An Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration in Digital Media and New Technology

Speaker: Michael Legg

Affiliation: Centre for Health Informatics and e-Health Research, University of Wollongong

Time: Wednesday 16/02/2011 from 11:00 to 12:30

Venue: Access Grid UWS. Presented from Parramatta (EB.1.32), accessible from Campbelltown (26.1.50) and Penrith (Y239).

Abstract: Interdisciplinary research has become a trend in academia in recent years. It requires researchers to not only understand users’ information processing capabilities and behavioral patterns, but also familiarity of limitations and specifications of innovative systems in use. At the same time, researchers need to be equipped with skills and knowledge across many domains. Hence, the most efficient way to make interdisciplinary research happen is to make it a collective effort by researchers from different disciplines. However, it is commonly recognized that for researchers to collaborate across disciplines is not an easy task. This talk will address the pros and cons about conducting interdisciplinary research. To illustrate the drives, advantages and obstacles for interdisciplinary research, experiences from 2 research teams, from engineering and social science, will be shared. The first part introduces studies motivated by social perspective and implemented via programming means, such as using micro-blogging services to explore culture and gamers’ social behaviors. The second part discusses some of the presenter’s published work to illustrate possible ways to synergize engineering and behavioral science for interactive system design.

Biography:

Michael Legg is a health informatician. He first trained as a scientist and researcher in physiology and pathology and has had 25 years as a leader in the Australian health industry, with some 20 years of that in executive roles including Health Care of Australia, Southern Pathology, Medicheck, The Sydney Square Diagnostic Breast Clinic and BreastHealth.

He is a member of the Standards Australia Health Informatics Committee (IT-14) and Co-Chair of the Diagnostics Working Group (IT-14-6-5), as well as Co-Chair of the NEHTA Clinical Terminology and Information Reference Group.

He has served as President of the Health Informatics Society of Australia, Vice President of the Australian Association of Pathology Practices, a member of the Australian Government Quality Use of Pathology Committee and Pathology Services Table Committee, the RCPA Informatics Working Group, National Health Information Standards Committee and is currently a member of the Pathology Associations Council.