2nd International Conference on Aging, Cognition and Neuroscience. Madrid.

September 2012
Co-editor: Interacting with Computers Special Issue on Presence and Interaction

July 19 2012, Milano
Key-note speaker at 1st Summer School on Human Computer Confluence

June 6-8 2012, Crete
3 co-authored papers presented at 5th Workshop on Affect and Behaviour Related Assistance

See my publications