John Waterworth PhD, CPsychol, Professor of Informatics
Department of Informatics at Umeå University in Sweden.
This page in (something like) Swedish.

I've been doing interaction research since 1980. 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 AGNES, RICHARD and SILHOUETTE projects.

I'm also Coordinator of the PhD Advisors Group in the department.

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 technology, 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.

I have a PhD in Experimental Psychology (1984), and I'm a Chartered Psychologist of the BPS. My professional experience includes consulting for many commercial and governmental organisations, and reviewing research projects and proposals for funding bodies in several countries. I have also 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 the Institute for Systems Science, and before that in England, at British Telecom Research Labs at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk.

All materials on this web site © J A Waterworth, unless otherwise.
Last modified January 2012.
jwworth@informatik.umu.se, mobile: +46 (0)73 8111 440
Department of Informatics, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden.

 


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Some Chronic Research Areas

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. This approach can also be applied to special need situations. One manifestation of this approach, Seclusive IT, responds to people's often submerged needs for non-interruption, for peace and quiet.

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. And of course we can choose how we experience stored or transmitted information, through what I have called synaesthetic media (an early example is pianoFORTE).

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


SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

Presentation at HICT 2011, International Forum on Healthcare and ICT. Barcelona, March 2011.

Coauthored paper in Aging Clinical and Experimental Research. Feb 2011.

Coauthored paper in New Ideas in Psychology. Jan 2011.

Coauthored paper published in Human Technology journal. November 2010.

Invited presentation at ICT2010, Brussels, Sept 29, 2010.

Presentation at Innovation Conference, Lahti, Finland. Sept. 2010.

Coauthored paper in Journal of Consciousness Studies. Feb 2010.

Book Chapter in Immersed in Media.

Book Chapter in Dementia, Design and Technology.

Panelist on "Mobility, Emotion, and Universality in Future Collaboration" at Interact 2009, Uppsala, August.

Co-authored paper presented by Kei Hoshi at CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology. Italy, June 2009

Co-authored paper presented by Christian Peter at Workshop on Affect and Behaviour Related Assistance in Support for the Elderly. PETRA, Greece, June 2009

Co-authored paper presented at HSI 2009. Special session on Positive Technology, Sicily, May.