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Research areas
Faculty members at the School of Information Studies are all engaged in the broad research area of Human-Information Interaction (HII).
HII research focuses on three basic elements:
- Information resources such as books, records, online publications, sound, images, maps, and databases.
- Humans who behave and interact with these resources as they create, search, manage, and use them.
- Technologies and services designed to create, capture, retrieve, disseminate, store, and manage information resources. These may include software applications, search engines, online catalogues, digital libraries, and repositories.
HII takes its roots in librarianship and information science, as these fields have traditionally focused on the acquisition, organization, retrieval, and management of collections of information resources.
A more user-oriented approach has emerged to enable a better understanding of the information-related challenges that individuals, organizations, and societies face as a result of the increasing production of digital resources and online services and the widespread use of information technologies. The interaction with information has been crucial in the history of humankind. It is now recognized that human-information interaction is a complex and multi-faceted domain that requires scientific investigation from many angles.
Within the broad domain of HII, SIS professors primarily conduct research in the Human-Computer Interaction, Information Behaviour & Services, and Information & Knowledge Management.
Some recent funded research projects are shown below:
Human-Computer Interaction
Prof. Jamshid Beheshti (PI) with Andrew Large and Charles Cole. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). 2010-2014. Virtual Environments as an Intervention Agent in the Information-Seeking Process of Elementary School Students. $139,953
Prof. Max Evans (PI). McGill Start-Up Funds. 2013-2016. What does Knowledge Look Like? $8,000
Prof. Ilja Frissen (PI). McGill Start-Up Funds. 2013-2016. The Study of the Interaction between Multimodal Cognitive Abilities and Spatial Information Systems. $8,000
Prof. Catherine Guastavino (Co-PI) with Dr. B. Pijanowsky (Co-PI, Purdue University), National Science Foundation. 2011-2016. CNH-RCN: A Global Sustainable Soundscape Network. $499,556 US
Prof. Catherine Guastavino (PI). Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant. 2013-2018. Upper Limits of Auditory Motion Perception. $150,000.
Prof. Catherine Guastavino (PI). Audiokinetic (private company). Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Engage Grant. 2014-2015. Spatialized and Interactive Artificial Binaural Reverberation. $24,500 and $31,750.
Prof. Catherine Guastavino (PI). Sennheiser Electronic GmH&Co. KG (private company). 2011-2013 (2 projects). High-definition Spatial Audio & Perceptual Evaluation of Non-ideal Diffuse Fields & Corresponding Three Dimensional Algorithmic Representations. $93,966 and $56,700
Prof. Catherine Guastavino (Co-I) with T. Andringa (Groningen University, Netherlands). Innovation Centre for Advanced Sensors & Sensors Systems. 2009-2014. Human Centered Soundscape Research. $2,400,000
Prof. Charles-Antoine Julien (PI). Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant. 2014-2019. Improving Retrieval of Unstructured Information using Existing Information Structures. $135,000.Â
Prof. Charles-Antoine Julien (PI). Fond Québécois pour la recherche sur la société et culture (FQRSC). 2013-2016. A Novel Library Collection Browsing & Information Retrieval Tool. $38,000.Â
Prof. Charles-Antoine Julien. McGill Internal SSHRC Grant (2013-2014). Social Network Visualization to Facilitate Subject Browsing in Library Collections. $6,500.
Prof. Karyn Moffatt (Co-PI), with Dr. Leah Findlater (Co-PI), University of Maryland, College Park. Google Faculty Research Award (2014-2015). Supporting Communication for Persons with Aphasia via Contextual Prompting on a Heads-Up Display.
Prof. Karyn Moffatt (PI). Graphics, Animation and New Media Network of Centers of Excellence. 2011-12. Communication & Information Needs of Families Navigating Hospice Care. $14,000
Prof. Karyn Moffatt (PI). Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant. 2012-2017. Socially-Informed Accessible Technology: Improving Access to Technology, Information & People. $135,000.Â
Prof. Karyn Moffatt (PI). Fonds Québécois pour la recherche sur la nature et la technologie (FQRNT). 2012-2014. Advancing Accessible Computing by Considering Real-World Use. $73,382.Â
Information Behaviour & Services
Prof. Joan Bartlett (PI). Fond Québécois pour la recherche sur la société et culture (FQRSC). 2009-2012. The Analysis of Clinician’s Identification & Selection of Information Resources to Support Evidence-based Practice. $39,600
Prof. Joan Bartlett (PI). McGill Internal SSHRC Grant. 2012-2014. Value & Impact of Information Services on Patient Care Outcomes. $15,000
Prof. Jamshid Beheshti (PI) with Elaine Toms and others, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences. 2011-2012. SCORE: Serendipity, Change and Opportunity in Information Discovery. $24,999
Prof. Jamshid Beheshti (Co-PI) with Shaheen Shariff (PI, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ) and others. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). 2012-2017. Defining the Lines on Cyberbullying. $497,509
Information & Knowledge Management
Prof. France Bouthillier, (Co-applicant) with Dr. José A Morais (PI, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ) and others. 2013-2014. Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Les Maladies Chroniques chez les Aînés: Un Portrait du Domaine Scientifique au Québec. $25,000
Prof. Kimiz Dalkir (PI). Quartier de l’innovation, 2012. Élaboration du Hub de créativité dans le cadre du Quartier de l’Innovation. $20,175
Prof. Kimiz Dalkir (PI). McGill Vice-Provost Research and International Relations, 2012. Mapping of Social Innovation Capital at McGill & ÉTS. $24,968
Prof. Max Evans (CO-I) with Prof. Anthony Wensley (CO-I, University of Toronto), Prof. Nóra Obermayer-Kovács (CO-I, University of Pannonia, Hungary), Prof. Dr. Peter Heisig (PI, University of Leeds, UK), and others. 2013-2016. Human & Social Factors in Knowledge Management – Global Knowledge Research Network.
Prof. Benjamin Fung (PI). Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant. 2013-2018. Privacy-Preserving Data Publishing for Health Data Mining. $150,000
Prof. Benjamin Fung (Co-applicant). Department of National Defense/Natural Science and Engineering Research Council. 2013-2016. $208,695
Prof. Eun Park (PI). McGill Internal SSHRC Grant. 2014-2016. Linked Historical Collections as Networked Knowledge. $6,000.Â
Prof. Eun Park (Co-PI) with Dr. Claudia Mitchell (PI, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ), Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). 2011-2014. Voices: Rural Teachers in Rural South Africa in the Age of AIDS. $132,793
Prof. Eun Park (Co-PI) with Prof. Matthew Milner (PI, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ) and others. SSHRC 2012-2013. Humanities Dissemination & Making Publics using the Resource Description Framework. $66,017
Prof. Eun Park (Co-PI) with Luciana Duranti (PI, University of British Columbia) and others. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Major Collaborative Initiative Grant. 2013-2018. InterPARES TRUST: Trust & Digital Records in an Increasingly Networked Society. $200,000
For additional information on Faculty research, please visit the Faculty pages.