It only took me until the literal end of my graduate school journey to start a blog, but the start isn't what matters, it's the finish...right?
This blog will primarily be used to journal my two independent studies, but hopefully, it won’t be limited to just that. I'm looking for this to also keep track of the work I'm doing in {research subject areas}, articles I'm forcing myself to read, and other graduate school thoughts that pop up in my mind. I also want to document any exciting non-work things in something other than a Facebook post or tweet.
Independent study #1: digital health: information and technologies supporting consumer and patients
In this independent study, I want to explore health care information, consumer health information needs and preferences, and digital health. I'm primarily interested in health information technologies that either put people in charge of managing their own health information or support in patient-centric care coordination. This study is partially project-based; I'm working with a biotechnology company that focuses on personal health and safety solutions.
My semester assignments will include weekly reflections of the articles or books I'm reading, a website usability analysis, interviews with professionals involved with digital health or health informatics knowledge creation, the project work with the startup, and a final thing that I haven't quite clarified yet that will synthesize this work in a nice, little package.
All posts related to this project will be tagged as "Digital Health."
Independent study #2: evaluation and usability of a visual, open-source programming language
For this independent study, I'm looking to further my own skills in user research. By studying usability methods, and later using those methods to evaluate an open-source education project, I hope to gain an understanding of learning sciences and design problem-solving. This study is also project-based, but possibly more so than the one above.
Semester assignments will involve readings about the science of learning, UI design, computer science education, things about R and tidy data, and probably more. The main deliverable here will be research findings, as I'm preparing, administering, and analyzing usability tests with the product itself. My faculty advisor also tasked me to identify 3-5 possible conferences or journals to submit this work to and produce a poster for the School of Information Sciences' Research Showcase this Spring. *nervous laugh*
All posts related to this project will be tagged as "Tidy Usability."
Other things I'll post about
Insights from my Human-Centered Information Systems, Design Thinking for Women's Health + Wellbeing, and Command-Line Tools
Work I'm doing as an Assessment and UX Library Practicum Student at the University of Chicago, as Research Assistant in the Adaptive Cognition and Interaction Design (ACTION) lab, and as Graduate Assistant for the iSchool's Student Affairs department.
Gifs. The semester goes by quickly, but not as quickly as you'd think.
I'm excited (and stressed, nervous...) for my final semester at the University of Illinois. Looking forward to my personal and professional growth.
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