My Research

I am a qualitative researcher focusing on information sharing and use in online environments, especially as it relates to everyday life and “lived” or real-world experiences. My research interests include human information behaviour, social media use, online reputation and identity, determinations of trust in online environments, and social and health informatics.

Below are links to my current research projects and my PhD work. You can find research outputs from this work on my publications page.

Current projects:

e-Health tools and online information for the self-management of PKD

This work is funded by Edinburgh Napier University and will form part of a larger body of e-health research related to the use of e-health tools and online information in the self-management of chronic illness. This work will be conducted as a scoping study that will focus on people with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) as a case study. [more]

Previous projects:

RAInS: Realising Accountable Intelligent Systems

The aims of this project were to realise processes by which these systems can be made accountable, by developing an accountability fabric for use by a variety of stakeholders. The project used computational models of provenance – as a substrate for enabling trust; such a mechanism facilitates transparency and accountability by recording the processes, entities and agents associated with a system and its behaviours-supporting verification and compliance monitoring. 

For this research, I worked with Professor Peter Edwards and Dr Caitlin Cottrill at the University of Aberdeen. My primary role was as a qualitative researcher where I conducted a series of information-seeking workshops with persons from the domains of autonomous vehicles, health care, and security. [more]

DISIPRAC: Digital identity security information practices of citizens

This work was funded by a research development grant at Edinburgh Napier University with Peter Cruickshank, my colleague in the Centre for Social Informatics, as PI. Through this work, we investigated the security information practices associated with digital identity, in particular, the sharing of log-in details and the development of the concept of “social proxies” for managing digital identities. [more]

TAPESTRY: Trust, Authentication and Privacy over a DeCentralised Social Registry

The project aimed to investigate, develop, and demonstrate new ways to enable people, businesses and services to connect safely online, exploiting the complex “tapestry” of multi-modal signals woven by their everyday digital interactions. 

For this research, I worked with Professor Wendy Moncur at the University of Dundee. My role was to run two qualitative studies looking at different aspects of determining trust in online environments: health care forums and online dating sites. [more]

Social media by proxy: Strategies for managing the online profiles of adults with dementia

This research was funded by The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland with Dr Gemma Webster as the Principal Investigator (PI). For this work, we investigated the lived experiences of people who act as “social media proxies” for adults with dementia in their care. [more]

PhD research:

Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations

This work is concerned with the role of online information in the creation, building, and evaluation of personal reputations. In this context, the term “personal reputation” refers to the reputation of private individuals rather than corporate identity and brand. [more]

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