Current Projects
- Global Usability Knowledge Management (GUKM)
This project investigates the potential for sharing usability testing knowledge.
- Habitat Tracker
This project studies the use of technology to create a community of informal learners in a museum setting. It involves the use of mobile devices to help visitors journal their experience and observations during a museum visit.
- Online Participation
Research has determined that attendance is a key factor in students’ success. This project investigates what it means to “attend” an online class, how attendance can be measured, and how technology can provide good feedback to both instructors and students.
News and Events
- February 11, 2009
KCRG has been funded to work on two projects relating to energy research. "Investigating the effect of appliance interface design on energy-use behavior" will be carried out in collaboration with LSI's Center for Expert Performance (CEPR). The project will examine energy use behavior and the potential role of appliance interface design in moderating this behavior. "Development of a renewable energy research web portal" will be carried out in collaboration with the FSU College of Information's Information Institute. The project will examine the information needs of energy researchers and investigate the use of various technologies to support their work.
- December 11-18, 2008
Dr. Douglas visited usability specialists at Shanghai, and presented a paper on "Measuring Participation in Internet Supported Courses" at International Conference on Information Technology in Education in Wuhan, China. He also visited Philippines, where he gave a talk on usability at the University of the Philippines, and visited the usability laboratory at De La Salle University.
The Knowledge Communities Research Group is part of the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University.
KCRG conducts research on methods and tools that facilitate the creative construction, sharing, and reuse of knowledge among diverse groups of people. We have specific interests in: domain understanding, computer supported collaborative work, user-centered design, knowledge and information management, organizational learning and creative problem solving.
The center has conducted major research projects to investigate ways of using technology to increase the reuse and sharing of knowledge within the military. We have created a number of software prototypes that demonstrate new methods for sharing knowledge through the internet. We have also conducted a number of smaller research projects on issues ranging from the use of mobile computing in learning to participation in online classes. If you have any questions about our work or would like to access one of our prototypes, please send an email to Professor Ian Douglas.
