Cultural informatics

I work in the area of cultural informatics, which describes a research area where cultural practice, digital media and information science converge.

Cultural informatics considers design as social and cultural mediation, and deals with the relations between culture and information technology in cultural management, cultural heritage, cultural communities, and more in general culturally centered domains.

Current research
My present work revolves around the construction and meaning of cultural heritage. I am concerned with understanding, supporting, and stimulating socially distributed forms of cultural interpretation and production that allow a sense of heritage to be more successfully captured and shared, as well as enable new cultural objects to be experienced and represented. New heritage is the term used to describe the outcomes of novel forms of cultural interpretation and production that are engendered by digital media and information technology.

I currently focus on emerging cultural artifacts and forms of curation such as collective memories, affective geographies, and civic curatorial practices. In doing so, I address issues of social practice, public formation, and sense of place that go beyond conventional museological concerns, and contribute to basic research in human-centered computing.

Previous work
Earlier work has included investigations in theory and practices of metadesign (without the dash), impact and legacy of the new media arts, and issues of agency and affective embodiment in aesthetic visual interaction.

Method and objectives
My goal is to theorize, facilitate, and engage in creative and transformative design practices that supplement critical reflection with social action and cultural intervention. My approach promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, practice-based research, and community-based media projects to support open design narratives, sustained participation, and situated evaluation.

Related research topics
Cross-media interaction; public authoring; collective storytelling; place-making; collaborative mapping; locative media; public interfaces; participative systems; sustainability; new museology.